Capt. Art Conway of Conway’s River Rat Guide Service (804-746-2475) out of Ed Allen’s Boats and Bait reported that Chickahominy Lake mid-day water temperatures were in the high 50’s in the lower main lake and in the major creeks on Wednesday (4/6/2016). The lake level was about even with the top of the dam. The water was light brown and slightly cloudy in the central lower lake.

Some blue cats and a few bullheads were still in channels and winter holes, but others had moved onto flats and into creeks. Cats were hitting live minnows and cut bait. Crappie seemed to be in multiple patterns in response to recent temperature fluctuations, with a some crappie on spawning sites, a fair number of crappie widely scattered along creek channels, and a few crappie on deeper cover outside creek mouths. Active crappie were hitting live minnows, Wright Bait Co. and Southern Pro curlytail jigs, small tubes, Kalin crappie scrubs, and small swim baits. Small to medium yellow perch were scattered or in loose aggregates on some main lake flats and in channels and on flats in major creeks and were hitting live minnows, small drop shot baits, and small jigs. Small to medium bluegill and shellcracker were starting to accumulate along some shorelines in major creeks and were hitting flies and small jigs. Some bass, pickerel, and bowfin were along shorelines, on flats, and along drop-offs in the major creeks. When active, bass and pickerel were hitting live minnows, spinnerbaits, swim baits, stick worms, crank baits, jerk baits, and jigs.

Fishing with Capt. Conway, Bill Edwards and Ron Hummel had 24 crappie, 4 yellow perch, 1 flier, 1 bowfin, 3 pickerel, and 2 bass. Jack and Rob Dietrich had 10 crappie, 1 yellow perch, 1 shellcracker, 9 pickerel, and 1 bass.