THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 22, 1994 TAG: 9411220726
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: FISHING WRAPUP
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
Hurricane Gordon blew last week's fishing plans out of the water - forcing anglers to pursue landlocked alternatives.
Area marinas, especially those in the hard-hit Outer Banks, report that the fleets were forced to stay in port because of winds and high seas.
The week's striped bass angling was a total bust.
``It's just been too, too rough,'' Nancy Cobb of Cobb's Marina said. ``Nobody fished around here and it's still blowing.
``We're just hoping that it settles down for a good Thanksgiving weekend. A lot of people are going to be on vacation and hoping to fish.''
Only a couple of catches were reported at area weigh stations - with the most success coming from Outer Banks tuna trips the two days before Gordon arrived on the scene.
Speckled trout action inside sheltered waters was another highlight.
Fishing on the Real Trip out of the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center last Tuesday, Dave Davenport of Chesapeake and Virginia Beach's Larry Bachtell and William Hartman Jr. encountered a nice school of bigeye tuna. Davenport boated a 161-pounder, Bachtell had one at 117 and Hartman scored at 115.
The same day aboard the Smoker, H. Daniel Shelburne of Radford, Va., released a blue marlin.
Wednesday on the Gannet, skippered by Richie Howell, Steven Cotton of Suffolk boated a 165-pound bigeye.
Damon Tatem of Tatem's Tackle Box in Nags Head reports that speckled trout fishing has been good at several haunts in the Currituck Sound.
``And there have been a lot of rockfish and puppy drum caught around the Mann's Harbor Beach,'' he said.
The North Carolina striped bass season remains closed, however, until Nov. 23.
Connie Barbour at Bubba's Marina reports that Lynnhaven Inlet speckled trout fishing was good over the weekend, with a majority of the fish ranging in the 2- to 3-pound range. No citation fish above five pounds were weighed in.
``It was like a ghost town out here until Sunday,'' he said. ``It looked like a few people went out, but it was the slowest weekend we've had in a long time.
``The weather was just too bad.''
The freshwater scene wasn't too much better, although Bill Thomas of West Neck Marine said Bill Savage of Virginia Beach and Don Frank of Pittsburg, Pa., brought in a ``nice mess of crappie'' dipping shiners in West Neck Creek.
Striped bass action on the several of the Suffolk lakes has picked up, but most fish are small, according to reports. by CNB