We continue to have challenging weather for fishing conditions, but anglers are still putting dinner on ice! Hunting is starting to pick up with more deer sightings.

Potomac River

Shady Lane Seafood, (804) 224-7878, reported good fishing. First of all, the white perch are very good size in the creeks on beetle spins and Kastmasters. Elgin carries those. Striper fishing is best from our area down to Blackstone Island where rock up to 8 pounds are showing up. In the bay the rockfish tend to be smaller right now. Catfish 3-5 pounds are hitting well. Anglers using Rat L Traps are catching some rock in the late evening and early morning while fishing from the bank or casting to the bank. Crabs are really big and fat right now. Elgin thinks he will get one more week of them.
Ken’s Tackle, (540) 898-1011, reported a very nice stringer of yellow perch from Aquia Creek this week. The angler used small minnows and was fishing from shore. Five citation length bass were also caught. Donna also reported nice rockfish off the humps out from Colonial Beach.

Rappahannock River

We had just a few reports from the river. Crappie anglers are picking up fish around treetops and barge walls. Catfish are always willing, and bass are hitting spotty but when found are in transition water off creek mouths and points.  

Inland waters

Ken’s reported plenty of crappie on minnows and nice bass from the ponds.
Motts Run is open for a few more days. Their last report is of a citation bass that measured 22.75 inches long and weighed 6.5 pounds. It was caught on a pig and jig off a point by the dam. The bluegill are also quite active. One angler took a bucketful.
TROUT — I know we have some trout anglers out there. For those of you dedicated, fly angler Donna reported a beautiful mountain trout weighing 4.5 pounds. The angler took a total of five citation fish in one day.
Starting Nov. 1 the pond in Fredericksburg will be open to trout anglers for stocked fish.

Saltwater

Captain Ryan Rogers of The Midnight Sun charters, (804) 453-5812, reported some very nice, fat rockfish. The weather on Sunday messed things up but he did have some blues and rock on Saturday and even a 15 pound fish on light tackle last week! Ryan is doing a walk on trip October 30. See his Web site and give him a call to get on board. Give him a shout at (804) 580-0245. Visit www.fishmidnightsun.com to see the pics.
He has some winter dates available at Virginia Beach for the monster rockfish.

Hunting

Deer are becoming more active so be careful driving down our local roads! Muzzleloader season begins this weekend and we are sure to hear some booms in the woods and meat on the skillet too! More deer are showing up in fields and oak lots. Turkey seem to be more common, perhaps for the lack of acorns this season.
You can always e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Send photos of game or fish to us and we will print as space is available. Be sure to tell us who, what and where!

Mark and Missy Fike