Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 20, 1995                   TAG: 9507200029
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

VIRGINIA NEEDS FLOOD OF STRIPED BASS FROM OTHER STATES

For a quarter-of-a-century, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has provided striped bass fry from its Brookneal hatchery to dozens of states and even other countries.

Now Virginia needs help, after floods wiped out an estimated 750,000 fingerlings at the hatchery, including 300,000 scheduled for release in Smith Mountain Lake.

``We are calling in some old debt right now, because we have supplied hundreds-of-millions of fish all over the world,'' said David Whitehurst, deputy director of the department.

Even so, there has been no avalanche of fish heading our way. By Wednesday the fingerling count had reached 210,000, approximately 90,000 short of the goal. The stripers received have come from federal and state hatcheries in North Carolina.

One of the problems is that Virginia lost its fish late in the growing year, at a time when many other states had stocked their crop. What's more, Virginia doesn't want to introduce anything but the Roanoke River strain of stripers into the drainage in order to keep the species genetically pure. That sharply limits the stock available.

On the positive side, the fingerlings stocked have averaged larger than those normally raised in Virginia. Some could be from sea-run fish that spawn in the lower Roanoke River, said Mike Duval, a Virginia supervising fish biologist.

There still is hope that additional fingerlings will be available, fish officials say. Kentucky is harvesting ponds that were seeded with fry from the Brookneal hatchery. If the crop did well, Smith Mountain may get some.

Virginia officials still aren't certain if the Brookneal hatchery can be repaired, or even should be. The hatchery building was dislodged from its foundation, rearing ponds were silted, pump stations along the river were destroyed, trees that help protect rearing ponds from river erosion were uprooted.

Also damaged by the flood were two trout rearing facilities, Coursey Springs in Bath County and Monetebello in Nelson County. Loss of trout was minimal, officials said. Two boat landings were destroyed (on the James-Maury Rivers and Staunton River) and another 32 were damaged. Roads into several state hunting-fishing areas were ripped apart.

DANDY DOLPHIN: Offshore anglers along the Virginia-North Carolina coast have been docking with impressive numbers of dolphin. Paul and Jody Dunn, a father-daughter pair from Roanoke County, were in on a catch of 60 dolphin while aboard the Gannet out of Oregon Inlet in Nags Head, N.C. Five of the fish weighed more than 25-pounds apiece.

The first fish landed was a rare Mediterranean long-bill spear fish, hooked by Paul Dunn. It measured 75 inches.

``We brought him on board, put the tape measure to him, took a couple of pictures and turned him loose,'' said Dunn. The Gannet skipper, Capt. Ritchie Howell, said the fish was a member of the marlin family, and he'd seen only a couple of them in 25 years of fishing.

RIVERS ARE RIGHT: Major streams, including the James, New and Shenendoah, are just right for smallmouth bass fishing. ``Wonderful condition,'' is how Trace Noel of the River Rental Outfitters describes the Shenandoah. The water is slightly higher than normal, but clear. Lures that are working well include the Yajomoto Grub in root beer color, fluorescent colored crankbaits and crayfish imitations.

The Piedmont section of the James River is yielding 4- and 5-pound smallmouth bass. Now is an excellent time to go after bass, said Kevin Denby of James River Reeling and Rafting in Scottsville.

Bass fishing is improving in the New River as the stream returns to good shape following high water.

BIG BASS: West Virginia angler Harry Kelley got a limit of bass at Moomaw Lake while casting top-water lures. Two weighed 53/4 and 51/4 pounds and three weighed about 31/2 pounds apiece.

Jeff McConnell of Pulaski landed a 4-pound, 1-ounce smallmouth from Claytor Lake.

Thomas Bailey of Culpeper set a North Carolina record when he caught a 744-pound bluefin tuna out of Oregon Inlet, N.C.