Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 3, 1994 TAG: 9402030053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
At Philpott Lake, the Hopkins has been producing excellent largemouth bass catches. Don Hiatt and Randy Marion of Mount Airy, N.C., landed 15 largemouths and one smallmouth using the Hopkins during a recent outing. A week earlier they caught 17 bass.
"Most of the fish are two to three pounds," said Phil Helms at Rakes Sports Center in Bassett, a popular stopping-off spot for Philpott anglers. The biggest fish caught was a shade under 5 pounds.
Also having success with the Hopkins are Curtis Newman and Jeff Newman of Bassett. They landed five largemouths during a recent trip, including a 5-pounder.
The Hopkins is fished vertically - straight up and down - beneath the boat. Hiatt and Marion dress their spoons with bucktail. Most of their bass are being hooked at the 30- to 50-foot depth in the lower end of the lake. Philpott is iced over above the 7-mile marker.
"The fish are schooled up this time of the year," said Helms. "What they [Hiatt and Marion] are doing is using their locator to find the water depth they want, then they are vertically jigging," said Helms.
Philpott has some long points that hold bass, and, if there is brush on them, that makes them all the better, Helms said.
At Smith Mountain Lake, Hopkins spoons are responsible for many striped bass catches. Skillful fishermen actually can see stripers on their locator, then zero in on them with a Hopkins. Other fishermen use a locator to pinpoint a bar or point where stripers are known to feed.
The catches at Smith Mountain are coming from 30- to 50-foot depths.
\ SNAGGING SALTWATER FUNDS: If you went fishing on the Chesapeake Bay last season, chances are you bought a $7.50 saltwater fishing license or the guy who owned the boat you were aboard had a license. The license system, established last year, generated about $1.4 million.
Its purpose is to provide funds to protect and improve fishing in the bay, but - you guessed it - some politicians want to reroute the money. In his state budget, submitted in December, former Gov. Douglas Wilder proposed to divert about $890,000 of the license money to the general fund.
This has put anglers in uproar. (Remember when Wilder diverted the boat registration money?) Some of them didn't think much of the license idea in the first place.
Several General Assembly members are attempting to block the rerouting. One lawmaker has introduced a bill to abolish the license. Another bill would require that all money collected by an agency for a specific purpose be used for that purpose only.
\ MORE BILLS: Bowhunters got a scare when word circulated that a bill was being introduced in the General Assembly that would outlaw the use of a bow and arrow. As it turned out, the bill (HB 600) gives counties the option to prohibit shooting a bow in heavily populated areas where such an activity is viewed as a hazard.
Another bill (HB 1103) requires the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to develop regulations that would let people hunt with a crossbow who are incapable of handling conventional archery equipment. Look for crossbows to become a major issue over the next couple of years.
Several bills address the use of firearms. One (HB 1152) would require a person to pay a $50 fee when purchasing a gun from a licensed dealer if the buyer can't submit proof of having taken a firearm safety course. Still another (SB 296) makes it a misdemeanor to transport in a motor vehicle a loaded rifle or shotgun unless it is locked in a gun rack or trunk.
There are some new bills designed to bring additional funding to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. One (HB 1329) would establish a $3 conservation stamp of people who hunt, fish or trap on land owned by the state. Another (HB 341) would route the $6.50 boat trailer license fee to the boating, rather than highway, program. Still another (HB 68) would put marine motors in excess of 25 hp under the 2 percent watercraft sales-and-use tax rate rather than the current 4.5 percent sale tax. The money would go to the state boating program.
by CNB