02-20-2013, 12:10 PM
VDGIF aquatic biologists spend considerable effort and resources to manage, enhance, and protect largemouth bass populations in Virginia's public fishing reservoirs, lakes, and ponds. Most of these waters are sampled each year, or every few years, to assess current largemouth bass population parameters such as age and growth, spawning success, and size distribution. These population samples are generally collected using daytime, boat electrofishing gear targeting largemouth bass and are conducted in a manner that allows several comparisons to be made concerning fish populations. Since many Virginia anglers target largemouth bass, and fish larger than 15 inches are considered "preferred" nationwide; the following summary contains information about bass over 15 inches (preferred size).
Relative stock density of preferred fish (RSD-P below) is the proportion of bass in a population over eight inches (stock size or recruits) that are also at least 15 inches. Thus, this index describes the size structure of the population and the bigger the number, the higher the percentage of big bass (>15 inches) in the population. Catch-per-unit-effort of preferred fish (CPUE-P below) is a measure of how many bass over 15 inches are collected by biologists during a set unit of effort (in this case, 1-hour of electrofishing). Thus, the higher the number, the more abundant big bass were during the sample.
Several factors can bias these data (e.g., weather conditions, fish behavior), but samples were conducted with efforts to minimize these biases. The following is a summary of these data with lakes ranked by CPUE-P and divided into the four management regions of the state. Those lakes ranked at the top of the table will provide excellent opportunities for anglers to catch quality largemouth bass. You might notice that some of the large reservoirs are ranked lower than you might expect. Smaller reservoirs normally have higher sampling efficiency and will thus rank higher based on this evaluation. This is a guide for anglers to use and not necessarily the entire picture of Virginia bass fisheries but it will provide a good place to start. We hope you find this useful.
Region I (Southeast - Tidewater)
Reservoir Rank Year Size (ac) County CPUE-P RSD-P
Gardy's Millpond 1 2012 75 Northumberland 41 55<br />
Chesdin 2 2010 3,100 Chesterfield 37 69<br />
Prince 3 2010 777 Suffolk 35 66<br />
Meade 4 2010 512 Suffolk 25 61<br />
Western Branch 5 2010 1,579 Suffolk 24 94<br />
Beaverdam Swamp 6 2012 635 Gloucester 24 41<br />
Waller Mill 7 2012 360 York 24 33<br />
Trashmore 8 2010 52 Virginia Beach 23 65<br />
Sandy Bottom Pond 9 2011 12 City of Hampton 23 53<br />
Lake Maury 10 2010 165 Newport News 22 71<br />
Cohoon 11 2010 510 Suffolk 22 66<br />
Harwood's Mill 12 2011 265 York 20 68<br />
Diascund 13 2012 1,110 James City 20 29<br />
Chandler's Millpond 14 2012 75 Westmoreland 20 25<br />
Burnt Mills 15 2006 610 Isle of Wight 18 41<br />
Smith 16 2007 222 Virginia Beach 17 39<br />
Speight's Run 17 2008 197 Suffolk 15 37<br />
Chickahominy Lake 18 2012 1,230 New Kent 15 28<br />
Airfield 19 2010 62 Sussex 12 48<br />
Woodstock Pond 20 2011 7.5 York 11 10<br />
Swift Creek 21 2010 156 Chesterfield 10 20<br />
Lee Hall 22 2011 230 Newport News 8 40<br />
Harrison Lake 23 2012 82 Charles City 8 23<br />
Lakeview 24 2010 42 Colonial Heights 8 20<br />
Back Bay (creeks) 25 2010 22,000 Virginia Beach 7 28<br />
Finger (Lone Star Lakes) 26 2007 22 Suffolk 6 60<br />
Little Creek 27 2012 947 James City 4 17<br />
Emporia 28 2009 210 Emporia 2 11<br />
Oak Grove 29 2010 70 Chesapeake 0 0<br />
Region II (South-central)
Reservoir Rank Year Size (ac) County CPUE-P RSD-P<br />
Lake Burton 1 2012 76 Pittsylvania 49 59<br />
Fairystone 2 2008 168 Patrick 25 32<br />
Bear Creek 3 2008 42 Cumberland 23 39<br />
