Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 22, 1993 TAG: 9307220060
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That's what skipper Vincent Carlson spotted the other day hovering around the GA Buoy, which marks the Triangle Reef off Virginia Beach. With Carlson was Craig Owens of Chesapeake.
The two had been trolling, so they didn't have a casting outfit handy when the barracuda was spotted. Owens grabbed a 30-pound class trolling rod, still rigged for trolling, and began jigging a ballyhoo bait in front of the fish. The bait was dressed with a red and black Sea Aalon teaser, and that apparently helped grab the big barracuda's attention.
"The fish hit like a freight train," Owens said. `It was the fastest fish I have ever hooked."
Back in 1990, Claude Baine, director of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament, added barracuda to the list of species eligible for state-record recognition. But when he set a 25-pound minimum size, no one could come up with one big enough to qualify. Owens changed that with his 27-pound, 8-ounce record catch.
Elsewhere along the coast, Keith Frazier of Salem landed a citation-size, 107-pound tuna during a recent trip off Virginia Beach.
\ S-L-O-W: One word describes freshwater fishing across much of the state: slow. That's the term being used at Smith Mountain, Kerr, Briery Creek and Philpott lakes.
There are a couple of exceptions. Claytor Lake has been producing some nice smallmouth bass. Terry McCray of Radford landed one that weighed 5 pounds, 9 ounces. Vickie Sprouse of Wytheville reeled in a 3-pound smallmouth.
At Lake Moomaw, trout fishing is decent for people who know the lake and the wily ways of the brown trout. T.J. Kern of Clifton got a 7.82-pound brown.
Moomaw also has produced a couple of surprise catches. One angler caught a 6.8-pound northern pike. Another reeled in a 2.47-pound brook trout.
Smallmouth bass fishing is holding up at South Holston Reservoir, and crappie fishing isn't bad at that far-southwest lake.
Many of the anglers at Smith Mountain Lake have been dodging the heat and the boat traffic by fishing at night. The latest Friday night bass tournament was won with a hefty 18-pound, 15-ounce catch.
Night fishing also is picking up at Kerr Lake. Even the crappie fishermen are going out after dark.
Virginia's big rivers have a reputation of producing hot-weather catches, but success has been limited on the New. Better reports are coming from the James, especially the Piedmont area.
\ CLASSIC CATCH: The mayor of Greensboro, N.C., doesn't claim to be an angler, but he is fishing for a big catch. Mayor Vic Nussbaum, and Tom Ward, executive director of the Greensboro Sports Commission, are working to bring the 1994 BASS Masters Classic to 15,500-acre High Rock Lake and the new Greensboro Coliseum complex.
The two plan to attend the '93 Classic next month in Birmingham, Ala., site of the prestigious tournament for the second year in a row. Reports said it would be there for at least three years, but Nussbaum apparently doesn't think that's the case. In fact, sources familiar with the negotiations say his trip will be a formality, that Greensboro already has been chosen. The coliseum is holding the dates open.
Last year, the event brought an estimated 80,000 people and $25 million to Birmingham, which is the reason Greensboro wants to snag it.
High Rock, a shallow, turbid lake outside Greensboro, doesn't have the reputation of being a bass hot spot, but that isn't a problem. The important thing is to have bass fishing with a coliseum and exhibit hall within reasonable distance.
by CNB