Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 22, 1993 TAG: 9304220049
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Sandy is proud of her husband's catches, the largest better than 26 pounds, but she has been a bit envious, too. An angler for four years, she believes she has been on the water long enough to merit a citation of her own (it takes a minimum 20-pounder to qualify).
Last week she landed a 19-pounder, and earlier this week, when she followed up that catch with an 18-pounder, she told Ralph, "I'm getting closer."
Thirty minutes after that catch, she hooked a fish that would make Ralph's citations appear anemic.
Sandy and Ralph had shad baits out along a sandbar on the upper Roanoke River arm of Smith Mountain Lake. When Sandy's line began to feed out under the pull of a fish, she set the hook and held on.
"He took about 100 yards of line," she said.
Ralph had to quickly get the trolling motor into action to chase the fish before it disappeared with all of Sandy's 17-pound line.
"We just kept going in the direction of the fish," she said. "I would reel him in when he stopped fighting, then he would just start running again and take more line. It took about 15 minutes to get him in."
The striper was a beefy 43 1/2 inches long. The Williamsons figured it would weigh about 30 pounds. However, at Henry's Gun and Tackle in Vinton it tipped the scales to 41 1/2 pounds.
A couple of days earlier, a striper of identical weight was landed by Kenny Wright of Bland. Wright was casting a spinnerbait just downstream from Bay Roc Marina and Yacht Club when he hooked his fish.
\ TALKATIVE TOMS: Charles Daily has a reputation of killing big turkey gobblers, early in the season, no matter the weather. This spring has been no different for the Roanoke sportsman.
On opening day of the gobbler season, he called in and killed a tom; the next hunting day he called a turkey in for his brother-in-law, Russell Etter of Roanoke. The third day he called and killed still another turkey for himself.
The birds weighed from 20 1/2 to 22 pounds, 2 ounces. The beards ranged from 9 to 11 inches. All were killed in Floyd County.
Jerry Parcell killed a 20-pound turkey during a Bedford County hunt, the 11th he has called in during a seven-day period, including preseason scouting sessions.
Ken Wilkes of Trebark Outfitters has expressed surprise over the size of the turkeys being killed, considering the scarcity of the winter food supply for wildlife. Trebark has checked 19, only one less than 18 pounds and most 19-20 pounds or more.
\ TOUGH FISHING: If you think fishing has been poorer than usual during this often cold and wet year, you are correct. Freshwater citations for the first quarter of 1993 are a little more than half that of the previous year, according to Sonya Taylor, who heads the citation program for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Taylor blames the inclement weather.
Even so, the season has had its highlights, including a 7-pound, 8-ounce state-record chain pickerel landed by Richard Spurlock of Chesapeake. The 29-inch fish was taken from Lake Cohoon in Suffolk.
\ OTHER BIG FISH: Earl Lawrence of Radford landed a 27-pound, 15-ounce muskie at Claytor Lake. Leo Crandall of Dublin got a 4 1/2-pound smallmouth on a Stump Jumper at Claytor.
Walter Sirry used a nightcrawler to hook a 5\ -pound rainbow trout at Tinker Creek.
Ronald Snead caught a 15-pound, 4-ounce muskie at Smith Mountain Lake.
by CNB