Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 20, 1992 TAG: 9202200131
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
HOOKS NOT ALWAYS BARE IN FEBRUARY
I'm not certain what the surf caster on the north side of Oregon Inlet thought he would catch the other day. February ranks at the bottom as a surf fishing month along North Carolina's Outer Banks.He was flinging a Gator lure and trailing 6-inch Mr. Twister, sending it from the sandy shore to the pulsating sea in a graceful arch like a golfer driving balls from a practice tee.
Then one of those repetitious deliveries was disrupted by a powerful jolt, and the angler was tied into a 40-pound striped bass.
"It was the first one since the eleventh day of January," Damon Tatem said from his Nags Head tackle shop.
The catch spoke accurately of fishing just about everywhere this time of the year. February is a batting-slump month for anglers, but that doesn't mean someone won't occasionally hit a home run.
Here are the week's home runs:
Jim Hemby landed Lake Anna's biggest largemouth bass of the season, a 10-pound, 3-ounce trophy. Hemby, who lives on Anna, was fishing the lower lake, where the water temperature is 46 degrees, six degrees warmer than the upper end. The bass gobbled up a live minnow.
Another Anna angler, Tom Thompson of Charlottesville, caught three bass, the largest weighing 7 pounds, 2 ounces.
Channel catfish are providing good hits at Chickahominy, where one group of fishermen used cut gizzard shad as bait to catch 100 pounds of fish.
At Smith Mountain Lake, Dale Beauman of Moneta weighed a 20-pound striped bass at Campers Paradise. Jim Inman of Richmond had a pair of stripers weighing 17 and 18 pounds.
Most of the striper fishing appears to be in the upper Blackwater River arm of the lake. Smith Mountain also is producing crappie.
In the "who says you need a boat?" category, Mike Martin of Bassett caught a 5-pound, 6-ounce largemouth while casting a live minnow from the bank at Philpott Lake. Another angler landed 2-pound, 9-ounce and 2-pound, 7-ounce smallmouths from the bank.
At Leesville Lake, trollers using Red Fins and big Kahlin grubs are catching a few stripers, some of them beauties, like the 18-pounder landed by Roger Hull of Altavista.
Even more attention is being given to the water below Leesville, where the annual Staunton River walleye run is in progress. The tailrace of the dam is providing walleye up to 3 1/2 pounds, mostly the smaller males, while bigger fish are being landed down river to Brookneal.
One of the attractions of the tailrace is that it provides public access, something that can be difficult to locate elsewhere.
At the dam, fishermen are using minnows for bait during non-generation periods, then switching to bucktail jigs when the gates open and water thunders through the giant turbines.
Be aware that the next several weeks will be a prime time for fishing farm ponds, since these small bodies of water tend to warm up quickly. Earl Pierotti of Goochland caught a limit of largemouth from a pond, including a 6 1/4-pounder.
Back to the Outer Banks, Damon Tatem believes the striped bass fishing has been off because "it hasn't been cold enough."
Boats out of Oregon Inlet have been taking impressive numbers of tuna, but very few sport fishermen think about offshore fishing this time of year. So charter boat skippers end up cranking their own reels and selling their catch at a fish market.
On the poor side is the fishing at Claytor Lake, where a few walleye are being caught in the upper region; at Moomaw Lake, where a local bass club tournament turned up a scant eight or 10 fish; and at Kerr Lake, where a 4 1/2-pound pickerel earned bragging rights.