Sunday, May 31, 2009
Rakes lands record hybrid bass
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
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Don't tell Robby Rakes about unlucky No. 13.
That figure plays a big part in Rakes' likely earning a spot in the list of state-record freshwater fish.
On May 13, the Christiansburg fisherman boated a 13-pound hybrid striped bass that is the pending first state record for the species.
Good lock played a pretty big part in the catch.
For one thing, Rakes isn't one of those big-fish-chasing fanatics who spends every waking moment on the water. Rather, he's a hard-working father of a 2-year-old who slips away when he gets the chance.
He was also fishing in an area that isn't known to have many hybrids -- the New River below Claytor Dam.
"I was pretty elated," said Rakes, a 31-year-old car salesman. "I must have sent 20 text messages and picture messages that night."
Rakes fished some as a kid, but got serious as an adult just recently.
He spent some time last summer wade-fishing for smallmouth bass in the New River. He caught a few nice ones, but no monsters.
When the weather got chilly and the smallmouth fishing got slow during the winter, Rakes started trying to catch striped bass, which he knew would be more active in cooler water.
Those efforts hadn't paid off and Rakes was still striperless as he walked the banks of the New on that night in mid-May, casting a Rapala Super Shad rap into the quiet waters downstream from the dam.
"I'd been throwing out all night and had caught only one small smallmouth bass," he said.
When a fish hit at about 10:30 p.m., Rakes knew he had something better.
"I thought it was either a hybrid, a striper or a muskie," he said.
When he got a look at the hard-fighting, platter-shaped fish, Rakes was almost positive it was a hybrid.
"I knew stripers were more streamlined," said Rakes, whose catch was 28 inches long and had an incredible girth of 20 inches.
Non-reproducing crosses of striped bass and white bass, hybrids are prized game fish because they are aggressive biters, hard fighters and more tolerant of warmer water than stripers.
They are stocked in Claytor Lake, but not the river.
Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologist John Copeland said he suspects a few fish make it through the dam's turbines and into the river below.
Copeland, one of two state biologists to confirm the species of Rakes' fish, also said hybrids are stocked in an impoundment on the New downstream in West Virginia, so there's a possibility this fish had traveled upstream.
Wherever this fish came from, it was a rarity.
"I never see many hybrids around there," Copeland said of the river section, which receives heavy fishing pressure.
Rakes knew that the recently established state record listing for hybrids was vacant because no angler had yet registered a certified fish meeting the 10-pound minimum.
He figured his fish would be close.
When he weighed the fish the next day at Rockhouse Marina on Claytor Lake, he found out it wasn't close, at all. The fish was actually 3 pounds heavier than the minimum.
The scale was accurate, as it turned out, but because it hadn't recently been certified, Rakes had to make a trip to Custom Meats for the official weight.
"It was actually 13.044," said Rakes, laughing. "I said, 'You're not going to give me the .044?'"
Rakes, who was using an Ugly Stik rod and an Abu Garcia spinning reel loaded with 15-pound test line, said he plans to have the fish mounted by a taxidermist.
The fish seemed to break the ice for Rakes on the striper front, too.
"The next night I went back and caught three nice ones," he said.
Another trout opener
Monday will be a pretty big day for many Virginia trout anglers.
Even though stocking ended last week, there are new fishing opportunities as the first of June marks the switch on Delayed Harvest stocked waters from artificial lures and catch-and-release requirements to general trout regulations.
The streams typically aren't as busy as Heritage Day trout waters on the first Saturday in April, but they will still attract crowds.
The rule change is intended to help anglers remove trout from waters that, while suitable for trout in cooler months, likely couldn't support the coldwater species through the summer.
In some years Delayed Harvest streams are already getting in rough shape by June 1, with trout suffering and dying as water temperatures climb well over 70 degrees.
That's not happening this year.
Weather has been generally mild the past few weeks. More importantly, the frequent rains have helped keep streams full and cool.
In fact, there's a good chance at least a few Delayed Harvest waters will remain so high Monday that they won't be worth fishing.
For example, as of Friday afternoon the Roanoke River was running way too high and muddy to allow for effective trout fishing in its two Delayed Harvest sections.
Even with a dry weekend it will be dicey Monday.
Smaller streams, such as Chestnut Creek in Galax and Peak Creek in Pulaski, should be in fine shape as long as the rain holds off.
While Delayed Harvest streams will get a lot of attention, trout fishermen shouldn't forget about regular put-and-take streams. Those that have been stocked recently, especially when water levels were high and fishing was tough, should still have good numbers of trout available.
