Lake Thoreau - Reston, VA (?)

[Lane Smith]

Hi All,

Has anyone ever fished Lake Thoreau in Reston? It's right next to Lake Audubon which I know has fish.

The reason I ask is that my buddy's condo is right on the lake. He mentioned it was man made but given the development's proximity to Lake Audubon, it seems possible that the latter is artificial as well.

Best,
Lane

[TurbineBlade]

Where's Rob?  It seems to me that I remember it having fish for sure.  I don't remember if it is one of those private areas where you need to live there or know someone who lives there to fish it.  Usually I avoid those because I definitely don't live there and the only I family we have are in Missouri ;).

 

If you have a solid connection, heck I'd go for it. 

 

Gene

[Vic Velasco]

https://www.reston.org/ParksRecreationEvents/Nature/NaturalResources/Watershed/FishinginReston/Default.aspx?qenc=HzT9ACzZbNs%3d&fqenc=RVTzXzd3p6LO1iV99AGFnA%3d%3d

I live near Lake Newport - I believe each of the four sizable lakes (and many of the smaller ones) were all built by the installation of dams (look for the drains - vertical concrete structures with grates).  Each lake has areas for public access.

I think they all have the same type of fish - bass, bluegill, carp (these were sterilized so they wouldn't reproduce), yellow perch, catfish and the various odds and ends.

The influx of cooler freshwater from Sandy and dropping temperatures has made the fish go deeper at Lake Newport - where I normally see fish from shore, I didn't see any this weekend.  If you don't catch from shore, you may want to try from a kayak or standup paddleboard out towards the deeper parts of the lake, use an intermediate line to get your fly down.

Good luck!

[Rob Snowhite]

Ah, good old lake Thoreau. I grew up on Audubon and thus fished that more. Thoreau as we all know was the site of the nudist colony back in the day and thus one of the origins of the legend of the Bunny Man (Though Dan and his neck of the woods have their own version).

The lake receives much less pressure than Audubon as there is no trail along the edges, fewer docks, and no boat ramp. Reston Association has signs posted to kill largemouth that are under a certain limit to keep the large ones large.

Reston patch has posted some very large largemouth coming out of the lake in the past few years. The lake has had a mass bloom of algae and introduced flora in the past few years and this yeas was supposed to have herbicide treatment.

The lake also holds some really, really large grass carp. Steve who runs VaFlyfish wiL tell you the lake has a bunch of leeches in it.  He grew up on the lake.

I have only fished Tenkara from the dock on South Lakes Shopping center and the path along South  Lakes Drive in the past years for bluegill. Other than the Reston Patch articles, that's all the info I have on whats in there.

Here is a cool picture of a bald eagle on the frozen lake.

If you fish it from a boat, work the shorelines and docks, work the pontoon boats and the dam. Work the condos along the shore by  the shopping center.

On Tuesday, November 6, 2012 4:24:56 AM UTC-5, Lane Smith wrote:

[Brian]

Interesting, that's the first I've heard of killing undersize large mouths.  Guess I'll need to look for the signs, that's all I've ever caught from shore there.  I did hear something about not eating fish from there because of all the naked hippies that swam in the lake.  If it's anything like Lake Anne in North Reston, it's probably got some crappie action too.