THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 23, 1996 TAG: 9609230150
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB HUTCHINSON, OUTDOORS EDITOR
LENGTH: 28 lines
Scores of anglers have been proving that it's a mistake to hang your rods and reels in the garage just because autumn has arrived.
Two recently landed fish were large enough to take the species' lead in the annual Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament.
One was a croaker that weighed 5 pounds, 1 ounce. It's one of the biggest hardheads landed in Virginia since Jim Mitchem set the state record at 5-13 in 1982. The croaker was caught at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel by Robert Larch of Virginia Beach.
The other new contest leader is Walt Donaldson of North Potomac, Md., who boated a 79 3/4-pound wahoo at Norfolk Canyon. He was aboard the Fish Tales out of Wachapreague, Va. Had Donaldson not scored, the new wahoo leader would have been James DeMartino of Chesapeake, who caught a 78 1/2-pounder Saturday off Virginia Beach on the Secret Formula.
Perhaps the most unusual recent catch was a 56-inch tarpon released Sunday from the surf of one of the Eastern Shore Barrier Islands by Ed Green of Ocean City Md. Green also released two red drum.
On the freshwater scene, action was pretty slow, although a few nice largemouth bass and some stripers were reported from stocked waters around Suffolk. by CNB