ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 3, 1996 TAG: 9610030040
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
The fall trout stocking program begins this week, with many streams displaying almost spring-like flows and temperatures. This means a couple of extra months of trout fishing for anglers who have seen dry weather stall the stocking until December in recent years.
The October fishing will put outdoorsmen afield during one of the most enticing seasons of the year.
``It is just a gorgeous time to be out there living in the outdoors,'' said George Duckwall, the trout cultural supervisor for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
Duckwall rattled off some of the benefits: no snakes, no stinging insects, cool temperatures, brilliant autumn colors and uncrowded woods and streams. ``It is a prime time to fish,'' he said.
That fact isn't expected to go unnoticed.
``I think the program is really going to take off this fall,'' Duckwall said.
In the fall of 1995, the state's trout-stocking information line received about 4,000 calls.
``It will surprise me if we don't get at least three times that many this time,'' Duckwall said.
As in the past, the stockings will be unannounced, but each day around 4 p.m. the game and fish department will list the streams stocked that day - as well as those stocked earlier in the week - on its trout information line: 804-525-3474. That information will be repeated on the Roanoke Times InfoLine. Call 981-0100 in Roanoke or 382-0200 in the New River Valley and activate category 3017.
Water conditions vary across the state, Duckwall said, which means hatchery operators will be sending their fish to the most suitable streams. While the Lynchburg area had record rainfall in September, the far Southwest has some streams that are too low to stock.
``I think there still is some water down there that can be stocked,'' Duckwall said.
Fishermen should be happy with the size of the fish being stocked, he said.
``I would look for some real decent-size fish for this fall,'' Duckwall said. ``We have some holdovers from the spring that we carried through the summer.''
Since the stocking will be done over a longer period than in the past, fewer trout may be going out at a single time. That won't be a problem, Duckwall said, because impressive numbers of trout remained in the streams between stockings. Officials expect to stock 400,000 trout between now and mid-March. Limited stocking will be done on Saturdays.
DEEP WOODS: Bowhunting season opens Saturday, but where are the deer? Even though the fields are green with succulent clover and other herbaceous plants, few deer are being spotted in the open.
That's because most of them are in the woods crunching acorns, often their favorite brand of acorns - white oak. The acorn crop is so abundant in some regions that bowhunters early on may have trouble getting a pattern on the movements of deer, said Matt Knox, the state's deer biologist. That should change when the rut begins in earnest.
HITTING THE SPOT: An autumn run of big spot has been producing impressive numbers of fish husky enough to meet the 1-pound minimum weight in the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament. Most of the spot have been coming from the lower Chesapeake Bay and inside Rudee Inlet at Virginia Beach.
A few jumbo-size croaker also have been caught, including one 5-pound, 1-ounce giant. These bottom fish are heading toward their ocean wintering grounds.
Flounder have been providing sport along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, and channel bass are being taken off Cape Charles and along the Barrier Island surf.
The next major attraction is striped bass. The season for stripers in Virginia's portion of the bay is Oct.17-Dec.31, and it should be a dandy.
Maryland's season is open and continues through Nov.17. You don't have to drive all the way to Maryland to savor this fishing. It is easily accessible from Virginia's Smith Point and Reedville, which are a couple of the nearest saltwater fishing areas for Western Virginia anglers. A special season for the Potomac River opened mid-September and continues through Dec. 15.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 linesby CNB