ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 24, 1997 TAG: 9703250008
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
IF you want to catch a trophy largemouth bass, not just a citation-size 8-pounder - which is a trophy all right - but one twice that big, the place to go in Virginia is Briery Creek Lake. The past two springs, the 845-acre state-owned impoundment near Farmville has produced the lion's share of bass at the top of Virginia's citation list, including a 16-pound, 3-ounce monster, just an ounce off the state record.
Last year, Briery Creek Lake accounted for eight of the 10 largest bass registered with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. But biologists are warning fishermen that the honeymoon isn't going to last forever.
``I am trying to preach that, so people know it is coming before it hits,'' said Dan Wilson, the state fish biologist assigned to the lake's management.
Even at its peak, Briery Creek Lake could send you home with the catch of a lifetime one day and without a strike another. Last spring, Dave Gladwell, an optometrist with a practice in Bedford, experienced both.
He and Bill Bowen, also from Bedford, fished Briery on a cold, windy day and didn't get a strike. After that licking, Gladwell decided to fish Chickahominy Lake, but when those plans fell through, he was back on Briery with Bowen.
This time, Bowen insisted they stop at Worsham's Grocery near the lake to buy minnows.
``I didn't even really want to get any minnows,'' said Gladwell, who considers himself an artificials-only angler. But jumbo minnows were catching bass, Bowen insisted.
``I just took one of the smallest hooks I could find that I use for plastic worms and hooked the minnow on it,'' Bowen said.
The two anglers tossed a couple of minnow-baited rigs over the side of the boat, then started fishing with spinnerbaits. Bowen landed a bass that was about 16 inches long. Other than that, things were painfully slow.
``Right at noon, the line that had my minnow on took off,'' Gladwell said.
What happened next was something you'd expect to see on the cover of an outdoor magazine. A huge bass rolled to the surface in a spray of water, its red gills flared, its eyes seething, its mouth agape and looking big enough to consume a softball.
``I'd never seen a bass that big,'' said Gladwell. It was bigger than the state record 12-pound, 9-ounce rainbow trout he caught on a fly rod in 1986.
``We got the bass on one side of the boat, then he took off, and then we got him up on the other side of the boat and Bill was able to get the net on him - or her, I am sure.''
Back at Worsham's, the bass weighed an even 14 pounds. Only two heavier largemouths were registered with the fish and game department in 1996. Both were Briery Creek Lake catches.
This spring, the warm - and not-so-warm - days of March have lured eager anglers to Briery to work the gray hulks of the hardwoods and pines that protrude from the ebony water. Bill Black of Powhatan landed a 13-pound largemouth, and George Watson of Appomattox got a 91/2-pounder. There also have been a handful of 8-pound fish coming to the scales. Nice catches, but no blitz - not yet, anyway.
Will it come?
Wilson believes a slowdown already is under way.
``Last year, fewer big fish were caught,'' he said. ``This isn't to say there aren't going to be any more big fish at Briery. What I am trying to say is that fishermen should not expect to see as many.''
For one thing, the lake is aging.
``It is common for lakes to have really good growth rates and survival the first couple of year-classes of fish,'' Wilson said. Briery did better than most, because the bass enjoyed an abundance of cover. The lake was designed for fishing. Nearly 50 percent of the standing timber in the lake bed was left uncut. Other timber was cut and stacked like a jumble of giant toothpicks.
``It probably allows for those fish to grow older without being harvested,'' Wilson said. ``I think that protection allowed those fish to reach 10 to 12 years old without being harvested, which is a hard thing to do in lakes that are being fished heavily.''
The initial stockings took place in the mid- to late-1980s, which means the early classes of bass are reaching nursing home age, and they aren't being replaced. Many of the fish stocked contained the Florida-strain bloodline that is known for producing bass of gigantic proportions. But Wilson believes the growth of the bass had more to do with the virgin habitat and the cover.
``One problem now [is that] most of those old fish are being lost, either from old age or being taken home for mounting,'' Wilson said. ``At some point in time, those original fish that were stocked or the first couple of year-classes of wild fish that were hatched are going to be gone, and we are facing that time real soon. Most of them are probably gone now, with a few remnants being held over.''
But it would be unwise to write off the lake, Wilson said.
``I would still say the fisherman has the chance to catch a trophy fish out of there as anywhere else,'' Wilson said.
BIGGEST BASS FROM BRIERY CREEK LAKE: 16 pounds, 3 ounces, Scott Moss, Richmond, April 1995.
STATE-RECORD LARGEMOUTH: 16 pounds, 4 ounces, Richard Tate, Ringgold, Lake Conner, April 16, 1985.
LARGEMOUTH CITATIONS STATEWIDE IN 1996: 1,528 (fish minimum of 8 pounds or 22 inches.)
BEST MONTHS OF THE 1996 SEASON:
June, 249 citations.
April, 230 citations.
LAKES WITH THE MOST 1996 CITATIONS: Lake Chesdin, 81; Lake Prince, 81; Western Branch, 81; Lake Anna, 63; Chickahominy, 63; Smith Mountain Lake, 53; Lake Gaston, 38.
David Gladwell with his 14-pound largemouth
LENGTH: Long : 110 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: BILL COCHRAN THE ROANOKE TIMES. 1. The warm days ofby CNBMarch have lured fishermen to Briery Creek Lake, where they probe
with baits and lures around the hulks of standing timber. The
abundance of cover has helped the bass grow to trophy size. color.
2. David Gladwell with his 14-pound largemouth. color. Graphic: Map.
color.