Virginia Reservoirs Ranked for Largemouth Bass Fishing
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waller Mill | 1 | 2011 | 360 | York | 39 | 57 |
| Chesdin | 2 | 2010 | 3,100 | Chesterfield | 37 | 69 |
| Prince | 3 | 2010 | 777 | Suffolk | 35 | 66 |
| Meade | 4 | 2010 | 512 | Suffolk | 25 | 61 |
| Western Branch | 5 | 2010 | 1,579 | Suffolk | 24 | 94 |
| Gardy’s Millpond | 6 | 2011 | 75 | Northumberland | 24 | 35 |
| Trashmore | 7 | 2010 | 52 | Virginia Beach | 23 | 65 |
| Sandy Bottom Pond | 8 | 2011 | 12 | City of Hampton | 23 | 53 |
| Lake Maury | 9 | 2010 | 165 | Newport News | 22 | 71 |
| Cohoon | 10 | 2010 | 510 | Suffolk | 22 | 66 |
| Chickahominy Lake | 11 | 2011 | 1,230 | New Kent | 22 | 27 |
| Diascund | 12 | 2011 | 1,110 | James City | 21 | 33 |
| Harwood’s Mill | 13 | 2011 | 265 | York | 20 | 68 |
| Beaverdam Swamp | 14 | 2011 | 635 | Gloucester | 19 | 36 |
| Burnt Mills | 15 | 2006 | 610 | Isle of Wight | 18 | 41 |
| Smith | 16 | 2007 | 222 | Virginia Beach | 17 | 39 |
| Speight’s Run | 17 | 2008 | 197 | Suffolk | 15 | 37 |
| Airfield | 18 | 2010 | 62 | Sussex | 12 | 48 |
| Chandler’s Millpond | 19 | 2011 | 75 | Westmoreland | 12 | 16 |
| Woodstock Pond | 20 | 2011 | 7.5 | York | 11 | 10 |
| Swift Creek | 21 | 2010 | 156 | Chesterfield | 10 | 20 |
| Lee Hall | 22 | 2011 | 230 | Newport News | 8 | 40 |
| Lakeview | 23 | 2010 | 42 | Colonial Heights | 8 | 20 |
| Little Creek | 24 | 2010 | 947 | James City | 8 | 17 |
| Back Bay (creeks) | 25 | 2010 | 22,000 | Virginia Beach | 7 | 28 |
| Finger (Lone Star Lakes) | 26 | 2007 | 22 | Suffolk | 6 | 60 |
| Harrison Lake | 27 | 2010 | 82 | Charles City | 5 | 13 |
| Emporia | 28 | 2009 | 210 | Emporia | 2 | 11 |
| Oak Grove | 29 | 2010 | 70 | Chesapeake | 0 | 0 |
Region II (South-central)
| Reservoir | Rank | Year | Size (ac) | County | CPUE-P | RSD-P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lake Burton | 1 | 2011 | 76 | Pittsylvania | 53 | 68 |
| Smith Mountain | 2 | 2011 | 20,600 | Bedford, Franklin | 33 | 41 |
| Briery Creek | 3 | 2010 | 845 | Prince Edward | 32 | 22 |
| Sandy River | 4 | 2011 | 740 | Prince Edward | 30 | 33 |
| Fairystone | 5 | 2008 | 168 | Patrick | 25 | 32 |
| Carvins Cove | 6 | 2009 | 630 | Roanoke | 24 | 27 |
| Bear Creek | 7 | 2008 | 42 | Cumberland | 23 | 39 |
| Stonehouse | 8 | 2011 | 41 | Amherst | 21 | 15 |
| Brunswick | 9 | 2008 | 150 | Brunswick | 21 | 30 |
| Kerr (Buggs Island) | 10 | 2011 | 48,900 | Mecklenburg | 21 | 24 |
| Philpott | 11 | 2011 | 2,880 | Henry, Patrick | 20 | 30 |
| Horsepen | 12 | 2011 | 19 | Buckingham | 19 | 17 |
| Leesville | 13 | 2010 | 3,400 | Pitts., Bedford | 17 | 33 |
| Conner | 14 | 2008 | 110 | Halifax | 17 | 25 |
| Gordon | 15 | 2008 | 157 | Mecklenburg | 16 | 32 |
| Nottoway | 16 | 2011 | 188 | Nottoway | 16 | 10 |
| Martinsville | 17 | 2010 | 175 | Henry | 15 | 12 |
| Mill Creek | 18 | 2010 | 189 | Amherst | 11 | 10 |
| Nelson | 19 | 2010 | 40 | Henry | 9 | 5 |
| Thrasher | 20 | 2011 | 36 | Amherst | 7 | 4 |
