Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 8, 1993 TAG: 9303080769
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
CRIPPLE CREEK NO LONGER JUST A SONG
Go-in' up Crip-ple Creek, Goin' on the run. Go-in' up Crip-ple Creek, to have a little fun.\ Through the years, Cripple Creek has endeared itself as the subject of a country hoedown, but last season the Wythe County stream also began flaunting a reputation as the place in Virginia to catch a bragging-size trout.
Bobby Cecil, who lives in Mount Airy, N.C., was one of the first anglers to discover the creek's new-found fame. He now fishes it as much as several times a month. In fact, when he and a buddy drove up to the wilds of Ontario for a week's fishing vacation they decided after a couple days they'd catch bigger fish at Cripple Creek. So back south they headed.
Last season, Cripple Creek fishermen registered 412 citation trout catches with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries - 259 brooks, 61 browns and 92 rainbows. Coming from a section of stream stocked by Cedar Springs Sportsmans Lodge, the fish represented 46 percent of all the trout citations registered in Virginia in 1992. Cripple Creek was first in brook trout citations, first in rainbow trout citations and second to Lake Moomaw in brown trout citations, losing out by 14 fish.
Jim Hilton, one of the owners of Cedar Springs Sportsmans Lodge, expects the creek to sweep all three categories this season. His biggest task will be getting anglers to take the time to register their citation catches.
"It has gotten to be kind of a routine thing," Hilton said. "So many fishermen turned them in early, then quit."
Last week, Hilton was telling some of the stream's regulars how Cripple Creek just missed being the top brown trout water because they hadn't register all of their trophy catches.
"Well, I've caught 68 that weren't turned in," said Cecil.
Cedar Springs Sportsmans Lodge operates a 2.10-mile stretch of the creek as fee-fishing water, where an angler pays a stiff $25 daily fee to fish for jumbo-size trout. The pay section is a twisting piece of meadow stream flowing rapidly from below the village of Cedar Springs toward Speedwell.
The fee program began quietly just over a year ago. The first January, 22 fishermen showed up. The past January, there were 200. Another 200 braved frequent bad weather to fish in February.
The program calls for allowing a maximum of 20 fishermen on the stream each day "to avoid the opening day of trout season syndrome," said Hilton. Winter weekends - there is no closed season - have been attracting a full quota, while most weekdays will see a dozen or so anglers.
One of the fishermen last week was Bill Nuckels of Richlands, who discovered the stream last August and now makes the two-hour drive from his home about every other week.
"If you want to catch big fish, this is the place," said Nuckels, who was using a fly rod to drift a weighted black Wooly Bugger along the rocky stream bottom.
"I don't know what it is supposed to be, but the trout do like it," he said. "I put weight on it and fish it on the bottom, because fish aren't real active during the wintertime. You have to get something close to them, because they aren't going to move much."
About 25 percent of the anglers who come to Cripple Creek are fly fishermen, Hilton said. Others cast lures, such as spinners, like the Roostertail, and plugs, like the Rapala. Still others are bait fishermen.
Like most of the regulars, Nuckels is quick to say that the fishing is challenging. While the program isn't a wilderness experience, it also shouldn't be mistaken as a kid's trout pond fishery.
"They are hard to catch," said Hilton. "I had a guy tell me the other day, `I got skunked the first two times I came up here. Now I am going to be in your pocketbook. I have learned how to catch them.' "
The difficulty in getting the trout to strike is viewed as a disappointment to some anglers, a challenge to others.
Before the 7:30 a.m. start of the fishing day, the stream is stocked so each guest has at least a five-fish limit available to him, said Hilton.
"The average take is 3.6 fish per person," Hilton said. "I figure on the average that the fish are 3 1/2 pounds apiece."
Shane Crawford, of Clifton Forge, had several large trout on his stringer one day last week, and was recalling the first time he fished the creek last April.
"I got four: a 20-inch rainbow, a 22-inch rainbow, a 23-inch brown and just a 17-inch brown."
The streams holds a 13-pound rainbow that is big enough to set a state record, Hilton said.
"She has been in a little over two months. Some fellow came here the other day and said, `I hooked her. I had her for 30 seconds.' "
Another angler caught a brook trout that exceeded the 5-pound, 10-ounce state record; however, he didn't bother to register it, Hilton said.
Brown trout have been caught that weigh just over 10 pounds, but Hilton expresses the most pride over the quality of the brook trout. And many fishermen share his interest in this species, which is a native of the Appalachians.
"Amazingly enough, they would rather have a 2 1/2-pound brook than they would a 4-pound brown."
Hilton, who learned trout raising skills from his dad, takes pride in the quality of the trout raised at Cedar Springs Fish Farm, four miles upstream from the lodge. His partner in the trout hatchery business is a nephew, Ricky Hilton.
The colorful fish are grown rapidly in stream-like raceways that protect their fins and tails from being damaged. They are transported daily in a tank truck to the lodge.
Jim Hilton and his wife, Carlene, own the lodge-fishing part of the business along with a partner, Jim Trivette. The two-story lodge was designed by Carlene Hilton, a Roanoke native. It is open to fishing and non-fishing guests.
The key to success has been stocking big trout, said Jim Hilton.
"That's also our biggest challenge," he said. "I anticipate going through about 35,000 pounds of trout here this year. How are we going to produce that many big fish? We are trying to gear up for it."
The success of the Cripple Creek program has caused some fishermen to wonder why the state can't stock larger trout in public fishing streams.
It is a matter of economics, said Gary Martel, assistant chief of the fish division for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
"For us, with a $6.50 yearly [trout license] fee and 110,000 licensed trout anglers plus another 25,000 out there who aren't licensed, to provide that kind of fishing the cost would be staggering."
Reservations are required to fish the Cedar Springs Sportsman Lodge section of Cripple Creek: 703-686-4505.