Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 31, 1994 TAG: 9401310275
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A shovel?
It came in handy for Alex Scott the other day when he used it to break ice in order to launch his boat at the Whitethorn state ramp on the New River.
Really, is any game fish, no matter how large or mysterious, worth that much effort?
``They never lose their thrill,'' said Scott, who lives in McCoy.
Since his first catch, which occurred the last Saturday in October 1979, muskie fishing has fired Scott's spirit and lured him out to battle ice and odds and the other challenges that are a part of this wolf of the water.
He has paid his dues and now is closing in on his 400th catch. The muskie he broke ice to catch the other day gave him a career total of 384. Sometime, probably on a hot day in July or the black of an August night, he should break the 400 mark.
That is a figure of legendary proportion. Most fishermen fail to catch a single muskie in a lifetime of casting, and those who land just one or two consider themselves part of the angling elite.
Terms like muskie madness, muskie mania and muskie mystique are used to describe fishing for a species that can look like a sinister submarine armed with a violent cargo of teeth. But Scott has less colorful prose to describe what it takes to be successful. Persistence.
``The thing is, you have to go. You have to be there to catch them.''
This heavyweight champ of freshwater fish doesn't climb into the ring often to defend its title, so when it does, you best be there, and be ready.
During the early stages of Scott's muskie-fishing career, muskie stalking was considered a pursuit of winter, best done when snow water raises the level of the river and ice the color of a muskie's belly forms in the eddies.
Scott continues to fish the winter months, but he made a warming discovery about a half-dozen years ago when he and two companions landed 22 muskie during an unforgettable, two-week period in late June and early July. Muskie not only strike better during the warm-weather months, he learned, they fight harder, too.
Last season, Scott made still another discovery. Night fishing.
``I got into night fishing last year in the middle of August. It had gotten so hot we just decided we'd try it. I went out two nights and I caught five and the boy with me [Ralph Johnson] caught three. That was eight muskie in two nights.''
The take included the biggest muskie of the year for Scott, a 24-pounder. Mark Agner of Roanoke landed the largest New River muskie of the season, a 29-pound, 9-ounch trophy, on a night trip.
``I'm going to pursue night fishing this summer for sure,'' Scott said.
His total catch for 1993 was 22 muskie, less than half of the 48 keepers he landed the season before. The actual total for '92 was 56, but Scott doesn't count them unless they measure 30 inches or more.
One room in his home is papered with muskie citations plaques, and garnished with monstrous mounts staring through glass eyes, but they were fruit of the early days. He no longer kills them. They go back into the water unharmed. And wiser. His catch and release philosophy has lowered the state's citation count and lessened the business at taxidermist shops, but after a couple hundred muskie you no longer have to prove anything.
The most productive fishing territory for Scott is the four-mile Whitethorn-Bell Springs section of the New River, where he spends 75 percent of his angling time casting and 25 percent trolling.
``I try to cast as long as I can and when I get tired I will troll. It gives you a break, but you are still fishing.''
The New slows and deepens in the Whitethorn-Bell Springs area, and there are rock ledges to accommodate muskie in the cold-weather months, and grass beds with deep water nearby to provide stalking and sulking areas in the summertime.
His biggest catch is a 35-pound, 8-ounce giant, hooked on a trolled Hellbender plug at Bell Springs, June, 1988. A year later, Ronnie Underwood set the state record with a 45-pound fish from New River.
The New not only has been producing big muskie, but also more of them than any other body of water. A preliminary count of 1993 muskie citations by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries shows 19 from the New, 10 from the James River, five from Lake Shenandoah, four apiece from the Clinch River and Burke Lake and two from Claytor Lake. Those figures are likely to increase as additional early winter catches are recorded.
by CNB