Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 20, 1990 TAG: 9003202291
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Last week, when the full moon and water temperatures rose in unison, a vanguard of channel bass (red drum) hit the surf at Cape Point. They came in numbers normally reserved for April.
"It was the earliest we've ever had them come in that quantity," said Ollie Jarvis, who operates the Dillon's Corner tackle shop at Buxton.
The first night, John Oakes, along with six or seven other anglers, was there when the copper-colored fish pushed their way into the shallows. Oakes is a guide who works out of Dillon's Corner.
"Every one of them caught at least 20 drum," Jarvis said of the handful of fishermen lucky - and smart - enough to be at the point, where the sea moans and hisses as it breaks around a finger of land poking into the Atlantic.
Oakes caught and released broad-shouldered fish until he got tired and called it quits. The others still were cranking them in when he headed off into the night.
The next morning, there were a couple of catches right off - a 53-pounder and a 38-pounder. Then came a lull.
Around 11:30 a.m., with the tide flushing full, schools of big fish moved in again.
"You would see them circle and they made the water boil," Jarvis said. "They were tearing the water up almost like a bluefish blitz. By then, there were a couple of hundred people there."
The good fishing was followed by wind and lower temperatures, and the channel bass moved back into their deep-water vaults. By Monday, fishermen were watching and wondering, and Jarvis was telling customers, "Maybe tomorrow," and "For certain around April 9." That's the next full moon.
With the weather doing weird things to fish, Outer Banks anglers are wondering how the bluefish, the bread-and-butter species of surf fishers, will react. Schools of jumbo-size blues have been hanging well off the beach since January.
What has many of the Outer Banks people startled is that bluefish also have been spotted well off Virginia's Eastern Shore.
The question being debated at the Banks: Are the blues going to bypass the surf?
"I would hate to make a prediction," said Damon Tatem, who operates a tackle shop at Nags Head, N.C. "It is still real early. But I don't like the idea of all those fish being off the Virginia Capes. That's a long ways."
A commercial fishermen netted some big blues Monday morning around the mouth of Oregon Inlet at Nags Head. This is as close inshore as any has been spotted since the warm weather of January, Tatem said.
"Whether they are going to stay there or not, I don't know," he said.
\ Some excellent catches of bass were turned up by familiar names Saturday during the Smith Mountain Lake Ruritan Club Tournament.
The one-day contest was won by brothers Jim and Tom Hunziker, who had a 10-fish catch that weighed 32 pounds, 4 3/4 ounces. Jim is from Roanoke; Tom, from Montvale.
Second were Bob Taylor and Bo Grovsnor of Pamplin, with a fraction more than 25 pounds; third were Ronnie Lemons and Jim Stephenson of Vinton at 24 pounds, 14 1/2 ounces.
The big fish was a 6-pound, 13 1/2-ounce largemouth landed by David Henson of Buena Vista. The top club was the Roanoke Valley Bassmasters.
\ Radford native Bob Duncan has been appointed chief of the game division of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Duncan replaces Jack Raybourne, who had been chief the past 11 years.
Raybourne will head the agency's new planning and environmental services division. Duncan has been assistant chief of the game division for 11 years.
Duncan received national recognition Monday in Denver, where he was awarded the National Wildlife Society's annual McDonough award for significant contributions to the wildlife profession.
by CNB