A stump-filled day at Great Creek Watershed Lake

Since the lakes to the east of Richmond haven't been very kind lately, I headed west today. GCWL is located just outside Lawrenceville, southwest of Petersburg. It had been 3 years since my last visit, but I had some old waypoints and a few notes as a starting point.

Weather was pleasant & wind was minimal. WT ranged from 65 to 72.

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The crappie were nowhere to be found in the deeper water in the lower end of the lake, so most of my day was spent near the head of the lake in 6 to 9 FOW with plenty of stumps. Fish were spread out and it was necessary to push/pull baits around in a fairly large area. I used minnows under corks, jigs with minnows under corks, bare jigs, and a tiny jig on the fly rod. All techniques produced a few fish, but there was never a concentration of bite. All techniques also suffered tackle losses to the stumps.

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By the end of the day, the clicker showed 29 and 5 were in the cooler (none bigger than 12".)

WTG Corker,I use to fish that lake a few years ago till it got where I could only catch small fish,and the same thing happen to the one inSouth Hill, the game warren would tell us to keep all the little fish but we did not want any fish and sure did not want sardines.

Strange spring continues!

Gene: My first-hand knowledge of this lake is limited, but a seasoned veteran fished in the same area
yesterday morning & said a friend had landed 40 keepers earlier this spring and 10 of them were over 15".
The biggest I've seen from here was this 14-incher Billy caught on 3/31/09:

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and my best day here was 4/10/10 when I landed over 50 in an hour and a half. I should probably fish this lake
more, but it's always a blind trip. I don't know anyone who lives nearby or fishes it regularly. As a result, I've made
the 1:20 trip, only to find an inch of ice at the ramp, massive amounts or grass, or mud.

The South Hill game warren was right. Once stunting begins, the worst thing anglers can do is "business as usual."
Unless the lake holds a massive population of bait fish (Burnt Mills appears to be a good example), culling the little
ones will put more and more pressure on the food supply and crappies won't grow beyond 6" - 8". Fort Pickett
Reservoir is a fine example of this severe level of stunting. Short of draining the lake and starting again, the best
"medicine" for panfish stunting is heavier predation. Since natural predators aren't getting the job done, it's even
more important for anglers to keep limits (if applicable)--even if you throw the fish into the woods or feed them
to your tomato plants!

Good info guys thanks the another great report corker

Neat that you fish so many different places.

In 2009 (the first full year after my retirement) I made it a point to visit one new lake per month. All were within a 90 minute drive and a few of them became favorites.