THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 4, 1996 TAG: 9611040133
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB HUTCHINSON, OUTDOORS EDITOR
LENGTH: 62 lines
Striped bass continued to provide the whale's share of the fishing action during the past week, although a few anglers encountered some big speckled trout.
Steve Harding of Norfolk in the past week boated five specks large enough for citations from the Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament.
Two weighing 7 pounds, 2 ounces, and 5-2 were caught at the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. The others, 5-11, 5-1 and 5-1, came from the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River.
Meanwhile, a couple of good runs of big red drum developed on the North Carolina Outer Banks. More than 20 fish were decked at the Avon-on-Hatteras pier, with several others beached at Cape Point at Buxton-on-Hatteras.
While offshore fishing was stymied by ill weather, some ocean anglers made impressive hauls of big king mackerel off Hatteras.
As for stripers, they have been reported all over the Chesapeake Bay and throughout Hampton Roads, with peak action along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
A few stripers meeting North Carolina's 28-inch minimum for ocean fish have even been beached on the Outer Banks.
On the freshwater scene, Lester Atkins of Chesapeake boated largemouth bass weighing 6-3, 6-0 and 5-13. He was at Western Branch Reservoir in Suffolk.
Here's a rundown of other recent catches by anglers from Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina:
VIRGINIA BEACH OFFSHORE: Tautog: Tommy Camp, Virginia Beach, 15-8, caught from the boat Katie Brown at Chesapeake Light Tower. Sea bass: Ron Phelps, Chesapeake, 6-4, Princess Patti, offshore wreck.
VIRGINIA BEACH INSHORE: No outstanding catches reported.
LOWER CHESAPEAKE BAY: Speckled trout; William A. Perron, Virginia Beach, 5-15, Eveready, Elizabeth River; Chris Powley, Virginia Beach, 5-12, no name on boat, Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel; and James Foreman, Virginia Beach, 5-0, no name, Lynnhaven Inlet.
EASTERN SHORE: Speckled trout: W.T. Nottingham Jr., Cape Charles, 5-9, 5-9, Mater Man, Plantation Creek.
OUTER BANKS OFFSHORE: Wahoo: John Baker, Edenton, N.C., 55-0, Fight-N-Lady; Warren Gintis, Edenton, 45-0, Carolinian; and Carol Cherry, Ashland, Va., 45-0, Tuna Duck. King mackerel: Jason Ross, Newport News, 43-0, Anthony Pena, Hampton, 31-10, Jim Henkel, Newport News, 30-8, and Johnny West, Newport News, 30-6, all from the Citation.
OUTER BANKS INSHORE: Red drum releases: Pat Bracher (6), Avon, N.C., Avon Pier; Tom Reed, Kill Devil Hills, surf; Kenny Wilson (3), Currituck, N.C., Avon Pier, Larry Haack (5), Kill Devil Hills, Avon Pier; and Alan Tuna, Buxton, N.C., surf. Speckled trout: Whitney Jones, Kitty Hawk, 8-2, surf; Steve Sistrunk, Norfolk, 5-14, surf; Mark Reynolds, Franklin, 4-9, surf; and Edward Stilwell, Norfolk, 4-2, surf. Striped bass release: Leroy Lutz, Buxton, surf.
FRESH WATER: Striped bass: Rick Falls, Zuni, 21-0, 17-0, Western Branch Reservoir. Largemouth bass: Brian Brown, Virginia Beach, 23 inches, Lake Smith; and Kenny Bouvier, Virginia Beach, 22 inches, Lake Whitehurst. Yellow perch: Kyle McPherson, Chesapeake, 14 inches, Western Branch. White perch: Wayne McPherson, Chesapeake, 1-4, Western Branch.
TOURNAMENTS: Susan Owens of Chesapeake won a Tidewater Bass-N-Babe largemouth bass tournament Sunday on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina. Her catch weighed 5-3. Second went to Laura Hansen of Suffolk at 4-10, third to Johnnie Burdette of Barco, N.C., at 3-3. Owens had the lunker at 5-3. by CNB