THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610250213
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY LEE TOLLIVER, BEACON SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: 146 lines
Like junkies in need of a fix, Virginia anglers awaited the arrival of this opening day with frenzied anticipation. Striped bass had been moving into the area in great numbers, spurring thoughts of fantastic fishing.
For these fishermen, nothing else in life matters at this time of year. Families have to make other plans, work can suffer and some even plan vacation around the Virginia striped bass season, which opened at 12:01 a.m. Oct. 17 and lasts through midnight Dec. 31.
Others can surely understand.
Hunters drive everyone crazy waiting for deer season. Freshwater trout anglers are eager for their season to begin on mountain streams. And everybody knows how shopaholics await the day-after-Thanksgiving sales.
Striper fishermen aren't unique, but they are insane about their task.
Opening day of striped bass season - they're sometimes called stripers or rockfish - brings people out of the woodwork. Everyone wants to catch his or her two per person per day limit (keepers have to be at least 18 inches long). Not only are these fish valiant fighters, but they are tasty table fare, too.
But it can get ugly.
This year's opening day was a testament to that.
For starters, a lot of people don't have a clue what they're doing and some don't want to learn. That's where problems arise and tempers flare.
Such was the case at about 9 a.m. opening day as a crowd of boats attempted to work the area around the fourth island of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, a spot that in the past couple of years has earned a reputation as one of the best places to catch rock.
It was chaos.
Virginia Beach anglers Harvey Caldwell, Scott Lowery and Mike Megge were there to witness it.
The tide was coming into the Bay in the area around the fourth island and a lot of boats were anchored on the left side, where the tunnel tube goes into the water. These boats were fishing for tautog in the rocks that cover the tube and weren't causing anybody any problems.
In fact, those fishermen had great seats for the show.
The most productive angling method during the day in this area is to ``wire line troll'' from the shallow water near the island to the first buoy marking the channel. Once at the buoy, boats go back to the island and start again.
When this works right, everybody is in line and it is a smooth-as-silk operation, usually with almost everybody catching fish.
But it would be fantasy to think that everybody cooperates.
Things were going pretty good - for all of about 10 minutes - when one large boat, obviously a paid charter by the number of anglers on board, got a trolling weight caught in the rocks below.
In a wire line rig, the weight is tied on - or supposed to be - with lighter line so that part of the rig will break off easily when hung up. The angler simply reels up his rig and ties on another weight.
But this boat put too high a value on the $1 weight and decided to turn around, against the flow of traffic, to try and get the weight out of the rocks.
That captain, with one swift move, ruined everybody's pass.
Tempers rose.
But as bad as that was, it was only a start.
After things had calmed down, a small boat with two anglers came out of nowhere and trolled diving plugs right down the middle of the crowd. Within seconds of dropping his lures, one angler had his rig hung in the anchor line of a tautog fishermen's vessel. The other had gotten wrapped up in someone's wire line rig.
At first - and at least this part had everyone laughing - the anglers on the boat thought they had hooked a couple of fish and began fighting them like there was no tomorrow.
The tangled wire line angler - because of heavier tackle - was able to reel the plug troller's rig to his boat, where he cut the line and kept the expensive new plug for himself. It was never clear if the other angler even knew what had happened. He probably thought he was battling a huge fish that broke him off.
Whatever the case, the tautog fisherman had to pull up his anchor, taking him away from what appeared to be a good spot. He did make sure the other fisherman knew what he had done wrong.
Those two little incidents pale by comparison to the next.
A rumor had been spreading about another boat that was using side spreaders while trolling. These spreaders are pieces of wood that stay on the surface, using the force of the water to take them - and the accompanying fishing rigs - away from the boat for a span of about 30 to 40 yards on either side. When people are fishing for rock like they were that day, there's no room for this guy's Great Lakes trolling technique.
When he joined the fourth island gang, he made things worse. Instead of getting in line like everyone else, he decided to troll against the grain!
Caldwell, Lowery and Megge didn't stick around to find out what happened to that guy, but it couldn't have been pretty.
They did the smart thing and went elsewhere.
Caldwell, 38, owns Old Dominion Roofing and Siding, Lowery, 40, owns Lowery Construction Co. and Megge, a 28-year-old former Navy SEAL, is a custom builder.
While Caldwell and Lowery are veteran anglers and have witnessed these shows several times, Megge is only in his second year of saltwater fishing.
But as surprised as he was by the experience, he didn't let it turn him against striper fishing.
``I started fishing in a small boat inside Lynnhaven Inlet and Scott took me striper fishing in a bigger boat,'' Megge said. ``I got so excited by it I went out and bought a big boat
``It's very easy to get hooked.''
It's not always as bad as that opening day madness was.
Nope. Striper fishing is most often an incredible experience - especially when the weather cools and bigger fish move in.
There's another benefit to cooler temperatures. Many of the ``fair weather'' fishermen stow their gear and aren't seen again until the following year's opening day.
And it's a good thing.
The diehards - the 10 percent of anglers who catch 90 percent of the fish - are left alone doing what they love. The hunters and shoppers, too, can appreciate the fact that the bad times sometimes make the good times even better. ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photos including color cover by DAVID B.
HOLLINGSWORTH
RIGHT: After fishing for about 45 minutes and coming up empty, Mike
Megge goes below in his boat to try a different lure. This was taken
early on the first day of striper fishing.
BELOW: Scott Lowery takes the helm of the Grady White as it trolled
along the side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
Scott Lowery, 40, who owns Lowery Construction Co, proudly displays
one of the first rockfish of the day.
Scott Lowery casts a jig against the pillings of the Chesapeake Bay
Bridge-Tunnel.
ABOVE: Harvey Caldwell, 38, who owns Old Dominion roofing and
siding, scopes out the competition.
LEFT: Dr. Jim Wright lands a keeper around the fourth island with
the help of mate Bill Cook, left. by CNB