Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 13, 1992 TAG: 9202130021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
THOUGHTS OF BIG BASS WARM COLD-WEATHER ANGLERS
Trophy largemouth bass fishing is a late-winter, long-johns affair at Lake Anna, where 13,000 acres of water cut a shimmering blue swath across the rolling Piedmont east of Charlottesville."If you want to catch a big bass, February and March, far and away, are the two best months," said Steve Mudre, who operates Anna Point Marina.
If you wait for summer, you will be too late.
In the past week, Mudre has weighed two largemouths that pushed the scales past the 9-pound mark. Anything above 8 pounds earns a citation.
Last year, Anna accounted for 29 citation bass: three in January, eight in February, eight in March, five in April, three in May.
"Then not another until November," Mudre said.
The February-March production is even more dramatic when you consider how light the fishing pressure can be that time of the year. Only two or three boats were launched at Anna Point the other day when Steve Ellis of Woodbridge caught a 9-pound, 5-ounce bass, Mudre said. By April and May, there probably will be five times as many fishermen on the lake.
Ellis caught his bass on a black and blue jig-and-pig. Dan Bache of Fredericksburg used the same type of lure to catch a 9-pound, 2-ounce largemouth a few days earlier.
Mudre, who has operated Anna Point Marine since moving from Salem in 1985, sees two basic patterns for late winter fishing. One is to fish the coves, which he prefers. That is best done when the water temperature climbs after a string of warm days.
Other fishermen, Ellis and Bache included, work the sharp drop-offs of creek channels, and weather doesn't seem to be that much of a factor.
"They are throwing the bait up into like 12 feet of water and they are sitting their boats out in about 35 or 40 feet," Mudre said.
Success comes while slowly advancing a jig-and-pig into deeper water, relying on bass to moved out of the depths to feed. To make it work, the 12-foot water should be within a cast of 35-foot depths, Mudre said.
The biggest Anna bass registered last season weighed 9 pound, 9 ounces. In 1990, the champion was 12 pounds, 6 ounces. The lake record stands at 13 pounds even.
\ For its 2 1/2 years of existance, no one had been able to shoot a perfect score at the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Amelia Sporting Clays course. Not even after 5,000 tries.
Then Steve Barton, from Chesterfield, showed up with a new gun that his fiancee gave him for Christmas. He broke 50 clay targets without a miss.
Barton was using a Browning GTI 12-gauge with a 30-inch barrel and skeet and skeet choke.
\ When Dave Horne set up the state's first Hunters for the Hungry program, he hoped deer hunters would donate 15,000 to 20,000 pounds of venison. That didn't happen.
More than 33,000 pounds came in for soup kitchens, rescue missions and other programs that feed the poor. Horne called it "phenomenal."
The idea will be expanded, he said.
"We feel there exists the potential to provide hundreds of thousands of pounds of meat to the needy through this program," Horne said.
\ Backers of a $5.50 Conservation Permit failed to convince fishermen, hunters and boaters that the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries really needs extra funds.
A bill to establish the permit, estimated to bring $2.8 million annually to the agency, was killed by a vote of 56-29.
Passed by the Senate was a bill that would establish a saltwater license.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY