Thursday, June 26, 2008
Lakes, stream, salt fishing report
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
Recent columns
Lakes
Bass fishing has been fair at Claytor Lake, reports John Zienius at Big Z's in Radford. Winning bags in recent night tournaments have been about 9 to 10 pounds for 5-fish limits. Catfishing is picking up at Claytor and should continue to improve.
At Smith Mountain Lake, the night surface bite for bass and stripers is still going on, although it has slowed down some. "It's moving more toward the worm bite in brush," reported Blain Chitwood at The Virginia Outdoorsman. Striper anglers are still doing well early in the morning by pulling live bait on planer board rigs, with fish concentrated in the mid-lake area.
Streams
Larry Andrews at The Bait Place in Covington reports that trout fishing has been good on the Jackson River below Gathright Dam.
Smallmouth bass action can be good in the New River if you can get a clean lure in front of them. John Zienius reports that the slimy "moss" that's plaguing the river is not as heavy above the Route 114 bridge. Wacky-rigged soft plastics fished in pockets will take fish, and top waters can also be productive in open water.
Paddlers were out on the upper James River over the weekend, reports Brittany Harper at H&H Outdoors in Buchanan, but fishing action was pretty slow.
Saltwater
Red Drum Tackle reports that the Outer Banks Surf is producing some big whiting, known on the coast as sea mullet or roundheads. Some nice pompano are also around.
