ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 10, 1997 TAG: 9703120016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
TROUT fishing just got better in Virginia. March is the reason.
While March no longer ushers in the much-awaited opening day of the trout season, it is the month when hatchery trucks begin rolling to streams and lakes with increasing frequency under the state's new year-round season.
``The trucks are on the road; the fish will be in the water,'' said George Duckwall, the cold-water hatchery manager for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. ``Close to 20 to 25 percent of the year's allocation of trout will go out this month.''
That amounts to about a quarter-million fish. There won't be many days when trout aren't stocked within a reasonable drive of any anglers living in the western half of the state.
The March stocking began with vigor last week when some 50 streams and lakes in 30 counties got fish. Included were Jennings Creek, Potts Creek, Big Stoney Creek, Smith River, Maury River, Toms Creek, Tinker Creek and Glade Creek.
Many of the most popular streams - such as the Roanoke River, Tinker Creek and Glade Creek - will be stocked twice in March, as well as in April and May. Every stream that is part of the put-and-take stocking program should get fish at least once in March.
``Our people are going to be busy,'' Duckwall said.
So will anglers. The ranks of winter-hearty trout fishermen are expected to be joined by more casual anglers who suddenly feel life-giving sap flowing in their veins as surely as it is ascending the trunks of trees.
Calls to the state's trout stocking information line, 804-525-3474, numbered 37,000 last month, 15,000 more than in February 1996. The phones are expected to ring more often this month.
The longer days will mean that working anglers can call the line at 4 p.m., find out what streams have been stocked, and get in some fishing before dark. That should help soften one of the complaints about the year-round season that is often voiced at All Huntin'-N-Fishin' Store in Salem.
``I am hearing it from the working man,'' said Derrick Hines, manager of the store. ``They say if they stock on a Tuesday at 11 o'clock, by the time the working men get off it is dark. Longer days will give these guys a little more time, but many of them say the first time they get to go fishing is on the weekend. By the time a weekend comes around, the trout have been pounded.''
The idea of the year-round season is for anglers to be able to find trout in streams anytime they go fishing, Duckwall said.
``The comments I am hearing, by and large, have been positive,'' he said. ``Stockings are up. They are spread out a little bit more. There are more opportunities out there. A lot of people are catching a lot of fish, but people can't catch fish all of the time, even if they go behind the stocking truck. Occasionally, the fish just don't bite.''
David Webb, of the Fishing Hole tackle store in Roanoke, believes the majority of his customers approve of the year-round season. Some die-hard bass fishermen have taken up wintertime trout fishing, seeing it as an opportunity to stretch a fishing line during the off-season, he said.
``The boys would like to see more stocking in January and February,'' Webb said.
As for the year-round season's impact on his business, Webb said it hadn't hurt.
``I see just the opposite. The trout fisherman keeps me alive during the wintertime, which is the slowest time of the year for all bait and tackle stores.''
Fishermen who pine for an opening day can find something similar at the state's three pay-fishing areas, Douthat Lake, Crooked Creek and Big Tumbling Creek. The pay areas will open the first Saturday in April rather than the traditional third Saturday in March. Beginning five days before the April 5 opening, the areas will be closed to fishing to give officials an opportunity to stock.
The fee season has been extended to Sept.30 at Crooked Creek and Big Tumbling Creek, and to Oct.31 at Douthat Lake.
The regulations at Douthat have been modified to allow children 12 and younger to fish without a permit as long as they are accompanied by an adult who has a permit. The combined limit can not exceed that of the adult - six fish.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY THE ROANOKE TIMES. Mark Dalton of Blue Ridgeby CNBsends his fly line flying to the riffles of Jennings Creek in
Botetourt County. color. Graphic: Map by staff. color.