Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 27, 1995 TAG: 9503270024
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Just how huge a striper is finning about in the 20,000-acre lake?
Put that question to some of the lake's fishing guides and the figure you hear most often is 50 pounds. And now through mid-May is the prime time to catch him ... make that her. It will be a she. Female fish are larger than males, and they also carry a heavy cargo of eggs in the springtime.
It makes you ponder how much the previous record would have weighed had its belly been bulging with eggs. That 44-pound, 14-ounce fish was caught by Gary Tomlin of Buena Vista on July 7, 1992, long after the spawn.
The talk about catching a magnificent fish weighing 50 pounds isn't just hype generated by fishing guides. The concept has the support of fish biologists.
"I think the record has the potential of getting up there close to 50 pounds," said Mike Duval, the biologist supervisor who manages the fisheries program at Smith Mountain Lake for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
"I think the lake can grow bigger fish," Duval said. "It is just a matter if we are keeping them in there long enough to grow to big size."
The 45-pound, 10-ounce record, landed near Camp Kilowatt on live bait, was 15 years old. She was stocked with 594,000 of her kind back in 1980, said Duval.
As you might expect of a fish that size, she was a voracious predator. The taxidermist who is mounting her found gizzard shad measuring 11 inches and 12 inches in her stomach. She also was carrying several pounds of greenish eggs.
You have to wonder how she escaped the bite of a hook for so long. Or, even, did she? There are a lot of anglers who have lost huge stripers when they've had their lines wrapped in Smith Mountain Lake's famous forest of underwater trees or when their lines have popped like a .30-06 as a hooked striper has torpedoed toward deep water.
As the catches push 50 pounds, here's what Smith Mountain Lake guides are saying about the size of fish that can be expected, along with where, when and how it might be caught:
MIKE COLEY
A big-fish specialist, Coley calls his guiding service "Trophy Stripers." His boat has accounted for two stripers over 40 pounds, the largest 44 pounds, 1 ounce.
HOW BIG?: "My guess would be right around the 50-pound mark. Considering the number of fish that have been caught in the low-to mid-40s, there have to be a few just a little healthier."
WHEN?: "I would definitely have to say it would be a prespawn fish, which probably would mean December through the middle of May."
WHERE?: "At one time, more big fish were being caught on the Roanoke side and that seems to have switched. It seems more big fish are being caught off the Blackwater River side."
TECHNIQUE?: "I would like to see a live-bait fisherman catching him. If he does, it probably would be while free-lining or on a big balloon rig. That's how we have caught all of our big fish."
KATHY FRANCESCHINI
The top woman striper guide in the state, Franceschini operates a guiding service with her husband, Spike, called Spike's Prime-Time Fishin'. Their guide service has accounted for one record catch.
HOW BIG?: "Up to 60 pounds, I'm sure. I think we've already had the state record hooked quite a number of times, but didn't get it into the boat."
WHEN?: "Any time now."
TECHNIQUE: "The way the big fish have been rolling around, the record could be caught on anything. I think it would be more likely caught while trolling or on live bait."
BOB KING
``Fishin With Bob'' is what King calls his tackle shop-guiding service located at Hales Ford Bridge. His best catch is a 39-pounder, but he feels certain he has hooked bigger fish.
HOW BIG?: "I don't think there is any question about it, there is a 50-pound fish in the lake. This is an excellent environment for them. The problem, we have a lot of trees. We have hooked fish that have gotten into trees and you couldn't get them out. We have had them take off and run, and even though you are backing the boat up to the fish they would strip 400 yards of 25-pound line off a big Penn trolling reel. That is a pretty big fish."
WHEN?: "Probably the spring is the most likely time."
WHERE?: "If you look at where the past records have been caught, there is no set pattern."
TECHNIQUE?: "If I had to guess, it is probably live bait or trolling. But you never know. It is a case of being at the right spot at the right time and putting a bait in front of him and he taking it. You might throw a bucktail to the bank in a couple feet of water and get one."
DALE WILSON
The dean of fishing guides on Smith Mountain Lake, Wilson has been taking clients striper fishing for more than two decades. He uses artificial lures and shuns live bait.
HOW BIG?: ``There should be a 50-pounder in there. I have hooked some awfully big fish that have hung me in the trees and broken off. I had my line broken three times in one day this year. I think the record will continue to be broken for the next several years. There is such an abundance of baitfish here, and the lake is so deep.''
WHEN?: "Probably somewhere between January and early April. You are going to have to catch her when she is full of eggs and while the water is still cold enough to have the food for them scattered."
TECHNIQUE?: "It is a matter of putting it [lure or bait] in front of him when he is feeding. I think these big fish feed a lot at night and they stay deeper than the school-size fish."
by CNB