Cotting Lake

Cotting Lake sits in Prince William County and is classified as a lake; I would pick one easy-to-read section of bank as the first section and keep fishing it until I get a useful clue from the first area. For the opening part of the day, I would keep working one promising section of bank until I get a clear read from the first area, because moving constantly makes a lake harder to read.

Cotting Lake Size, Maximum Depth and Volume

Cotting Lake does not have a dependable set of published size and depth measurements, so I would wait until an official lake survey confirms the number before trusting a number and stay around one straightforward shoreline stretch until I find a repeatable bite in the first few casts.

Fish Species and Best Baits

Known fish for Cotting Lake include Bluegill and Largemouth Bass, so I would build the first part of the day around one main target at one sheltered shoreline stretch and avoid switching until I get a useful answer from the first few casts. If bass are present in Cotting Lake, a spinnerbait plus a Texas-rigged plastic gives a practical combination around one sheltered section of water; I would change it only when I get a useful clue from the first hour.

A Practical Cotting Lake Game Plan

If I were seeing Cotting Lake for the first time, I would work one short section of water with only a few dependable baits and change one part of the plan before the rest after I get a clear read from the first hour. If I see a pattern develop in the first hour, I would stay around one nearby section of water on Cotting Lake and use that clue on the next similar stretch. After I get a useful clue from the opening stretch, I would leave Cotting Lake knowing that one manageable part of the lake deserves another look before I start searching somewhere else.