Bracey's Lake Calendar Hands Off to the Anglers After Halloween

On Saturday, October 31, JB & the Get Down Browns take the stage at Shady Shack Bar and Grill on Hendricks Mill Road from 6 to 9 p.m. Shady Shack's events page describes that night as "Closing out the season the best way we know! Thank y'all for another great season!"

Bracey's water calendar keeps going after that, though. The busiest Saturday of the off-season comes exactly one week later. On November 7, a free veterans' catfishing event launches from Honey Hole Marina before sunrise, Shady Shack hosts its first BBQ festival in its own parking lot, and a catfish tournament series runs from a ramp across the lake. From late October into January, Lake Gaston's schedule belongs mostly to anglers, and on the Virginia shore, Bracey sits right in the middle of it.

The season closer, and what Shady Shack still lists after it

Shady Shack sits at 183 Hendricks Mill Road. Its posted fall hours are 4 to 9 p.m. on Mondays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays. If you're planning a last weeknight dinner on the water, those are the hours to work from between now and Halloween.

The same events page keeps going past October 31. It lists Baby Grand Band on Friday, November 6, from 6 to 9 p.m. The next day, Baby Grand Band & Small Potatoes play "LIVE from the Shack Parking lot from 11-3 for our first annual Smoke on the Water BBQ Festival." The calendar also shows live music from 6 to 9 p.m. on November 13 and 20 and on December 4, 5, 11 and 18. The page doesn't say whether regular kitchen service continues around those dates. Call ahead before you plan a winter dinner around them.

So Shady Shack calls Halloween the end of its season, and its own calendar fills back up a week later. You'll find the same pattern across the whole lake.

Honey Hole Marina carries the cold months

The other Bracey address to know this fall is Honey Hole Marina at Holly Grove, 8826 State Route 903. The marina advertises waterfront dining, full-service fuel and docking, more than 30 boat slips, and a grab-and-go market with essentials, snacks and hand-dipped ice cream. Its website sends visitors to Facebook for event updates, so check there for current hours.

Two of the off-season's bigger events launch from here.

The first is on Saturday, October 24. The Lake Gaston Collective tournament calendar lists the Virginia Bass Chapter Federation South Regional at "Lake Gaston – Honey Hole at Holly Grove." According to that listing, the regional kicks off the federation's 2027 Team Tournament Trail and brings competitive bass teams to the lake.

The second is two weeks later, and it's the one that makes November 7 stand out. Operation Vets With Nets holds its third annual Hooked on Heroes event at Honey Hole Marina. Veterans and active-duty service members fish for free, each one paired with a volunteer captain for a day of catfishing. Meetup is at 5:30 a.m. sharp for boat assignments and a safety briefing. Fishing runs from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., followed by a meal at the pavilion with prize giveaways. On its event page, Operation Vets With Nets calls the day "a mission-driven event created to honor, support, and connect our nation's Veterans through the healing power of the outdoors."

The weekend starts the night before. A meet and greet runs Friday, November 6, from 6 to 9 p.m. at VFW Post 8163, 7524 U.S. 15 in Clarksville. Organizers say spots are limited, and they're also trying to cover lodging for participating veterans from November 6 to the morning of the 7th. If you have a boat and know the catfish water, the same page has a volunteer captain registration form.

Why the cold-month schedule leans toward catfish

Look at the calendar month by month and you'll see the bass clubs run heavy in late October and November. After mid-November, the lineup turns to catfish. The December event and the November 7 events at both Honey Hole and Hawtree Creek are all catfish events.

The state biologists' work fits that timing. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission's blue catfish fact sheet, dated March 2017, reports gill-net sampling on Lake Gaston in November 2016 and January 2017. Those cold-month nets turned up 95 blue catfish, from 2 to 27 pounds and 17 to 39 inches long, plus one flathead. The same sheet says catfish were the lake's second most targeted species in a 2008 creel survey. It also says blue catfish turning up as bycatch in striped bass sampling had increased over the prior decade. These are older agency numbers and don't predict this season. They do show that big blue catfish were in Lake Gaston during exactly the months the tournament calendar now favors.

Bass fishing still has a strong case too. The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources' Lake Gaston page calls the largemouth bass population excellent and points to vegetation and docks as places to find them. It also notes that stocked striped bass grow to quality size. The late-October lineup includes two club championships and the federation's South Regional.

The off-season by date and launch site

Here is the stretch from publication day through the January final. All of it comes from the Lake Gaston Collective calendar, which was last updated October 13, 2026, plus organizer pages where they exist.

CATT's Lake Gaston division schedule confirms the November 1 and November 15 qualifiers and the January 10 final. All three launch from Summit Landing, with fishing from safe daylight to 3 p.m. Hook'em & Book'em's Legends of Lake Gaston series page lists November 7 at Hawtree Creek and the December 5 finale at Henrico Wildlife Ramp. The November event listing shows it running from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Bracey has another public ramp nearby. Virginia DWR lists Pea Hill as a public access with one concrete ramp in Brunswick County, reached from Gasburg by heading east on Route 626 and then left on Route 705.

What November 7 looks like from Hendricks Mill Road and Route 903

Put the published times side by side and the first Saturday in November fills up fast. Veterans and captains meet at Honey Hole Marina at 5:30 a.m. and fish until 2 p.m. Across the lake, the Legends catfish event at Hawtree Creek runs from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. The BBQ festival in the Shady Shack parking lot runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., which overlaps the last three hours of fishing at Honey Hole.

If you live near either Bracey address, plan around the 5:30 a.m. boat assignments at Holly Grove and the 11 a.m. start in the Shady Shack lot. If you plan to go out in your own boat that Saturday, keep in mind that volunteer captains will be fishing from 6 a.m. on. If you'd rather stay ashore, the BBQ festival is the easy option. It's the Shack's first time hosting it, and live music starts at 11.

After the Fish On Bass Anglers Classic on November 13 and 14 and the CATT qualifier on November 15, the calendar thins to the Legends finale at Henrico Wildlife Ramp on December 5 and the CATT Fall Final at Summit Landing on January 10.

I keep this calendar on my desk because the off-season is a good time to see Lake Gaston the way it looks year-round. If you're thinking about a shoreline closer to the Holly Grove side, or wondering how a dock in Bracey works in a quiet November, I'm glad to talk it through over coffee or out on the water. Pamela Hale is here whenever you're ready to start.