Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Summer may be winding down. but the striper action at Anna is heating up. The cooler it gets, the hotter the action at this Piedmont impoundment.

THE SCIENCE
Lake Anna, which is owned by Dominion Virginia Power Company, spans 9,600 acres, damming the Pamunkey and North Anna rivers. The shoreline now includes property in Louisa, Spotsylvania and Orange counties and serves as cooling water for the two-unit North Anna Nuclear Power Station.

John Odenkirk, the VDGIF fisheries biologist who keeps tabs on the fishery at Lake Anna, shared quite a bit of information with us about Anna's striped bass fishery. VDGIF began stocking striped bass in 1973 with 3-inch fingerlings. Today, biologists stock striped bass at a rate of 20 per acre.

According to Odenkirk, striper growth at Anna is rapid: Fish often attain the minimum harvest size of 20 inches in 30 months. Growth slows thereafter, with most striped bass taking an additional three to seven years to grow to 10 pounds in weight.

Although the last creel survey was done in 2001, a new creel survey is under way and Odenkirk feels the newer data will reveal a higher harvest rate due to expanded hours and more access points being monitored. In 2001, the creel data recorded 1,725 fish harvested, while 4,290 were released. At that time, the average harvested fish weighed in at 5.9 pounds.

"Striped bass are the No. 2 fish on Lake Anna, with 15 percent of anglers targeting this species. I think it's much higher now. Striped bass comprised only 4 percent of the total number of fish harvested but accounted for 30 percent of the biomass. The stocking is going very well, and the fishery is as good as it can be given the water quality and habitat," Odenkirk commented.

FINDING FISH
Most people have a misconception that stripers in Lake Anna can be patterned and located at the same location year after year at a given time. While there is some pattern to the fishing at Lake Anna, it is not based on a certain location, according to striper guide Jim Hemby, who makes his living plying the waters of Anna year 'round. Hemby should know as he has been guiding exclusively for striped bass for seven years and has fished for largemouth bass and striped bass his entire life.

"I love guiding for striped bass. The fish are willing if you know what to look for," he said. "My clients like to catch fish. Each day is a challenge to me because the striped bass are not like largemouth bass. Bass anglers will often target locations such as a brushpile or a dock. Striped bass do not key in on a certain piece of structure at a certain location in the lake. They move around. Any good striped bass angler will tell you that you have to hunt the fish and move around looking for them. It is a learning process and it is fun."

Hemby also pointed out that the fish do feed on flats, but "flats" is a relative term. Most anglers think of a flat as being a very shallow structure, when in reality a flat at Lake Anna can be at any depth. In the lower third of the lake near Dike Three, a flat may be a 30-foot area next to 60 feet of water. In the upper third of the lake where the water is shallower, a flat may be found at 15 to 20 feet.

Stripers not only feed on flats but they also herd bait on humps and points, especially those near the channel because they can move from deeper water and feed before moving on to the next meal.