THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 23, 1995 TAG: 9510230120
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB HUTCHINSON, OUTDOORS EDITOR
LENGTH: Short : 39 lines
Virginia's fall season for saltwater striped bass opened at 12:01 Tuesday morning, but the week's biggest reported striper did not come from the Chesapeake Bay.
Instead, it was boated at Western Branch Reservoir in Suffolk on Thursday by Jerry Garris of Windsor, Va. The striper weighed 21 1/4 pounds.
Action has been slow along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, normally the hotbed of fall saltwater striper fishing. While unsettled weather was a factor, the bottom line is that fish have been scarce.
But not fishermen, says Connie Barbour of Bubba's Marina, a popular jumping-off spot at Lynnhaven Inlet in Virginia Beach.
``The fish have been scared by all the boats,'' he said. ``They've been lined up from one end of the bridge-tunnel to the other. But just give the fish some time. They'll get used to the traffic.''
In contrast to Garris' catch, the winner in the Great Shore Rockfish Festival at Lynnhaven, held Friday through Sunday, weighed 14 pounds, 11 ounces, and was boated at the bridge-tunnel by Thomas Compton of Virginia Beach.
Elsewhere, a group with skipper Dean Johnson on the charter boat Surf Side out of the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center released four sailfish Wednesday. It was an unusual late-season catch.
Red drum made a good showing Saturday and Sunday at Cape Point at Buxton, N.C., where Mike Spicer of Virginia Beach released two big fish.
A rundown of recent catches: [For a complete list of catches, see microfilm for this date.] by CNB