Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 22, 1990 TAG: 9006230347
SECTION: SMITH MOUNTAIN TIMES PAGE: SMT-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Try a 20-pound carp named Big Bad John.
John and more than 100 of his buddies hang out in the water off Smith Mountain Dock in Pittsylvania County, where owner Louise Munson has been feeding the carp handouts of bread, popcorn and french fries for more than 20 years.
She said the phenomenon started when she began throwing scraps to two or three carp swimming near her convenience store and snack bar on the dock.
Munson figured word of the free banquet spread through the fish community. "They said, `Hey, I found a good hangout - let's go,' " she joked.
Every night about 6 o'clock, Munson tosses supper to a churning mass of fins and gaping mouths. Meanwhile, onlookers gape in disbelief.
"I think it's weird when they tackle each other" for the food, said Robert Petty, a Danville teen-ager who happened upon the fish while working with his uncle on a construction project up the road.
The fish's aggressiveness doesn't faze Munson.
"Come 'ere babies," she said, offering them a couple slices of bread. She lovingly reached into the feeding frenzy to stroke a few squirming carp and an occasional free-loading catfish.
The wriggling body of fish was so thick, two ducks swimming by actually walked across it.
Munson said about 50 mallards recently caught wind of the free meals and have decided to make the dock their home for the winter. During those months, she feeds cracked corn to both ducks and fish.
A few of the fish have names - like Big Bad John, Charlie and Pee Wee. Munson said she can distinguish them by their markings.
She figured the carp stick around because she protects them. "You put a hook in the water and Mama Munson will make you more scared than those fish are," said Roger Gunnell - a beer salesman whose route includes the dock - as he tossed a cup of popcorn to the tumbling fish.
Munson has a popcorn machine in her store. She said when the carp hear it, "they all head toward the dock with their mouths open."
She said the fish will eat just about anything. "But they don't like dead minnows."
by CNB