Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 15, 1993 TAG: 9307150033
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
What they forget is that many of the species along the Virginia-North Carolina coast are sub-tropical creatures that really don't get into high gear until the water temperatures are bathtub warm.
"The number of billfish appearing off the coast has been increasing almost daily, although peak fishing usually does not occur until mid-August through September," said Claude Bain, director of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament.
Participants in the recent Wachapreague Tournament, off the Eastern Shore, caught and released 12 white marlin and four blue marlin during two days of competition.
Early season billfishing took a serious turn quickly when a 746-pound blue marlin was landed by Randy Fagley's charter boat, the Chaser, out of Hatteras, N.C. The fish was caught during the Big Rock Tournament, the largest marlin ever for the event.
This week, a 500-pound plus marlin was landed by a boat working out of Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach.
As impressive as the marlin fishing was during the Wachapreague Tournament, much of the excitement centered around a 275-pound bigeye tuna that established a state record. The 7-foot long fish was captured at the Norfolk Canyon by Gary Lohr of Apex, N.C. It was a half-pound heavier than the previous record caught five years earlier to the day.
"Ironically, the prior record holder also had been competing in the Wachapreague Tournament when he caught his record fish in 1988," Bain said. Both tuna were weighed on the same set of scales.
The tuna landed by Lohr hit a ballyhoo bait trolled by Capt. Robert Starr aboard the "Are Starr." The fight lasted three hours.
"Lohr's state record tuna highlighted blue-water fishing, which has been excellent over the last 10 days," Bain said. "Dolphin have been extremely abundant, including many fish in excess of the 20-pound minimum required for a Virginia citation, and good numbers of yellowfin tuna have been taken off Virginia Beach and Wachapreague."
Nearly 150 dolphin citations have been registered in Virginia. Dolphin also have been abundant in North Carolina water.
\ HOT CATCHES: Sultry weather has caused fishing pressure to decline by as much as 50 percent at many of Virginia's lakes and streams, but that doesn't mean good catches haven't been reeled in by hearty fishermen.
Smith Mountain Lake has produced a number of 20-pound plus striped bass. Jack Tucker of Sommerfield, N.C., got a 37-pounder. Daniel Saunders of Moneta landed a 25-pound, 5-ounce striper, while Bobby Moore of Collinsville got one that weighed 21 pounds, 5 ounces.
The size of the brown trout being reeled in at Lake Moomaw has been on the increase. Tom Nelson of Roanoke broke the 10-pound barrier with at 10-pound, 3-ounce catch. Nelson caught several other browns in the 4-pound class.
Using minnows during the early morning hours, Andy Dean of Madison got four browns that weighed up to 8 pounds, 3 ounces. Chris Pitman of Salem weighed one that was better than 9 pounds.
At Claytor Lake, Frankie Alderman of Blacksburg caught a 19-pound, 3-ounce flathead catfish. Nine-year-old Amanda Howard of Dublin got a 22-pound, 14-ounce carp.
Douglas Flowers of Eagle Rock caught a 10-pound channel cat at the James River.
\ NEW DEPUTY: David Whitehurst, a 19-year veteran of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries fish division, has been named the agency's deputy director of operations.
Whitehurst worked out of Roanoke, managing the state's fisheries program at Smith Mountain Lake, Kerr Lake and Claytor Lake, from 1979-1987.
by CNB