Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 9, 1992 TAG: 9201090291
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BLACK FLIES KEEP TROUT JUMPING AT JACKSON RIVER GORGE
The water that flows out of the bowels of Gathright Dam, to tumble frigid and fast down the Jackson River Gorge, can be alive with dry fly hatches, even in January.You have to look closely to see them, the black flies little more than wind-blown specks.
The trout know they are there, and so do anglers like Steve Hiner.
"The Jackson is hot," said Hiner, certainly not referring to the temperature.
It is only one of several fishing opportunities available to winter-locked sportsmen. Others include casting jigs to 30-pound stripers at Smith Mountain Lake and tossing pork to Lake Anna largemouth bass that are shaped like an over-inflated football. Here's a look at them:
"There is a group of black flies that comes off in the winter," said Hiner, speaking of the Jackson action. "You are fishing real small stuff."
Small as in midget-size, No. 24 fly patterns, so tiny they nearly disappear in the creases of your hand.
A hatch of them, however, can fuel the trout into a frenzy, their colors flashing pink, bronze and silver amid the riffles and pools.
You might not think of this fishery as a fly-angling primer, but Hiner said it can be.
"It is a good chance for people to learn how to fish small flies," he said.
Like the flies, the trout are from a modest mold, a foot-long one being about the best you'll hook. And, remember, you can't keep any from this portion of the river. But who cares?
Dale Wilson, a full-time guide at Smith Mountain, took a postman's holiday this week, traveling to Kerr Lake, then to Briery Creek Lake and, finally, back home, where the fish were all along.
Kerr was high and muddy and carried so much debris that Wilson had to idle through some main-channel areas. So he pulled out and headed to Briery Creek, but he didn't like the looks of the water there, either.
Back at Smith Mountain, with hardly any daylight left, he landed six stripers.
During an earlier outing, Wilson put Buster Oliva of Charlottesville into big stripers up the Blackwater River arm of the lake. Using bucktails, Oliva landed a 20-pounder, then a 30-pounder, then broke his line on a third lunker.
"We didn't catch the fish until about 10 in the morning," Wilson said. "Once they quit feeding, they just disappeared."
The stripers were schooling over standing timber in deep water. Wilson and Oliva were dropping bucktail jigs 20 feet deep and retrieving them slow enough to keep them on the level of the fish as long as possible.
Lake Anna's reputation of being the producer of trophy-size largemouth bass has cooled during recent season, but the impoundment still is a place to catch an 8-pound-plus fish. From now through March is the time to do it.
This past weekend, a number of bass in the 5- to 7-pound class were checked at Anna Point Marina, and Bo Fraser of Spotsylvania registered a citation-size 8-pound, 12-ounce beauty. It was taken on a Sassy Shad lure.
"Main Lake points extending into river channel bends are prime holding areas for trophy fish," said Steve Mudre, the marina operator.
He recommends fishing these areas with dark-colored jig-n-pig combinations or grubs on spinnerbaits.
The best largemouth of the past season was a 14-pound, 6-ounce Claytor Lake catch, landed in late June by Charles Davidson of Dublin. In a column last week, it was reported that a 12-pound, 2-ounce Lake Gaston bass was the top fish of the year.