| Prince Edward | 21 | 2009 | 27 | Prince Edward | 3 | 7 |
| Amelia | 22 | 2011 | 100 | Amelia | 2 | 2 |
| Holliday | 23 | 2008 | 145 | Buckingham | 1 | 2 |
| Slate River Watershed | 24 | 2008 | 38 | Buckingham | 0 | 0 |
Region III (Southwest)
| Reservoir | Rank | Year | Size (ac) | County | CPUE-P | RSD-P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rural Retreat | 1 | 2009 | 90 | Wythe | 16 | 24 |
| Gatewood | 2 | 2009 | 162 | Pulaski | 16 | 22 |
| Flannagan | 3 | 2009 | 1,143 | Dickenson | 15 | 31 |
| South Holston | 4 | 2010 | 7,580 | Washington | 14 | 46 |
| Lake Witten | 5 | 2010 | 52 | Tazewell | 14 | 23 |
| Claytor | 6 | 2009 | 4,363 | Pulaski | 10 | 38 |
| North Fk Pound | 7 | 2009 | 154 | Wise | 9 | 27 |
| Hidden Valley | 8 | 2010 | 62 | Washington | 8 | 19 |
| Bark Camp | 9 | 2010 | 48 | Scott | 7 | 20 |
| Lovill's Creek | 10 | 2009 | 55 | Carroll | 3 | 5 |
Region IV (North-central)
| Reservoir | Rank | Year | Size (ac) | County | CPUE-P | RSD-P |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pelham | 1 | 2010 | 255 | Culpeper | 83 | 73 |
| Arrowhead | 2 | 2009 | 34 | Page | 42 | 13 |
| Occoquan | 3 | 2007 | 2,100 | Fairfax | 39 | 52 |
| Anna | 4 | 2011 | 9,600 | Spotsylvania | 39 | 48 |
| Burke | 5 | 2010 | 218 | Fairfax | 36 | 50 |
| Fluvanna-Ruritan | 6 | 2011 | 50 | Fluvanna | 33 | 34 |
| Motts | 7 | 2008 | 160 | Spotsylvania | 32 | 35 |
| Silver | 8 | 2010 | 25 | Prince William | 32 | 21 |
| Beaverdam Creek | 9 | 2008 | 350 | Loudoun | 28 | 47 |
| Laura | 10 | 2006 | 44 | Shenandoah | 25 | 14 |
| Powhatan (upper) | 11 | 2011 | 34 | Powhatan | 24 | 38 |
| Germantown | 12 | 2008 | 109 | Fauquier | 23 | 17 |
| Powhatan (lower) | 13 | 2011 | 37 | Powhatan | 22 | 49 |
| Gordonsville | 14 | 2006 | 75 | Louisa | 22 | 44 |
| Fairfax | 15 | 2008 | 28 | Fairfax | 22 | 31 |
| Rivanna River | 16 | 2010 | 450 | Albemarle | 20 | 22 |
| Frederick | 17 | 2008 | 117 | Frederick | 17 | 11 |
| Toiter Creek | 18 | 2006 | 66 | Albemarle | 16 | 44 |
| Brittle | 19 | 2010 | 77 | Fauquier | 16 | 28 |
| Robertson | 20 | 2011 | 26 | Rockbridge | 16 | 6 |
| Mountain Run | 21 | 2010 | 75 | Culpeper | 15 | 7 |
| Abel | 22 | 2009 | 185 | Stafford | 14 | 20 |
| Walnut Creek | 23 | 2011 | 45 | Albemarle | 14 | 18 |
| Ni | 24 | 2007 | 411 | Spotsylvania | 13 | 30 |
| Hunting Run | 25 | 2011 | 420 | Spotsylvania | 13 | 16 |
| Shenandoah | 26 | 2008 | 36 | Rockingham | 13 | 9 |
| Breckinridge | 27 | 2006 | 47 | Stafford | 12 | 9 |
| Lunga | 28 | 2005 | 477 | Stafford | 11 | 13 |
| Orange | 29 | 2011 | 124 | Orange | 8 | 10 |
| Albemarle | 30 | 2008 | 35 | Albemarle | 7 | 9 |
| Beaver Creek | 31 | 2011 | 104 | Albemarle | 7 | 4 |
| Curtis | 32 | 2009 | 91 | Stafford | 6 | 8 |
| Chris Green | 33 | 2011 | 62 | Albemarle | 6 | 7 |
| Moomaw | 34 | 2011 | 2,530 | Bath | 5 | 39 |
| Northeast Creek | 35 | 2008 | 187 | Louisa | 5 | 10 |
| Smith | 36 | 2007 | 250 | Stafford | 5 | 7 |
| Lower Sherando | 37 | 2011 | 26 | Augusta | 5 | 5 |
| Accotink | 38 | 2009 | 90 | Fairfax | 2 | 10 |
