ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 8, 1990                   TAG: 9006090468
SECTION: SMITH MOUNTAIN TIMES                    PAGE: SMT-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium


EARLY BIRDS HAVE BEST SHOT AT BASS

This is the time of year when the trappings of a successful striped-bass fisherman include an alarm clock and a depth sounder/fish locator.

The clock is to wrench him out of bed in time to be on the lake by 5 a.m., and the fish locator is for finding elusive stripers that appear to move about on wings rather than fins.

The striped bass are going into their summer pattern, said Dale Wilson, the dean of fishing guides on Smith Mountain Lake.

"This is not the prime time of the year to fish for them," Wilson said.

Early spring and late fall are peak striper-catching periods, but if you are willing to get up early - real early - and use a locator as your underwater eye, then good catches are a distinct possibility.

The stripers, according to Wilson, have either spawned or attempted to spawn and now are beginning to disperse into summer holding areas located in the mid-to-lower section of the lake.

As they move, it is a good time to catch marauding schools feeding on the surface during periods of low light.

Once the fish have settled into the summertime, Wilson's angling pattern is this: At the crack of dawn, he will be probing the shallow water of main-channel points, casting surface lures or near-surface lures such as the Red Fin. Then, when it gets light, he heads for deeper water, looking for schools of suspended fish on the deep points and over the channels, particularly around the mouths of major creeks.

"The prime time is from about 5 or 5:30 a.m. to about 8 o'clock in the morning," Wilson said.

The key to finding suspended fish is to first locate schools of baitfish, which have been in the shallows along the shore during the night and are moving into deep water to spend the day. Frequently the baitfish can be spotted dimpling the water. The stripers will be finning beneath them at 15-to-25-foot depths.

"The baitfish stay pretty much over the middle of the channel, and the stripers are just following them around," Wilson said.

When Wilson spots the stripers on his locator, he will cast a lightweight bucktail jig and let it freefall. After it reaches about the 20-foot level, he retrieves it slowly.

The technique can be rewarded with multiple strikes from fish that can bend a graphite rod into a half-circle and muscle mono line off a bait-casting reel.

Just before the sun peeks over the mountaintop, the action is over as quickly as it began.

Even after nearly 20 years, Wilson isn't certain where the stripers go once the first rays of the sun hit the water. His best guess is they head for the deep, oxygen-rich channels of the lake, well out of view of fishermen and their electronic equipment.

"They will feed anywhere from an hour to three hours some mornings, then they pretty much disappear," he said.

Catches of striped bass this week began to pick up following a period of poor results, according to reports from marinas, tackle shops and guides. Several 20-pounders recently have been caught. One of the most productive areas is the lower S-curve on the Roanoke River arm.

In addition to the striper action, Brent Anderson of Roanoke landed one of the best largemouth bass of the season, an 8-pound, 8-ounce citation. Anderson was casting a Red Fin plug. Mark Spangler reported catching a 7-pound walleye on a Shad Rap lure.



 by CNB