The Lake That Hurricane Agnes Filled

Lake Anna was built to cool a nuclear plant, and a hurricane filled it far faster than planned. Today it is one of Virginia’s best bass and striper lakes, and a warm side that stays heated through winter shapes where fish go. This is the lake’s history, drawn from a reference history and the state’s lake page.

Building the lake

In 1968 the Virginia Electric and Power Company, now Dominion, bought 28 square miles of farmland across three counties. The lake bottom was cleared of timber and the dam neared completion in 1972. Planners projected three years to fill it, but the rain from Hurricane Agnes filled it in 18 months. The first of two reactors at the North Anna Power Station entered commercial operation in June 1978 and the second in December 1980. The lake was created to provide cooling water for the plant.

Why it is remarkable

Three stone dikes divide the lake into a public side of about 9,000 acres and a private warm side of about 4,000 acres. Some fish move to the warmer water in winter.

Connection to the waterway

The heated side helps explain the lake’s winter bass and striper fishing described in the Lake Anna guide. The warm side is private, so check access rules before you go.

The lake today

DWR calls Lake Anna a 9,600-acre impoundment in Louisa, Orange and Spotsylvania counties, and says largemouth bass are the best bet. It also holds stocked striped and hybrid striped bass, black crappie, catfish, white perch, sunfish and saugeye, though saugeye have not been stocked since 2014. There is no trout. DWR notes that winter is a striper hotspot, crappie spawn in the shallows from mid-March to early April, and November is best for white perch.

Rules include five largemouth a day with no length limit, four striped or hybrid bass a day with a 20-inch minimum, 25 crappie and 20 channel catfish.

Access, and what to check

DWR says the Route 522 ramp is closed because it lost the lease, and that a replacement is being sought. Launches are at private marinas, campgrounds and Lake Anna State Park. The Dike III platform has been removed, but shoreline fishing is allowed there. Sources disagree on the lake’s acreage and on how much is public, so we do not rely on one number.

What anglers can take from it

Look at where the dikes and discharge areas are on a map before you plan a winter trip. More stories from Virginia waters are in the Dock Tales index.

Sources and caveats

The history comes from one secondary source, Wikipedia’s article on Lake Anna. The Department of Wildlife Resources lake page calls the lake 9,600 acres, which does not match the split above, and we have not reconciled the two figures. A Dominion or state source would strengthen this story.