Want to boat or fish, Lake Anna provides great opportunities
to have a great time on the lake.

geographical map of Lake Anna, Virginia

Boating on Lake Anna

Lake Anna is a great place to own a boat, or trailer a boat to the lake. If you own property at the lake, and live in a Lake Anna community, you will generally have very convenient access to boating on Lake Anna. If you own waterfront property, then your own dock or boathouse will provide the convenience of docking your boat directly in the water. If you live in a Lake Anna community, most communities provide a common area, with boat docks for most of their community property owners, along with boat ramps for owners and guests to launch their boat.

Community Common Area with docks and ramps

If you don't live at the lake, but would like to enjoy boating on lake anna, there are a number of marinas, directly on the lake, that provide boat ramps and rentals, along with tackle and equipment to make your boating and fishing trips an enjoyable and eventful outing.

The lake is divided into 2 sections, the main lake, and several tributaries only accessible if you live on that portion of the lake. The main portion of the lake, referred to as the "public side", comprises the largest section by far, where most of the boating is done. This is because most communities exist along the shores of the main portion of the lake, and also because all of the marinas are on the main lake. The other section, referred to as the "warm" or "private" side, consists of 3 tributaries that are used to flow the warm water from the Power Plant, through each, until cool enough to be routed back into the main lake.

The main lake, runs the full 17 mile length of the lake, from the dam to the southeast, to the splits where the North Anna River and Pamunkey Creeks separate. The North Anna River runs another 7 or 8 miles from the splits west and the Pamunkey Creek runs the same distance from the splits northwest. Besides the 3 separated tributaries on the warm side, the main lake also has a number of large and small tributaries, offering more leisurely boating and fishing.

boating along on Lake Anna

The most unobstructed boating is from the dam, upstream about 8 or 9 miles to where the main bridge for route 208 crosses the lake. This bridge is high enough for most power boats, possibly restricting only sail boats with very high masts. This lower portion of the lake, is up to 1 mile wide and has the deepest water, about 90 feet just above the dam.

Once under the main bridge, there is unobstructed boating again, west for another 2 miles to the North Anna River and Pamunkey Creek split, and then a mile or two up both until you reach the first local bridge on each. Shortly after passing these initial bridges on the North Anna and Pamunkey, a 2nd local bridge is encountered on each. You will only be able to pass under these local bridges with boats up to about the 20 foot range without any upper structures, biminis, towers and the like. Once past the 2nd local bridge, boating is possible until both the North Anna's and Pamunkey's depths shrink to where they are non-navigable, except for very shallow drafts, canoes, kayaks and the like.

Fishing on Lake Anna


See the High Point Marina Fishing Report

Largemouth bass, striped bass, and crappie are the main species of interest at Lake Anna. Opportunities also exist for anglers to catch bluegill, channel catfish, walleye, white perch, and yellow perch. This fishery is very diverse and offers something for every angler's taste.

lazy day fishing from a small boat

Lake Anna is one of the best on the eastern seaboard for lunker largemouth bass, its hard charging stripers, or fine eating crappie. Lake Anna offers four-season fishing, even during the middle of winter. Besides it's great spring and fall fishing, because of the warm water being returned to the lake from the warm side, at Dike 3, it can be 7 degrees warmer than normal ambient temperature, offering a haven for baitfish and gamefish. If you try this region of Lake Anna during the cold weather months and you might come back with that fish of a lifetime, possibly an 8 pound lunker bass or similar gem. Lake Anna is often the state leader in largemouth bass citations.

If fishing during the winter, techniques largemouth bass typically involve slow presentations around deep water access areas including main lake points, humps and river channel edges. Drop-offs and dike rip-rap are also good winter bass areas. Lake Anna’s winter bass will make periodic shallow water feeding movements, so deep water with access to shallower feeding areas is crucial to a good spot. Good baits to use for winter lunker bass, include jig-n-pigs, 3" or 4" grubs, jigging spooons, blade baits, spinnerbaits and plastic shads. If you would rather use live baits, try blue-back herring, shad or jumbo minnows provided in local stores and marinas.

fishing enjoyment at Lake Anna

Once winter turns to spring, most anglers prefer shallow depths with more consistent bites. This means watching spawning patterns where bass hit more aggressively at their spawning sites, just before going on a nest. March and April provide Lake Anna's citation bass, generally from mid-lake to up-lake. Spinnerbaits are best in the up-lake portions of both North Anna and Pamunkey, providing an easy lure to provide the beginning angler a great time. Up-lake shallow water, around rocks, docks, stumps and willow grass is good with jig-n-pigs, rat-L-Traps, small crankbaits and grubs. Back down around mid-lake, try suspending jerkbaits and carolina-rigged lizards, along many of the creeks.

Other spring-time fish include the popular crappie which has improved to outstanding levels. Crappie can be found, in the spring, to more shallow depths. Small Minnows on slip bobbers or small tube jigs around docks, stumps, rocks and structures, are a good bet.Crappie can be caught over one pound with some exceeding two pounds.

When summer hits, fish move to deeper holding areas, only periodically found in shallows during early morning and late evenings. During these "low light" times, great topwater action can be found, casting Pop-R's, buzzbaits, Tiny torpedos and Rapalas casting these towards the shoreline. In later summer, fishing deeper depths with carolina and texas rigged lizards and worms or with jig-n-plastic combos is the name of the game. Try this at deep boat docks, river channel edges and points on the main lake.

Once summer fades into fall, boat traffic drops off. September and October can then again offer some great topwater action. Largemouth bass follow the baitfish into the ends of our many creeks to stock up for the coming cold weather. Through November, Crappie is also good, in shallow depths similar to their spring habitats.