Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 10, 1990 TAG: 9005100602
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For fish, 'tis the season of love, which means fishermen must deal with a variety of spawning traits for success.
In most of the state's major impoundments, largemouth bass are in relatively shallow water on their spawning beds.
John R. Jones, a Smith Mountain Lake guide from Vinton, likes to entice them with a topwater plug or buzzbait. Move such a lure across a bass bed and it can result in an explosive strike.
If that doesn't work, Melvin Crusson, who operates the Minnow Pond tackle shop in Hardy, recommends a spring lizard. It can be like throwing candy to children.
Bass hot spots are Kerr and Anna lakes. Kerr this week has been two feet above normal, which means its waters are easing back into the shoreline cover where bass like to set up shop. The fishing is rated excellent by Jim Abers, a Kerr guide. Look for the bass in the back of coves and pockets, he suggests.
At Anna, where the fishing also is rated excellent, Tim Hall, from Northern Virginia, landed a 9-pound largemouth.
Good numbers of striped bass continue to cruise the Roanoke (Staunton) River in the Brookneal area. One of the best concentrations is from Cat Rock, near U.S. 501 Bridge, downstream to Clarkton Bridge.
River fishermen are having success from about midnight to the wee hours of morning.
Stripers at Smith Mountain also are on a night cycle. Several 30-pounders have been landed. The full moon, which occurred Wednesday, traditionally ushers in a spurt of action.
High water and low temperatures appear to be slowing the start of the annual white bass run up the South Holston River near Abingdon. A few fish have been landed, but the run has started more like a marathon than a 100-yard dash.
All spring, there has been little to excite fishermen in the Chesapeake Bay, but that sad fact took a turn toward the positive side this week when outstanding catches of black drum occurred. One boat out of Cape Charles reported catching 14. The best thus far weighed 102 pounds.
"It was one of the better bites we have had in two or three years," said Claud Bain, director of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament.
Another bright spot in this year's tournament is a 7-pound, 8-ounce sea bass landed off Virginia Beach by Jimmy Kolb of Virginia Beach. A light-tackle advocate, Kolb has entered his catch as a world-record candidate in the 12-pound line class. The record now is a 6-pound, 4-ounce New York fish.
Trophy brown trout weighing 7 to 10 pounds are coming from Lake Moomaw, but not in the impressive numbers of previous seasons. Taking its toll is the poor survival of fish stocked a few seasons ago. The abundance of small trout at Moomaw indicates survival problems have been corrected.
The newest kid on the dock at Smith Mountain Lake is the yellow perch.
"I've seen 15 in the past week, all of them were in an ounce or two of citation size," said Melvin Crusson. A few have pressed above the one-pound minimum required for a citation.
"One guy lost one he swears was two pounds," said Crusson. The state record is a 2-pound, 2-ounce New River fish.
"It is just a matter of time (for the record to be caught)," said Crusson. "They have come on like gang busters the last two or three years. I have been weighing fish since the lake was impounded and I've never seen the like of big perch."
by CNB