Mark Taylor

Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.

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Overview

Among the many tools biologist Dan Wilson uses to monitor Smith Mountain Lake's striped-bass fishery, an important one comes from fishermen.

For years, anglers from the Smith Mountain Striper Club have recorded their fishing information in journals, which Wilson uses to track trends such as size distribution and catch rates.

"It's valuable information for us," Wilson said.

Participation has declined in recent years, so Wilson is seeking striper fishermen -- including those who aren't members of the club -- who are willing to keep journals this season. He prefers participants who go after the lake's stripers at least 10 times a year.

Striper action has been good at the lake and anglers are probably seeing a trend Wilson has already identified through other sampling: Three- and 4-year-old fish are not abundant, but the lake has record numbers of 2-year-old stripers (which are 19-20 inches long).

To request a journal, contact Wilson at (434) 525-7522.

Lakes

Striper and hybrid fishing has been excellent at night at Claytor Lake, according to Mike Burchett at Rockhouse Marina. Bass are on beds and crappie fishing has also been solid.

Bass are also on beds at Smith Mountain Lake, where striper fishing has also been solid as fish chase bait in the shallows after dark. Chris Pinnix, a visiting angler from North Carolina, reported solid catfish action last weekend. He said crappies weren't abundant but those caught were all good-sized.

Larry Andrews at the Bait Place said he checked in a couple of nice trout and crappies topping 2 pounds last week.

Streams

As they are on many lakes, stream smallmouths are in the spawning mode. Emerson Payne of Boones Mill reported good action on the James River near Buchanan using Berkley Gulp grubs. Some anglers are using live minnows and doing well.

Smallmouth action is also good on the New River.

Caddisflies have been hatching on the Jackson River tailwater, and trout fishing has been good. Small streams are also seeing good evening mayfly hatches, while hatchery trucks continue to keep stocked waters filled with trout.

Saltwater

Windy conditions continue to plague the coast. When the weather settles down, action has been good in Virginia waters for spring species such as flounder and tautog, while deep jigging is turning up good tilefish action off the Outer Banks.