Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 14, 1994 TAG: 9403150179
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By Bill Cochran Outdoor editor
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The best spot to catch a bragging size brook trout between here and Canada is Cripple Creek, a modest meadow stream meandering through Wythe County south of Rural Retreat.
Last season, fishermen casting to Cripple Creek registered 328 citation brook trout, most of them landed in a two-mile-plus stretch of the stream that runs through property controlled by Cedar Springs Sportsmans Lodge. That was nearly 50 percent of all the brook-trout citations in Virginia, and it could have been more, said Jim Hilton, an operator of a pay-fishing program at the lodge.
``A lot of people don't know what they are,'' Hilton said of his husky brook trout. ``They think they are brown trout, which have to be 5 pounds [to earn a citation]. They don't know that 2 pounds is the citation size for a brook trout. They will get a 3-pounder, put him on the stringer and eat him.''
Look for the next state record to come from Cripple Creek.
``I put two state-record size brook trout in there last fall and no one caught either one of them,'' said Hilton. The record is a 5-pound, 10-ounce fish taken in Big Stoney Creek nearly seven years ago.
Anglers at the Cedar Springs fee area pay $25 daily to fish water heavily stocked with trophy trout. Last season, the stream produced 73 rainbow-trout citations, more than from any other place in the state. It also had eight brown trout citations.
Even with those kind of figures, anglers quickly learn that catching trout at Cedar Springs is far from a pushover. The fee program is open year-round under a reservations system: 703-686-4505.
NEW RIVER MUSKIE
The New River is producing about one-third of Virginia's muskie citations, many of them coming from the Whitethorne-Bellsprings area downstream from Claytor Lake. Twenty citations were registered from the river last year, the largest a 29-pound, 9-ounce trophy taken late July by Mark Agner of Roanoke.
No telling how many trophy muskie actually were caught. Fishermen often release their catches. Alex Scott of McCoy let 22 go last season. A more accurate count should be available beginning next year when anglers will be able to earn a citation by measuring a fish instead of having to weigh it.
The summer months are considered the prime time to catch a New River muskie, but this is an unpredictable species that is apt to grab your lure most any season. Earlier this year Jackie Summer of Radford reported tangling with a 40-pounder that clamped its toothy snout around his jerk-bait near fallen timber.
The largest citation reported in the state last season was a 36-pounder taken from the James River. The James once produced more citation muskies than the New, but it isn't even in the top 10 muskie water ranking nowadays.
LEESVILLE ROCK BASS
At G&S Market in Hurt, proprietor Andy Thurston has been telling sportsmen for several years they'd be wise to put aside their deer hunting long enough to stalk rock bass in nearby Leesville Lake.
Some sportsmen are begining to pay attention. Last year, Leesville accounted for 33 rock-bass citations, many of them landed in October and November and weighed at Thurston's place.
Dale Wilson of Huddleston likes to take an occasional holiday from his striper guiding service at Smith Mountain Lake to cast jigs and spinnerbaits for rock bass in Leesville.
``It is about the easiest place I know to catch a citation fish,'' he said. On some trips, Wilson has landed and released as many as 10 citation candidates, his largest a 2-pounder.
Leesville may be the best spot in Virginia for a world-record catch.
``My suspicion is that the fish are Roanoke bass [rather than rock bass],'' said Mike Duval, a supervising fish biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The Roanoke bass closely resembles the rock bass, but has a much more limited range.
The all-tackle world record Roanoke bass, Ambloplites cavifrons, listed in the 1993 International Game Fish Association record book, is 1 pound, 5 ounces.
SMITH MOUNTAIN STRIPERS
Striped-bass citations from Smith Mountain Lake have been declining at the alarming rate of about 100 per year: 341 in 1991; 258 in 1992; 144 in 1993. Even so, the 20,000-acre lake remains the place to catch a trophy striper, and that includes a potential state record. It accounted for about 70 percent of all of Virginia's freshwater-striper citations last year, including the biggest in the state, a 44-pound, 15 ounce giant taken by North Carolina angler David Snider.
If the striper citation count is down another 100 this year, Smith Mountain might get some competition from Lake Gaston, which had 23 citations last season. But that's not likely to happen. The '94 season may even see a reverse in the downward trend.
``Last year I had a hard time catching them in February; this year I have caught them every day I've been out except one,'' said Dale Wilson, who has been a striper guide on the lake for more than two decades.
``There aren't as many fish, but if you keep up with them you can consistently catch them,'' he said.
Wilson believes a big-fish year is shaping up. There is discolored water in some of the areas that hold trophy fish, a fact that should enhance angler success. Add to that, there is plenty for the stripers to eat, said Wilson, who has been observing impressive numbers of baitfish in the creeks.
As yet, the stripers remain deep. Wilson is predicting they will be late going to the shallows this year.
KERR FOR CRAPPIE
It makes no difference whether it is a good or a bad year, Kerr Lake comes out on top as Virginia's best place to catch big crappie. Year before last was a good one, with fishermen registering 196 citation-size crappie from the 50,000-acre Southside Virginia lake. The 1993 count dropped to 28 citations, but that still was the most in the state.
The preseason predictions for this season got an excellent rating, but hope was being dashed under tons of water last week when Kerr pushed 10 feet above flood stage. When there is too much water, the crappie scatter and citations drop sharply. That's what happened last spring when Kerr pushed 16 feet above flood stage.