Carvins Cove 4 2012 630 Roanoke 22 16<br />
Brunswick 5 2008 150 Brunswick 21 30<br />
Stonehouse 6 2011 41 Amherst 21 15<br />
Smith Mountain 7 2012 20,600 Bedford, Franklin 20 34<br />
Philpott 8 2011 2,880 Henry, Patrick 20 30<br />
Kerr (Buggs Island) 9 2012 48,900 Mecklenburg 17 36<br />
Leesville 10 2010 3,400 Pitts., Bedford 17 33<br />
Conner 11 2008 110 Halifax 17 25<br />
Sandy River 12 2012 740 Prince Edward 17 19<br />
Gordon 13 2008 157 Mecklenburg 16 32<br />
Nottoway 14 2011 188 Nottoway 16 10<br />
Horsepen 15 2011 19 Buckingham 15 24<br />
Briery Creek 16 2012 845 Prince Edward 15 16<br />
Martinsville 17 2010 175 Henry 15 12<br />
Mill Creek 18 2010 189 Amherst 11 10<br />
Thrasher 19 2011 36 Amherst 7 4<br />
Nelson 20 2012 40 Henry 5 3<br />
Prince Edward 21 2009 27 Prince Edward 3 7<br />
Amelia 22 2011 100 Amelia 2 2<br />
Holliday 23 2008 145 Buckingham 1 2<br />
Slate River Watershed 24 2008 38 Buckingham 0 0<br />
Region III (Southwest)
Reservoir Rank Year Size (ac) County CPUE-P RSD-P<br />
Lake Witten 1 2012 52 Tazewell 25 45<br />
South Holston 2 2012 7,580 Washington 21 46<br />
Rural Retreat 3 2009 90 Wythe 16 24<br />
Gatewood 4 2009 162 Pulaski 16 22<br />
Claytor 5 2012 4,363 Pulaski 15 42<br />
Flannagan 6 2012 1,143 Dickenson 15 39<br />
North Fk Pound 7 2011 154 Wise 10 31<br />
Hidden Valley 8 2012 62 Washington 4 8<br />
Lovill's Creek 9 2009 55 Carroll 3 5<br />
Bark Camp 10 2011 48 Scott 1 3<br />
Region IV (North-central)
Reservoir Rank Year Size (ac) County CPUE-P RSD-P<br />
Pelham 1 2010 255 Culpeper 83 73<br />
Germantown 2 2012 109 Fauquier 50 23<br />
Occoquan 3 2012 2,100 Fairfax 49 53<br />
Arrowhead 4 2009 34 Page 42 13<br />
Burke 5 2010 218 Fairfax 36 50<br />
Frederick 6 2012 117 Frederick 33 25<br />
Anna 7 2012 9,600 Spotsylvania 31 38<br />
Silver 8 2012 25 Prince William 29 18<br />
Beaverdam Creek 9 2008 350 Loudoun 28 47<br />
Fluvanna-Ruritan 10 2012 50 Fluvanna 28 37<br />
Powhatan (lower) 11 2012 37 Powhatan 27 38<br />
Laura 12 2006 44 Shenandoah 25 14<br />
Powhatan (upper) 13 2012 34 Powhatan 23 40<br />
Gordonsville 14 2006 75 Louisa 22 44<br />
Fairfax 15 2008 28 Fairfax 22 31<br />
Rivanna River 16 2010 450 Albemarle 20 22<br />
Toiter Creek 17 2006 66 Albemarle 16 44<br />
Brittle 18 2010 77 Fauquier 16 28<br />
Hunting Run 19 2012 420 Spotsylvania 16 22<br />
Robertson 20 2011 26 Rockbridge 16 6<br />
Mountain Run 21 2010 75 Culpeper 15 7<br />
Abel 22 2009 185 Stafford 14 20<br />
Walnut Creek 23 2011 45 Albemarle 14 18<br />
Ni 24 2007 411 Spotsylvania 13 30<br />
Shenandoah 25 2008 36 Rockingham 13 9<br />
Breckinridge 26 2006 47 Stafford 12 9<br />
Lunga 27 2005 477 Stafford 11 13<br />
Motts 28 2012 160 Spotsylvania 11 10<br />
Orange 29 2011 124 Orange 8 10<br />
Albemarle 30 2012 35 Albemarle 8 7<br />
Beaver Creek 31 2011 104 Albemarle 7 4<br />
Chris Green 32 2011 62 Albemarle 6 7<br />
Moomaw 33 2011 2,530 Bath 5 39<br />
Curtis 34 2012 91 Stafford 5 16<br />
Northeast Creek 35 2008 187 Louisa 5 10<br />
Smith 36 2007 250 Stafford 5 7<br />
Lower Sherando 37 2011 26 Augusta 5 5<br />
Accotink 38 2009 90 Fairfax 2 10<br />
© 2013 Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
Relative stock density of preferred fish (RSD-P below) is the proportion of bass in a population over eight inches (stock size or recruits) that are also at least 15 inches. Thus, this index describes the size structure of the population and the bigger the number, the higher the percentage of big bass (>15 inches) in the population. Catch-per-unit-effort of preferred fish (CPUE-P below) is a measure of how many bass over 15 inches are collected by biologists during a set unit of effort (in this case, 1-hour of electrofishing). Thus, the higher the number, the more abundant big bass were during the sample.
