Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Leaving trout for another day
Mark Taylor is outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times.
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Bobby Hammock took his fishing to a new level Monday morning.
"That was more fish than I've caught in my whole life," a smiling Hammock said as he stood on the banks of the Roanoke River in Salem.
He had an advantage -- a big net and captive targets.
Hammock was among the dozen members of Roanoke's Trout Unlimited chapter who volunteered to help stock two sections of the river managed under the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries' delayed harvest program.
At several areas where Ernie Palmer of the Paint Bank hatchery stopped his truck, Hammock helped Palmer scoop a net of trout from the truck's fish tank.
In areas where shoreline brush wasn't a problem, Palmer didn't shy from long-distance stocking, deftly launching a net of twisting trout 30 feet into the river.
Hammock, who lives in Rocky Mount, kept things simpler. After filling his net, he'd hand it to another volunteer who would then hustle the fish to the river's edge and dump the squirming cargo into the cool green water.
"I have to remember this spot," he said with a clever grin after he noticed a particularly hefty brown trout in the net.
One of the Roanoke River's delayed harvest sections borders Green Hill Park in Roanoke County. The other runs between the Colorado Street bridge downstream to the bridge near the intersection of Electric Road and Apperson Drive. Both sections are about a mile long.
Like in other delayed harvest waters, trout fishing is catch-and-release only from October through May. Only artificial lures may be used. Because many delayed harvest waters can't support trout during the warm summer months, the fish may be captured starting June 1.
"There will be 50 cars down here that day," predicted Trout Unlimited volunteer Bayes Wilson. "It's like opening day."
Delayed harvest waters get three doses of trout: one in the fall, one in the winter and one in the spring.
During the release season, the waters provide a long-lasting fishery, something that doesn't exist on put-and-take waters, which typically are scoured pretty clean within a few days after stocking.
The two Roanoke River sections got a total of about 1,500 trout Monday.
"It's a good program for everyone," said TU volunteer Ron Herring of Roanoke. "When you delay the harvest, more people get an opportunity."
TU chapter president Dick Vipperman said he and his friends sometimes can pinpoint the lair of a particular trout.
"They'll come across a big one and it will become sort of a club mascot," he said.
A few years ago they found a giant brown trout that liked to hang out under a big sycamore tree at Green Hill Park. They named the fish George, and several club members caught him. Then one day he was gone.
Soon after the club members learned that a poacher had been seen in the area scurrying to his truck with a large brown trout.
"We think that was George," Vipperman said.
Trout Unlimited members have been helping stock the Roanoke River's delayed sections since they opened a few years ago. The extra labor is a big help to the department employees.
"When we don't help, the game wardens have to help," Wilson said.
Although the game department doesn't publicly announce stocking locations ahead of time, arrangements are made with TU to ensure the group can get the word out ahead of time to its members.
Helping hands aren't uncommon on put-and-take waters. Stocking trucks often draw followers on their way to streams, and the eager fishermen often help stock fish. When the stocking is done, they start fishing.
The TU volunteers, most of whom are retired, didn't plan to stick around to fish Monday morning despite the mild, fishing-friendly weather.
"The object is to get the fish spread out and let them get accustomed to their new surroundings," Wilson said, adding with a grin. "Of course, we'll be back to check on them later."
