Got a nice shower

Aug 28 2022

TRI VO

Slot Fish

Member Since :
2020
Number of Posts :
197

Reservation Number : 33593
Property Name : Culpepper Farms
Reservation Date : 08/27/2022 PM - 08/27/2022 PM
Total Fish/Sizes : 13
Lures Used : Spinnerbait, Crankbait, Chatterbait, Swim baits, Rattletrap

First time to Culpepper and it was a nice short drive compared to others. The property was beautiful. Launched the property's jon boat around 1:30. The 12' jon boat was very nice and new. Loved the stability for standing and side counters to lay your rods flat! You can tell already that the water level was down about 3-4' based on the end of the ramp almost coming out of the water. Glad i didn't take my smaller boat and trailer. I didn't know it was supposed to rain but it rained for an hour after arriving 30 minutes later. Finally, got out around 4 and fished until 7:30. It wasn't hard to fish the entire pond because of the water level. It was a bit of a struggle to find fish because most of the structures were out of the water. Mainly caught fish around shallow rocks and pilings. There's not much structures for the bass to relate to with the water level down. There's grass growing on the areas out of the water which will be a huge benefit when it fills back up. Ended up with 13 bass from 13'-17' and culled 4. The bass were caught shallow. Lost a good one about 6# at the boat playing with it instead of netting it. She was at the dam in 2' of water. Deepest depth I found was 8-9'. Colors most effective were chartreuse and shad. Water was dingy and temp was 87. Thank you owner and PWF!

Aug 29 2022

John Freeman

Slot Fish

Member Since :
2020
Number of Posts :
243

Culpepper is one of my favorite closed to the house lakes. Lake has a bunch of those 14-17’ers in it with a few good ones as well.  My 2nd largest of the year came from there this past spring (7lb 1 oz). Last time I was there all fish came from 2’ or less. There may be low O2. There was also an algae bloom last time I was there. I think Tara and Culpepper would benefit from an aereator this time of year. The water dingy kinda like Tara, a turbid healthy system. It will be better over the winter. I could see that rain storm form my house, and was hoping it was heading my way, but didn’t. Good job.

Aug 29 2022

TRI VO

Slot Fish

Member Since :
2020
Number of Posts :
197

Originaly Posted By John Freeman

Culpepper is one of my favorite closed to the house lakes. Lake has a bunch of those 14-17’ers in it with a few good ones as well.  My 2nd largest of the year came from there this past spring (7lb 1 oz). Last time I was there all fish came from 2’ or less. There may be low O2. There was also an algae bloom last time I was there. I think Tara and Culpepper would benefit from an aereator this time of year. The water dingy kinda like Tara, a turbid healthy system. It will be better over the winter. I could see that rain storm form my house, and was hoping it was heading my way, but didn’t. Good job.

John, I fished for an hour in deeper water before figuring the bass were holding shallow as long as it was near deeper water. In my opinion, the islands were too shallow to hold any sizable fish after fishing it for 20 minutes. It was 1-3’ deep around the islands. All fish caught were from the shoreline next to the ramp to the first island and the adjacent shoreline back to the dam. The bass were chunky even though I did not see much bait on the fish finder. It would be an awesome place to pitch baits once it fills back up because of the steep banks and the grass that has grown along the banks from this dry spell. In the meantime, I would only use the property jon boat and not trailer unless its light or you have 4 wheel drive. The end of the ramp dropoff was almost exposed. Thanks.

Aug 29 2022

Steve Alexander

Admin

Member Since :
2002
Number of Posts :
1168

Originaly Posted By John Freeman

Culpepper is one of my favorite closed to the house lakes. Lake has a bunch of those 14-17’ers in it with a few good ones as well.  My 2nd largest of the year came from there this past spring (7lb 1 oz). Last time I was there all fish came from 2’ or less. There may be low O2. There was also an algae bloom last time I was there. I think Tara and Culpepper would benefit from an aereator this time of year. The water dingy kinda like Tara, a turbid healthy system. It will be better over the winter. I could see that rain storm form my house, and was hoping it was heading my way, but didn’t. Good job.

Aeration on all lakes would be awesome. However, at $20K to $40K for lakes less than 20 acres its just not practical for most owners. But, they are are a great tool. I think you would be looking at 6 figures for a 50+ acre lake. 

Aug 29 2022

John Freeman

Slot Fish

Member Since :
2020
Number of Posts :
243

Originaly Posted By TRI VO

John, I fished for an hour in deeper water before figuring the bass were holding shallow as long as it was near deeper water. In my opinion, the islands were too shallow to hold any sizable fish after fishing it for 20 minutes. It was 1-3’ deep around the islands. All fish caught were from the shoreline next to the ramp to the first island and the adjacent shoreline back to the dam. The bass were chunky even though I did not see much bait on the fish finder. It would be an awesome place to pitch baits once it fills back up because of the steep banks and the grass that has grown along the banks from this dry spell. In the meantime, I would only use the property jon boat and not trailer unless its light or you have 4 wheel drive. The end of the ramp dropoff was almost exposed. Thanks.

Steve- Yeah, that was more wishful thinkin’. Those fish are used to the conditions, makes them tougher n meaner. I did like that vid on FB of that brush hog backed up churning water for emergency situations.

Tri- I took the boat out there for the club July 30th and noticed same pattern. I kept seeing bass crash the bank at the damn after baitfish n perch. When I realized there was a algae bloom I went shallow for the duration. Only fish I got in 6’ was a nice crappie on a crank bait. When the water cools off and rains bring more levels and O2 the fish will spread a little more. Last winter 6’ was the magic depth.