Several factors can bias these data (e.g., weather conditions, fish behavior), but samples were conducted with efforts to minimize these biases. The following is a summary of these data with lakes ranked by CPUE-P and divided into the four management regions of the state. Those lakes ranked at the top of the table will provide excellent opportunities for anglers to catch quality largemouth bass. You might notice that some of the large reservoirs are ranked lower than you might expect. Smaller reservoirs normally have higher sampling efficiency and will thus rank higher based on this evaluation. This is a guide for anglers to use and not necessarily the entire picture of Virginia bass fisheries but it will provide a good place to start. We hope you find this useful.
Region I (Southeast - Tidewater)
Reservoir Rank Year Size (ac) County CPUE-P RSD-P
Gardy's Millpond 1 2012 75 Northumberland 41 55<br />
Chesdin 2 2010 3,100 Chesterfield 37 69<br />
Prince 3 2010 777 Suffolk 35 66<br />
Meade 4 2010 512 Suffolk 25 61<br />
Western Branch 5 2010 1,579 Suffolk 24 94<br />
Beaverdam Swamp 6 2012 635 Gloucester 24 41<br />
Waller Mill 7 2012 360 York 24 33<br />
Trashmore 8 2010 52 Virginia Beach 23 65<br />
Sandy Bottom Pond 9 2011 12 City of Hampton 23 53<br />
Lake Maury 10 2010 165 Newport News 22 71<br />
Cohoon 11 2010 510 Suffolk 22 66<br />
Harwood's Mill 12 2011 265 York 20 68<br />
Diascund 13 2012 1,110 James City 20 29<br />
Chandler's Millpond 14 2012 75 Westmoreland 20 25<br />
Burnt Mills 15 2006 610 Isle of Wight 18 41<br />
Smith 16 2007 222 Virginia Beach 17 39<br />
Speight's Run 17 2008 197 Suffolk 15 37<br />
Chickahominy Lake 18 2012 1,230 New Kent 15 28<br />
Airfield 19 2010 62 Sussex 12 48<br />
Woodstock Pond 20 2011 7.5 York 11 10<br />
Swift Creek 21 2010 156 Chesterfield 10 20<br />
Lee Hall 22 2011 230 Newport News 8 40<br />
Harrison Lake 23 2012 82 Charles City 8 23<br />
Lakeview 24 2010 42 Colonial Heights 8 20<br />
Back Bay (creeks) 25 2010 22,000 Virginia Beach 7 28<br />
Finger (Lone Star Lakes) 26 2007 22 Suffolk 6 60<br />
Little Creek 27 2012 947 James City 4 17<br />
Emporia 28 2009 210 Emporia 2 11<br />
Oak Grove 29 2010 70 Chesapeake 0 0<br />
Region II (South-central)
Reservoir Rank Year Size (ac) County CPUE-P RSD-P<br />
Lake Burton 1 2012 76 Pittsylvania 49 59<br />
Fairystone 2 2008 168 Patrick 25 32<br />
Bear Creek 3 2008 42 Cumberland 23 39<br />
Carvins Cove 4 2012 630 Roanoke 22 16<br />
Brunswick 5 2008 150 Brunswick 21 30<br />
Stonehouse 6 2011 41 Amherst 21 15<br />
Smith Mountain 7 2012 20,600 Bedford, Franklin 20 34<br />
Philpott 8 2011 2,880 Henry, Patrick 20 30<br />
Kerr (Buggs Island) 9 2012 48,900 Mecklenburg 17 36<br />
Leesville 10 2010 3,400 Pitts., Bedford 17 33<br />
Conner 11 2008 110 Halifax 17 25<br />
