ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 13, 1996 TAG: 9605130164
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
TUCKED AMID tobacco fields and pine patches, this Virginia lake could make a big splash.
You travel through the rural Pittsylvania County landscape, past fields of red soil groomed for tobacco plants, past clumps of pines that are shooting tender, new growth toward the sun, down one more winding road, and there it is: Elkhorn Lake.
``There is nothing else like it around here,'' said Dale Wilson from Bedford County. Wilson, who is the dean of fishing guides on Smith Mountain Lake, has taken on the added duties of managing 106-acre Elkhorn Lake for its new owners.
There is the campground, the swimming pools, the sand beach, the water slides, the vintage carousel, the volleyball, the shuffleboard, the game rooms, the paddle boats, Wilson says, as if pointing out a recreational buffet line. But it is obvious the main fare is the fishing.
The lake laps along a mostly wooded shoreline where trees have tumbled from their rooting to provide cover for bass, crappie, catfish and sunfish. The water has a fish-rich look that can give an angler the feeling that if he doesn't catch anything it is his fault, not the lake's.
``The lake has produced bass in the 15-pound range in the past,'' said Wilson. ``It is full of small bass, and we have stocked some large, 5- to 7-pound bass this year.''
Elkhorn forms a triangle with two jumbo bass producers, 110-acre Lake Conner, home of the 16-pound, 4-ounce state record, and 845-acre Briery Creek Lake, the source of impressive numbers of 10-pound-plus bass this spring and the past spring.
Wilson doesn't rank Elkhorn as a trophy bass factory equal with state-owned Conner and Briery Creek, but he is excited about its potential.
``We are managing it as a catch-and-release lake for bass the next two or three years,'' he said. ``If that works well, hopefully, we can have lots of fish in the 5- to 10-pound range in the next three years.''
Other species currently can be creeled. The crappie are schooling around shoreline cover, the sunfish are moving into the shallows to spawn and the catfish are yanking at the lines of excited fishermen.
Elkhorn is old, as man-made lakes go, built in 1957 by Dan River Mills as a recreation area for its employees. The new owners are Ed Fellers, who runs the Chevrolet-Oldsmobile-Geo dealership in Altavista, and Larry Encler, a Smith Mountain Lake businessman.
The lake is surrounded by about 500 acres of mostly wooded habitat, and its feeling of bigness is enhanced by a regulation that calls for electric or paddle power only for boats.
``We do that for a number of reasons,'' Wilson said. ``We don't want to erode the shoreline and we don't want noise. It is really a peaceful place and we hope to keep it that way.''
There are permanent and transit campsites, neither offering anything like a wilderness experience, but popular with gregarious campers who ride the roads in golf carts. Live bands - Showdown, Easy Street and Southern Thunder - play on Saturday nights, Wilson said.
It costs $5 to fish, double that if you bring your own boat. There is no restriction on boat size, just power, Wilson said. Rental boats are available for $15 a day; $10 for a half-day. Camping is $14.75 to $19.75, depending on the site. Hookups cost an additional $3.50. Reservations and information are available by calling 1-800-680-5253.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: BILL COCHRAN/Staff. 1. Dale Wilson (above) probes aby CNBstrip of the six miles of shoreline at Elkhorn Lake. You can use
private boats on the 106-acre impoundment, but you have to kick up
your outboard engine. Rules call for electric or paddle power only.
2. At right, Robert Barker uses a golf cart as an angling vehicle to
take him to hot spots along the shore. The lake is on
Virginia 686 east of Gretna. color. Graphic: Map by staff. color.