Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 14, 1991 TAG: 9102140052
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But a couple of large blimps on his graph told him some big fish were in the shallows.
"Where I was, it was like 9 feet of water. I said, `Heck. I'm not going to throw the net and scare them.' "
Teass, who is part of the family that operates Camper's Paradise, backed off and tied on a Red Fin plug, one with a black back and silver sides.
BOOM! A striped bass hit. Then another. The fish weighed 12 to 13 pounds apiece.
Stripers on the banks!
Those words stimulate much the same deep-seated feelings among fishermen around here that "Ice out!" does in the north country. They may not mean that spring has arrived, but finding stripers in the shallows in February is akin to spotting the first robin of the year.
The heart rate of a fishermen especially can quicken at the sights and sounds of stripers feeding on the surface.
"I've had several people tell me that they can see them flopping up near the Ponderosa, or just before you get to it," said Lynette Jones of Magnum Point Marina. Ponderosa is up the Blackwater River arm of the lake.
Most of the early season striper fishing appears to be in the upper reaches of the impoundment, be it the Blackwater or Roanoke River arms. Often tributaries like Gills, Beaver Dam, Grimes and Indian creeks are drawing the most fish.
Several of the best have been hooked on Red Fin lures, including a 37-pound, 4-ounce trophy for James Pirner of Maryland. Pirner was using an old Zebco reel with 10-pound line.
Ken Watson of Vinton landed a 36-8 striper on a Red Fin; David Whitt of Hardy got a 30-8 fish on a bucktail.
"It has been super," Melvin Crewson said. In a week's time, his Minnow Pond tackle shop in Hardy registered a half-dozen stripers above the 23-pound mark.
Teass said he believes the stripers are in their annual transition period, moving from deep-water winter holdings to the shallows where they feed heavily in late winter and early spring. Those he is locating in the shallows are after large gizzard shad, and they most likely are there during the low-light periods of early morning and just before dark.
As Teass moves his boat into a tributary, the hot spots have been at the mouth and toward the back of the creek. The type of bank and structure doesn't appear to have a bearing on where the fish are located, he said.
Striper angler Arnold Lilly of Princeton, W.Va., landed one of the largest walleye (8-10) of the season from Smith Mountain.
"He was really tickled. He was shaking all over," said Jones, who helped Lilly weigh the egg-laden fish, then watched as he released it.
Some largemouth bass also are being landed, including a 5-pounder for Jeff Martin of Roanoke. Crappie up to 2 1/2 pounds also have been caught.
Philpott Lake is producing some early season smallmouth bass catches. Brown jigs with blue pork frogs and live bait have been productive.
From the Chickahominy River comes the happy discovery that largemouth bass are turning on. Several 7-pound-plus bass have been weighed.
Looking still farther eastward, striped bass continue to hit well along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, and commercial tuna fishermen working out of Oregon Inlet, N.C., landed and released blue marlin on back-to-back days.
by CNB