I'm done with Western Branch for a while.

With a 50% chance of thunderstorms and the fact that I drove over 1,300 miles for work this week I decided not to make the 300 mile round trip to Kerr, and like a fool, give Western Branch one more try. All I caught was one small yellow perch and this guy:

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2004-...-09001copy.gif

This is the first bowfin I have ever caught at WB. I didn't even know they were in there.

I went all over the lake, worked numerous coves from the mouth to as shallow as 5' of water. Spider rigged, long lined, casted a jig, it didn't matter. What's frustrating is that just two years ago at this same lake I had days when I caught 118 crappie, 90 crappie, 80 crappie. Heck, on April 29, 2006 I caught 42 crappie, and on May 5, 2006 34. The lack of water flow from Burnt Mills or the algae has really messed the crappie up. What's odd is that this lake is loaded with white perch and now I'm not even catching them.

Oh well, I have to work in Danville on Monday. Looks like I'll be making a stop on the way out to get a yearly parking permit for Kerr. I guess Eastland is going to be my new crappie hole.

Water temp was 70-72.

tough luck, let me know what the permit runs thanks

Hate to hear your report. I hate seeing that fellow even more.

Let these folks know about your catch , them is a "fighten fish"........
Bowfin Anglers Group Home

I've caught several bowfin in Branch. One ruined my prized, homemade, fish catching cedar topwater.
I've gotta tell you, it's odd that you didn't at least catch some white perch, bass, crappie, pickerel, striper etc. I still can't get over not getting a bite on live worms. As I said before, I'm sure somebody is catching fish in there, but the bite just doesn't seem normal.
Thanks for the report Tap. Do you use your personal vehicle for all those work miles?

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Originally Posted by Pat

Let these folks know about your catch , them is a "fighten fish"........
Bowfin Anglers Group Home

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I've been to that site Pat. It's actually pretty cool. They have tactics, recipes, science facts etc. "They" say, they're good to eat.:confused:

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Originally Posted by ShellQuacker

Do you use your personal vehicle for all those work miles?

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Yes but my new company pays me $500 a month (tax free) to use my own vehicle. They also pay for gas, oil changes, brakes, and tires. In my 21 years of servicing x-ray equipment I have gotten a vehicle allowance for probably 17 of the 21 years. I put 311,000 on my S-10 Blazer and sold it for $1,000. I now have a Explorer with 239,000 miles on it that my wife drives to work. I'm driving a Mountaineer that is a baby, only 52,000 miles on it. I've made a lot of money off the vehicle allowance over the years. (I get it whether I have a car payment or not)

I am glad that I decided to learn the Nottoway instead of trying to fish these Suffolk lakes. Maybe after we get a few rains something will change.

I know a guy that went to prince about a week ago with redworms, he said it was dead too, as did the bass fishermen he talked to. but there have been many years when this very thing happened only to turn on good later on.

Tap, I'm gonna send my man Corker down there with a few barrels of Pickett crappie. Those thing are genetically engineered to bite!

Sounds like a real tough day. Better luck next time. Danville is in my backyard... if you can hang around I'll take a day of vacation and we can go fishin' on Tuesday. Let me know if you want to.
Blake

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Originally Posted by bc1448

Sounds like a real tough day. Better luck next time. Danville is in my backyard... if you can hang around I'll take a day of vacation and we can go fishin' on Tuesday. Let me know if you want to.
Blake

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I wish. I just started with this company four weeks ago so I don't have any time to burn just yet, but thanks anyways.

Anytime... just let me know.
Blake

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Originally Posted by wasabi

Tap, I'm gonna send my man Corker down there with a few barrels of Pickett crappie. Those thing are genetically engineered to bite!

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I'm on it. Maybe you WB regulars could catch a few thousand small muskies to fill my tanker for the return trip. Pickett has a severe underpopulation of predators. Maybe the small freckle gang up on them like piranhas & the hunters become the hunted. :confused:

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Originally Posted by Corker

I'm on it. Maybe you WB regulars could catch a few thousand small muskies to fill my tanker for the return trip. Pickett has a severe underpopulation of predators. Maybe the small freckle gang up on them like piranhas & the hunters become the hunted. :confused:

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No shortage of predators at WB. Lots and lots of gar, some pike, big stripers, big bass, and heck, even bowfin. Years ago I believe that someone even caught a monster musky in there as well.

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Originally Posted by TapOut64

No shortage of predators at WB. Lots and lots of gar, some pike, big stripers, big bass, and heck, even bowfin. Years ago I believe that someone even caught a monster musky in there as well.

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water is gonna produce similar to dirt you get a bunch of corn or a few nice trees,,,,,,,my uncle will catch baby crappie and keep alive for his bass bait...any water without a good concentration of baitfish the panfish pop will eventually suffer.....believe it or not but the catch and release bass things going strong these days will cripple the crappie population and crappie will overpopulate a pond if they arent thinned as well.......

tapping out, i hear ya tap somtimes in life. you just have to move on to bigger and better things. i feel that lack of skills is not the problem in this case. good luck to you on your new quest.

Sorry to here that too Tap, I was looking forward to fishing that lake heavy once they got them there air bubbling machines running, maybe it needs a little rebuild time, or possibly they may need to do a current shock treatment to see whats really in there....