Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 10, 1991 TAG: 9102110289
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Striped bass have been active at Smith Mountain Lake, with several 30-pound-plus catches registered. Crappie also are being caught, and one angler landed a citation rainbow trout.
Steve Hess of Roanoke was fishing with minnows near Moorman's Marina when he caught a 4 1/2-pound rainbow. The fish probably migrated downstream from stockings in the Roanoke River, said Melvin Crewson, who operates the Minnow Pond tackle shop at Hardy.
Big striped bass appear to be hitting best in the upper reaches of the lake, both the Blackwater and Roanoke river arms and their tributaries. Mike Wright of Roanoke landed a 37-pound, 3-ounce catch on a bucktail. Steve Lee of Oakridge, N.C., used a shad to catch a 32-pound, 14-ounce fish. Larry Moore of Ridgeway caught a 27-pound, 12-ounce striper on a Hopkins spoon.
The special-regulations section of the Smith River in Henry County has been producing brown trout catches for anglers casting flies and single-hook lures such as a Mepps spinner. The brown-hackle peacock, weighted and fished deep, has been working well for fly casters, as has the blue-wing olive when hatches are evident, said Robert Bryant of Bryant's Sporting Goods in Martinsville.
Sea bass and tautog fishermen off Virginia Beach were surprised last week when jumbo-sized bluefish began gobbling up their bait. The action took place around the Triangle Wrecks, about 30 miles off Virginia Beach, said Claude Bain, director of the Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament.
Bain called it an "unusual happening," and said he didn't view it as the beginning of the bluefish run, which normally occurs late March and early April.
Fishermen continue to catch and release striped bass along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, even though the season has ended for keeping fish. The stripers, weighing 6 to 28 pounds, are striking bucktails.
by CNB