Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 16, 1992 TAG: 9201160046
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: bill cochran
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
RECORD CATFISH A SURPRISE IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE
When 30-year-old Scott Nissen of Richmond reeled a 56-pound, 12-ounce blue catfish from the James River, he didn't just break the state record, he smashed it.The previous record - 45 pounds, 8 ounces - was established March 28, 1989, with a Rappahannock River cat.
Nissen's fish, approved as a record by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries last week, is the largest of all species in the freshwater record book.
"It is just massive," said Ed Steinkoenig, a state fish biologist who is chairman of Virginia's record fish committee.
Size wasn't the only surprise. In the past, all the big blue cats have come from the Rappahannock River, where they were stocked in the early to mid-70s.
"Either they have gone down the Rappahannock, around the horn and up the James or they have been carried to the James by anglers, birds or whatever," said Steinkoenig.
If you are looking to break a record this season, what's your best opportunity?
Go for bowfin in the small eastern lakes, like Cohoon, Prince and Mead, or cast for yellow perch at Lake Moomaw.
The bowfin is the only species for which there is no record, said Rick Eades, a state fish biologist. Officials have established a 15-pound minimum. Eades said he'd seen two bigger than that while doing research at Cohoon and Prince.
"There are probably more state record bowfin swimming around in Southeast Virginia than records of any other species," he said.
This winter, yellow perch of surprising size have been showing up in Lake Moomaw. The Alleghany Trappers Supply in Covington has weighed perch up to 2 pounds, 2 ounces, which matches the state record.
\ A year ago, when Gov. Wilder, with the help of General Assembly members, diverted $1.2 million in boat funds to the General Fund, outdoorsmen protested so loudly some legislators wondered if they would be re-elected.
Now there is relief. The governor's proposed 1992-94 budget calls for repaying the debt.
Legislators are expected to approve. They've learned that robbing banks may be a less divisive way to meet the state's budget needs than messing with sportsmen's money.
\ This time of year, Nags Head, N.C., goes a long way toward recapturing its innocence, almost returning to an era of stilted beach shacks divided by a narrow, pitted blacktop heading southward parallel to the ocean.
Oh, the chain motels remain, along with the souvenir shops, the gaudy miniature golf courses, the widened highway, the condos. But the crowds are gone, chased away by cold northeast winds that ruffle the ocean and whistle through the scrubby vegetation to reshape the soft sand of the dunes.
Some people - even anglers - think the fish are gone, too, but that isn't the case. There are schools of tuna off Oregon Inlet and Hatteras.
"This is the thing that really gripes me," said Damon Tatem, who operates a tackle shop in Nags Head. "You can catch more tuna now than any other time, but nobody fishes."
Lacking customers, charter boat skippers often plow into the ocean as commercial fishermen.
A couple boatloads of sport fishermen did show up the other day. Limits of 15- to 30-pound tuna were landed and two blue marlin slashed at the trolled baits. Other fishermen worked inshore water and caught tautog, including a 19-pounder expected to become a North Carolina record. A surf caster landed a 17-pound striped bass.
No one has to explain to Tatem and other residents why so few come to fish in January. It's the weather.
"The weather is completely unpredictable," he said. "More likely bad than good."
\ Most grouse hunters have had to put a lot of miles on their legs and on their dogs for every bird they've flushed this season.
How bad is it? That won't be known until the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries compiles its annual survey later this year. We did get a note from Bud Long of Pulaski after publishing a picture of a grouse on the Sunday Outdoor Page.
"I appreciate the picture. Perhaps if I see one in the woods I'll know what it is."
No matter how the birds fly, grouse hunters enjoy talking about grouse. Members of the Virginia Mountains Chapter of the Ruffed Grouse Society will be doing that Monday at 7 p.m., when they meet at the National Life of Vermont office, 4401 Starkey Road. Jack Wakeland needs a head count today: 989-4600 or 342-4708.