Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 30, 1995 TAG: 9507310136
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The hills are covered with dark-green grass and the foliage of trees is lush. Both let down the gathered rain to garnish streams with a spring-like flow.
The deep pools have plenty of shade for bass, and one of nature's most bountiful crops of crawfish awaits them when the fish grow restless in their hideaways and begin to cruise the sandy shallows.
What is good for bass also is good for bass fishermen. Even the often terse language of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries weekly fishing report is folksy and holds drama that is punctuated with exclamation marks:
SHENANDOAH RIVER: Spirits are high at River Rental Outfitters, where Trace Noel says the fishing is great. The water is at 79 degrees, clear and, as Noel puts it, running on the high side of low. Yamomoto grubs and the 7 PH Rapala are among the top baits. Fly-rodders are doing well with muddlers, silver poppers and cricket imitations fished on the surface.
NEW RIVER: Wayne Gentry of the 7-Day Market in Pearisburg reports excellent fishing for smallmouth. The fish are running small, however. Rock bass also are hitting.
JAMES RIVER: Jeff Schmick at James River Runners said Friday the past three days had been the best of the season. Hal Tench had a 22-inch smallmouth. Tom Swankler Jr. and Brian Knight, using Rooster Tails and white grubs, caught and released 175 fish!
At James River Reeling and Rafting, Kevin Denby says the river is excellent. Steve Moss took a 4 1/2-pound smallmouth. Donald Clouther had a 4 1/2-pound smallmouth. Campi Cox and Adam Gickling caught and released more than 70 fish.
RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER: Carl Gentry at Chesley's Tackle Shop says the river is muddy again, the victim of a thunderstorm upstream. The smallmouth action was red hot before the storm and should be hot again as soon as the water clears.
POTOMAC RIVER: Smallmouth fishing in the upper river is dynamite! Bass are being caught early and late in the day on buzz baits in the grass. Guide Bill Kramer caught 35 bass while fishing from 7 to 11 a.m.
The fishing report does not cover the smaller streams, such as the tributaries of the James and New, but they, too, are in great fishing shape. Unlike some summers, when they whisper through a setting of burnt brown, this time there is the melody of flowing, cool water.
Even in mid-afternoon, when the sun is high and hot and those on TV are telling people to stay inside - as if mankind would not survive without air conditioning - streams are cold on your bare legs, causing you to gasp when you first wade in.
The best method to fish them is in a pair of old running shoes and cutoffs. That way, you become one with the water, savoring its coolness, being tugged by its power, feeling the rocks it flows across, breathing its air, delighting in its views that change with each twist and turn of its course.
And as if that weren't enough, there are the bass.
The river hones the smallmouths with its movement and power. They are streamlined compared with the largemouths that live in the lakes. They have a wide tail to deal with the current. Their dark backs lighten to bronze sides and their bellies are the color of snow that has been plowed along a roadside - perfect camouflage. The only brightness is a speck of red in their eyes, but you don't see that until you have them in your hands.
You aren't even aware they are around as you wade through their home; that is, until they strike your twister grub, your plastic crawfish or your deer-hair fly. Then, suddenly, they are everywhere, boring deep, leaping skyward, using all of the stream to throw your hook or foul your line.
They don't know you plan to turn them loose.
by CNB