Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 28, 1991 TAG: 9103280112
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The striped bass are headed toward their spring peak at Smith Mountain Lake. Bluefish are beginning to crash the sandy shores of the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Trout are finning about in rain-swollen mountain streams. Bass and crappie are on the prowl in impoundments.
Here's a look at the action:
\ STRIPERS: For Dale Wilson, Smith Mountain Lake has been living up to its name as the best striped bass impoundment in the state. A lake guide, Wilson caught and released 23 stripers and a black bass one day, got 23 and five the next, then went to Gaston Lake and caught nothing. Back at Smith Mountain the next day, he reeled in 19 stripers.
"It will get better," Wilson said. The spring peak may be about 10 days off, he said.
Wilson said he is hooking most of his stripers on main and secondary points in five to 12 feet of water. He likes a windy day and has been getting his best strikes in water that breaks from discolored to clear. The fish are averaging 7 to 10 pounds, with a 20-pounder coming to the boat occasionally.
Wilson said he likes to toss a quarter-ounce white jig. One day he landed two 4-pound-plus smallmouths on back-to-back casts. He also has caught a 2 1/2-pound white bass and a 4-pound walleye.
Other Smith Mountain fishermen have been reporting a grab-bag variety of catches. Steve Bowyer of Glade Hill weighed an 8-pound, 10-ounce largemouth caught with a bucktail. Kenneth Inman of Richmond hooked a 2-pound, 12-ounce white bass. Donald Jones of Moneta got one that weighed 2 pounds, 9 ounces.
\ HATTERAS: Easter weekend is the time surf fishermen begin driving to the edge of the continent at Cape Point, N.C. They peer at the surf through salt-sprayed windshields, looking for bluefish and drum, their 12-foot rods mounted on the bumper racks of 4X4s like lances ready for battle.
Easter comes a tad early this time, something the fish probably don't know, but already blues and red drum (channel bass) have provided action.
During one two-hour spurt at Cape Point, the surf boiled with big blues. Early this week, scattered blues moved northward along the coast and were caught by casters up to Avon. Netters got them five miles south of Oregon Inlet at midweek.
"It's just a matter of time" Damon Tatem said, predicting their arrival at Nags Head, where he operates a tackle shop. "We have 54-degree water. We have bait on the beach. I think we are going to have them this weekend."
This spring has potential for producing excellent bluefish action, if last fall is any indication. Late season blues were thick in the surf, even into December.
There has been one major blitz of drum at Cape Point, when anglers caught about 25 fish that weighed up to 50 pounds. Offshore, yellowfin tuna in the 25- to 30-pound bracket have been providing success for trollers.
\ TROUT: Frequent rains have kept trout streams full, and even discolored, which means anglers are having to work hard for the fish they catch.
Fish officials are into their second week of inseason stocking. Last week they failed to get us the stocking list on time.
Our plans remain the same to print the list on the Friday Scoreboard and to record it on Sportsline (981-3385), but the state has to make it available to us before we can.
\ BASS: Largemouth bass are bowing the rods of fishermen at several lakes, including Briery Creek, Anna, Kerr and Chickahominy. Most major warm-water streams are too high to fish.
At Briery Creek, the state's new Florida bass impoundment, Clyde Garrett of Farmville caught a largemouth just a couple ounces under 8 pounds. He was casting a spinnerbait.
by CNB