There still is time to salvage the spring season. With normal weather, Kerr can be drawn down 6 to 10 inches per day, said John Fields, the reservoir manager. By the first of April, crappie-catching conditions could be excellent, but as Fields said, ``You never know what the weather will do.''
There is no scarcity of crappie. Bill Kittrell used the terms ``just tremendous'' to describe what he found in fish-population samples last summer. Kittrell is a supervising biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
MOOMAW BROWNS
Moomaw Lake, a scenic 2,530-acre impoundment in in Alleghany and Bath counties, boomed onto the scene as a brown trout hot spot in the mid-'80s. The citation count reached 497 in 1987.
Last year, it was down to 49 trophy browns, but even that was nearly twice its nearest rival, which - surprise - was the Roanoke River. Look for Moomaw to continue to be Virginia's best brown-trout producer, even though it has a problem.
When the weather gets hot, the lake's trout habitat shrinks into a modest wedge in the lower end of the impoundment. That has become a limiting factor in how many big browns Moomaw can turn out, believes Paul Bugas, a state fish biologist.
With help from the Corps of Engineers, state fish officials started adjusting downstream water releases last year, hoping to preserve as much summer habitat as possible. Those experiments will continue, said Bugas, who would like to see Moomaw contribute 100 citations annually.
The majority of the browns last season were taken in June and July. There are two primary fishing methods: casting to breaking fish and going deep for trout locked into their warm-water holding areas.
``There are big fish in there,'' Bugas said, but he was disappointed that citations were 26 fewer in 1993 than the previous year. The 25,000-annual stocking rate hasn't changed.
Officials are thinking seriously about raising the 10-inch minimum size limit, with the intention of giving more browns the opportunity to reach trophy size before they are caught.
JAMES FOR SMALLMOUTHS
You don't have to be an old timer to recall when the James River turned out trophy smallmouth bass like some kind of fish factory. The count reached 377 citations in 1986. Last year the number declined to 22.
A couple of things have happened. First, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries boosted the minimum size for a citation from 4 to 5 pounds. Add to that, fishing pressure has increased sharply, meaning many bass are taken before they get the chance to reach citation size. Gone are the days when you could enjoy a half-day float without spotting another fisherman.
Even so, the river produced more citations than any other stream or lake last season, but by the narrowest margin since the 1970s. The New River was just one behind. When you consider that the New has less milage in Virginia than the James, it is reasonable to assume it is out-producing the James. You'd have to say that for certain when you add the 13 citations from Claytor Lake, which is an extension of the New. But it is tough to give up on the James, whose quiet pools and riffles have produced so many bass the past couple of decades.
It is doubtful that the James ever again will enjoy a 300-plus citation season, but it can build on last year's modest count of 22 through catch-and-release. Add to that, the fish passage program under way in Richmond has potential for returning native shad to the upper river. Those shad could become a welcome food source for smallmouth bass.
GASTON FOR LARGEMOUTHS
Lake Gaston is the top spot in Virginia to catch an 8-pound plus largemouth bass, and if you go to the North Carolina side of this border-straddling, 20,000-acre lake you'll hear people say it's also the best spot in the Tarheel state.
Last season, Gaston produced 43 Virginia largemouth citations. Trophy catches traditionally begin showing up in March, when the bass move onto rocky points. A 10-pounder already has been landed. The peak fishing generally continues into late April.
New at Gaston are a couple of aquatic grasses, hydrilla and elodea, which guide Marty Stone believes helped last year's production of bass and will be even more beneficial in the future.
As good as Gaston is, bass fishermen shouldn't overlook Lake Chesdin in Chesterfield County. It produced 33 citations, pretty impressive when you consider it has 17,000 fewer acres than Gaston, but only 10 fewer largemouth citations in 1993. Anna was third in the state with 32 citations. Smith Mountain had a respectable 18.
JAMES RIVER BLUE CATFISH
Move over BASS. Make room for CATS: The Catfish Anglers Tournament Society.
Catfish angling has evolved from the back alleys to the main streets of fishing.
``Catfish fishing in general has become a lot more popular,'' said Dean Fowler, a district fisheries supervisor with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. ``I think it probably is due to the pressure on some of the more glamorous species like bass. Plus the fact they get so big. They are a trophy fish.''
Catfish can be caught in lakes and streams across the state, but the best concentration of citation-size fish is in the upper tidal area of the James River, where last year anglers registered 235 trophy blue catfish.
The number was so high that Fowler harbors concerns about the well-being of the species.
``We are trying to get a handle on what the catfish pressure is like; what the catfish harvest is like,'' he said.
The blue cat isn't a native of the James. It is an introduced species that ``obviously has taken very well to the river,'' said Fowler.
The peak fishing is from Richmond down to Hopewell, where a johnboat might share the water with a seagoing steamship. The state record is a 56-pound, 12-ounce giant landed in the James late November 1991.
WESTERN BRANCH SUNFISH
Forget all you've heard about big water being required to produce big numbers of trophy fish. Western Branch Lake is a 1,579-acre puddle when compared with 50,000-acre Kerr Lake and 20,000-acre Smith Mountain Lake. But when you total all of last year's citations, Western Branch had more than the two big fellows combined.
The Norfolk water supply impoundment accounted for an amazing 801 sunfish citations, most of them redear sunfish, which are commonly known as shellcrackers. The lake also holds bluegills.
Nearby 777-acre Lake Prince, another Norfolk water supply, produced 160 sunfish citations.
Mid-May into early June is the prime time to go after shellcrackers. A one-week period during the peak of the action can produce as many as 150 citations at Western Branch.
by CNB