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 60’s to low 70’s at 2 feet below the surface in the lower main lake and in the major creeks on Wednesday (5/25/2016). Some surface temperatures were in the high 70’s or even low 80’s. The lake level was about 4 to 6 inches above the top of the dam. The water was medium brown and slightly to moderately cloudy in the central lower lake, with more murky water on downwind shorelines and in some creeks.

Most blue cats and bullheads were on flats and channel edges in the main lake and scattered in creeks and hitting live minnows and cut bait. Some crappie were still scattered in major creek channels, some were on cypress knees and along shorelines in the main lake, and most were accumulating on mid-depth wood cover and along drop-offs in the main lake. 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 swim baits, and small jigs. Small to medium bluegill and shellcracker were scattered or loosely aggregated along some shorelines in major creeks and in the main lake (frequently in the vicinity of a spawning site from last week) and were hitting flies, small jigs, small swimbaits, Nikko stoneflies, and live worms. Some bass, pickerel, and bowfin were along shorelines, on lily pad flats, and along drop-offs in the major creeks and the main lake. When active, bass and pickerel were hitting live minnows, spinnerbaits, swim baits, stick worms, crank baits, jerk baits, and jigs.

Fishing with Capt. Conway, Eric Olgers had 49 bluegill, 2 shellcracker, 3 crappie, 3 yellow perch, 1 roach minnow, and 2 bass. Tom Porter had 56 bluegill, 10 crappie, 2 yellow perch, 1 bullhead, and 2 bass.