Sandy River 12 2012 740 Prince Edward 17 19<br />
Gordon 13 2008 157 Mecklenburg 16 32<br />
Nottoway 14 2011 188 Nottoway 16 10<br />
Horsepen 15 2011 19 Buckingham 15 24<br />
Briery Creek 16 2012 845 Prince Edward 15 16<br />
Martinsville 17 2010 175 Henry 15 12<br />
Mill Creek 18 2010 189 Amherst 11 10<br />
Thrasher 19 2011 36 Amherst 7 4<br />
Nelson 20 2012 40 Henry 5 3<br />
Prince Edward 21 2009 27 Prince Edward 3 7<br />
Amelia 22 2011 100 Amelia 2 2<br />
Holliday 23 2008 145 Buckingham 1 2<br />
Slate River Watershed 24 2008 38 Buckingham 0 0<br />
Region III (Southwest)
Reservoir Rank Year Size (ac) County CPUE-P RSD-P<br />
Lake Witten 1 2012 52 Tazewell 25 45<br />
South Holston 2 2012 7,580 Washington 21 46<br />
Rural Retreat 3 2009 90 Wythe 16 24<br />
Gatewood 4 2009 162 Pulaski 16 22<br />
Claytor 5 2012 4,363 Pulaski 15 42<br />
Flannagan 6 2012 1,143 Dickenson 15 39<br />
North Fk Pound 7 2011 154 Wise 10 31<br />
Hidden Valley 8 2012 62 Washington 4 8<br />
Lovill's Creek 9 2009 55 Carroll 3 5<br />
Bark Camp 10 2011 48 Scott 1 3<br />
Region IV (North-central)
Reservoir Rank Year Size (ac) County CPUE-P RSD-P<br />
Pelham 1 2010 255 Culpeper 83 73<br />
Germantown 2 2012 109 Fauquier 50 23<br />
Occoquan 3 2012 2,100 Fairfax 49 53<br />
Arrowhead 4 2009 34 Page 42 13<br />
Burke 5 2010 218 Fairfax 36 50<br />
Frederick 6 2012 117 Frederick 33 25<br />
Anna 7 2012 9,600 Spotsylvania 31 38<br />
Silver 8 2012 25 Prince William 29 18<br />
Beaverdam Creek 9 2008 350 Loudoun 28 47<br />
Fluvanna-Ruritan 10 2012 50 Fluvanna 28 37<br />
Powhatan (lower) 11 2012 37 Powhatan 27 38<br />
Laura 12 2006 44 Shenandoah 25 14<br />
Powhatan (upper) 13 2012 34 Powhatan 23 40<br />
Gordonsville 14 2006 75 Louisa 22 44<br />
Fairfax 15 2008 28 Fairfax 22 31<br />
Rivanna River 16 2010 450 Albemarle 20 22<br />
Toiter Creek 17 2006 66 Albemarle 16 44<br />
Brittle 18 2010 77 Fauquier 16 28<br />
Hunting Run 19 2012 420 Spotsylvania 16 22<br />
Robertson 20 2011 26 Rockbridge 16 6<br />
Mountain Run 21 2010 75 Culpeper 15 7<br />
Abel 22 2009 185 Stafford 14 20<br />
Walnut Creek 23 2011 45 Albemarle 14 18<br />
Ni 24 2007 411 Spotsylvania 13 30<br />
Shenandoah 25 2008 36 Rockingham 13 9<br />
Breckinridge 26 2006 47 Stafford 12 9<br />
Lunga 27 2005 477 Stafford 11 13<br />
Motts 28 2012 160 Spotsylvania 11 10<br />
Orange 29 2011 124 Orange 8 10<br />
Albemarle 30 2012 35 Albemarle 8 7<br />
Beaver Creek 31 2011 104 Albemarle 7 4<br />
Chris Green 32 2011 62 Albemarle 6 7<br />
Moomaw 33 2011 2,530 Bath 5 39<br />
Curtis 34 2012 91 Stafford 5 16<br />
Northeast Creek 35 2008 187 Louisa 5 10<br />
Smith 36 2007 250 Stafford 5 7<br />
Lower Sherando 37 2011 26 Augusta 5 5<br />
Accotink 38 2009 90 Fairfax 2 10<br />
© 2013 Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries