Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 22, 1990 TAG: 9006220036
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The woodcutting speaks elegantly of the summer angling at the lake. If you want to catch bass now through August, you do it at night. The daytime is left to other chores.
The same can be said of Claytor and Philpott lakes. Nighttime is the right time to go after bass in any clear-water, upland impoundment.
At Smith Mountain, some fishermen have been docking with limit catches of chunky bass that average better than two pounds apiece. It has been taking more than 24 pounds to win many after-dark partners tournaments this month.
"That's the only time to catch fish, from now through fall," said Garrett in praise of the night.
With after-hour's fishing, you beat the heat, you escape the buzzsaw of boat traffic and you confront bass that are moving toward the shallows with a keen interest in feeding.
Top-water lures and plastic worms have been the most productive baits.
"The fish don't have any trouble finding them," said Garrett. "I don't think people realize how well they can see at night."
First choice in lure color for Garrett is black. Most likely the bass will be looking up at the lure and a dark color will give a good contrast against the lightness of the night sky, he said.
A favorite nighttime plug is the Red Fin, but most any of the top-water noisemakers will attract strikes. John Jones, a guide from Vinton, says he likes the Jitterbug, one of the oldest surface lures on the market. He searches for bass around brush piles and rocky points.
While bass frequently will strike shallow-running or surface lures, there are times that they hold deep, guide Dale Wilson says. Then you go after them with plastic worms.
More than 6,000 people appeared for the weigh-in of Reedville's seventh annual Bluefish Derby, and you had to wonder if some were there just to see what a bluefish looked like.
Big blues have been scarce in Chesapeake Bay this season and last. In fact, the derby winner, Horace Jones of Topping, made an 80-mile round-trip run from Buzzard's Bay Marina at Reedville to the Fish Hook, where he and his crew found a 13.3-pound fish. That meant leaving the bay and heading 25 miles out into the Atlantic.
Gunning his 23-foot Formula, Jones arrived at the weigh-in a scant 13 minutes before the deadline. Jim Whitten, who also went to the Fish Hook, had a bigger blue, 13.45 pounds, but docked five minutes late and was disqualified. He lost the $8,000 prize to Jones.
Second place went to Dr. Robert Jacey of Richmond, who caught a 12.54-pound blue at the mouth of the bay along the high rise of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. That was the closest to Reedville of any prize-winning catch, but still a 45-minute run.
Frustrated tournament officials said they plan to look into ways to limit contest fishing to the water close to Reedville.
A 14-pound, 12.8-ounce brown trout landed by Mike Perkins of Bland has been established as a state record, according to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Perkins made the catch on a Joe's Fly and 4-pound line while fishing the South Fork of the Holston River in late May.
Guide Dale Wilson has been enjoying some excellent early-morning striped bass catches at Smith Mountain Lake - 20 one day, 26 another, 16 still another.
But he has had his share of lean days, too.
"It has been hit or miss," he said of the fishing that begins at daylight and is over by about 9:30 a.m.
Schools of baitfish are begining to show up on the surface of Lake Moomaw, where an occasional trout is striking them.
Leesville Lake fishermen have been catching crappie and white bass on minnows.
A sulfur hatch has been coming off Smith River, where fly fishermen in the Bassett area have had success on parachute patterns.
Bob Kirby of Pulaski reported landing a 2-pound bluegill on a night crawler while fishing the Clinch River.
Janice Romans of Wytheville landed a limit of stripers in the 8-pound range using night crawlers as bait at Claytor Lake.
by CNB