Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 4, 1993 TAG: 9302040024
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
AS RAINS RETREAT, KERR FISHING KICKS INTO HIGH GEAR
Kerr Lake is back to full pool normal for this time of year - after being shoved into the shoreline bushes by the frequent rains of January.The main lake remains muddy, but the creeks have cleared, and the banquet table is being set for some of the best springtime crappie, largemouth bass and striped bass fishing in the state.
Danny Gilbert of South Boston was working a spinnerbait in about 6 feet of water in the Rudds Creek arm of Kerr the other day when he landed a trophy 8-pound, 2-ounce largemouth. Mike Brach of Gloucester used a bucktail to take a 15-pound, 1-ounce striper.
February is the time to begin stalking huge crappie in Kerr, as these slab-size fish move into the creeks and coves in pre-spawn patterns. Kerr produced the 4-pound, 8-ounce world record for Carl Herring in March 1981.
It seems that all a fisherman has to do is point the bow of his boat toward the 50,000 acre Southside Virginia lake and he is headed toward some of the best angling in the state. What's more, it has been that way for more than 30 years.
Now come words that Kerr - called Buggs Island by many of its regulars - may be poised for some of its best striped bass fishing ever. Annual surveys conducted by biologists of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries from October through December yielded the highest numbers of young fish since such research began in 1974.
"It does appear that the last couple of year classes have been really strong," said Bill Kittrell, a fisheries biologist with the department. "The specimens collected consisted primarily of stripers in the 8- to 10-inch and 16- to 18-inch range; fish produced during 1991 and 1992."
With plenty of shad available to feed them, these big back-to-back year classes will provide anglers with excellent fishing for the next several seasons, he said.
That's not just good news for Kerr sportsmen, but also for those who fish the annual spring runs up the Roanoke and Dan rivers, and beyond. Stripers from the Roanoke are used to produce fingerlings for Smith Mountain, Claytor, Anna and other impoundments.
Kerr also has had several good years of largemouth bass reproduction, Kittrell said.
About the only bad news is the recent discovery of hydrilla. A concerned fisherman collected the exotic aquatic plant in December near a boat ramp at North Bend Park. Hydrilla has been a problem in downstream Lake Gaston for several years, but this is the first identified in Kerr.
"Usually you consider aquatic plants good, and I do - I love to have them in a body of water - but hydrilla has negative aspects," Kittrell said. "As good of a fishery as we have in Kerr, I would prefer for the hydrilla not to be there."
Unlike native aquatic plants, hydrilla has exceptional reproductive capabilities and is difficult to control. It can outgrow native plants and reach the point that it hinders swimmers, boaters and fishermen.
\ FISHING ELSEWHERE: The crappie have turned on at Gaston, hitting live minnows and jigs at 10- to 12-foot depths. Some nice largemouth bass are being caught up the lake by anglers casting grubs to grass patches. Stripers are feeding on shad along the flats of Poplar, Flat and Holly Grove creeks. One angler landed a 28-pounder.
Striped bass continued to strike bucktail jigs in the upper Roanoke River arm of Smith Mountain Lake, and several 15-to 20-pounders have been caught at Leesville Lake.
Improved fishing at Philpott Lake has blessed anglers with some 3-pound smallmouth bass. Lake Anna has produced several largemouths just under the 8-pound citation mark.
\ BASS SCHOOL: Only about 165 anglers have signed up for the Bass Fishing Techniques Institute school at Virginia Tech on Saturday and Sunday, well under the 300 hoped for, said J.C. Gordon of Tech's Donaldson Brown Center.
Participants are asked to call (703) 231-5182 but can register at the center Saturday at 7 a.m. The fee is $69, and the instructors include several BASS professionals.
Memo: ***CORRECTION***