Sunday, August 02, 2009
Tucked-away Treasures: For better or worse, Lake Witten attracts locals
Fishermen don't always expect big catches at the 52-acre lake.
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
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TAZEWELL -- Sitting on a well-worn section of Lake Witten's shoreline, James Gillespie watched the ends of his two fishing rods, and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
"I've been fishing here my whole life," he said, wistfully. "It's about the sorriest fishing hole I've ever been to."
But sitting here on a mild July evening with two of his granddaughters was better than the alternative.
"It's a way to get out of the house," said Gillespie, a 45-year-old who said he is on permanent disability.
And, apparently it's a popular option for folks in this ruggedly beautiful rural community on the eastern edge of Virginia's coal county.
As dusk descended on the 52-acre lake just north of Tazewell, Sam Dean and I figured we were sharing the water with at least 20 other anglers.
"I've got two words to describe this place," Sam said as he scanned the crowded lake, which is circled by a heavily traveled path. "Ham-mered."
We had come here as part of our summer-long mission to explore some of Virginia's smaller public lakes, which tend not to get the attention of larger lakes.
Clearly, a lack of attention was not an issue here.
Video: Witten Lake busy with locals
Video by Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times
Tucked-Away Treasures
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Photos by Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times
Mark Taylor ties on another lure, hoping that night will bring better fishing at Lake Witten. Despite its tough fishing, the lake is a popular option in the rural community.
Lake Witten's 52 acres gets heavy pressure from Tazewell and the surrounding areas. The lake's clear water makes for finicky fish.
But was the fishing really as bad as Gillespie said?
After our two-hour drive, we certainly hoped not.
There is no disputing that Lake Witten has some good fish.
In their electroshock sampling efforts each spring, biologists with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries collect some truly enormous largemouth bass, photos of which are posted with the brief write-up on the lake on the agency's Web site.
The fish look like some of the corpulent largemouths from the famous little lakes around San Diego, and that makes sense.
"There are some big bass in here," confirmed Chase Stasheen, an 18-year-old from nearby Springville, who was at the lake with several friends. "One time I caught a bass so big its tail stuck out of the top of my 5-gallon bucket.
"My brother, fishing over by the dam, catches some humongous bass."
Like those California lakes, Witten is stocked regularly with catchable-sized trout. Plenty of those fish go home with anglers, but no doubt a good number end up in the gullets of the lake's big bass.
Lake Witten and the California lakes share another trait: clear water.
Clear water can make for finicky fish. Just how finicky became apparent soon after we launched my little johnboat on the lake, on which only electric motors are allowed.
Expecting the big bass to be tough, I had decided that my best chance of catching one would be to use bait. So I wanted to catch a few tiny bluegills, which might also attract one of the lake's big channel catfish.
Typically, it's pretty easy to fill a bucket with 3-inch-long bluegills.
Not here.
Even the tiny bluegills were wary.
Fortunately, we were planning to focus our bass fishing efforts on the hours from dusk until about 11 p.m., so we weren't in any rush.
Our late-afternoon scouting found that the shoreline is generally steep, dropping quickly to depths of 20-plus feet. In the weedy shallows we could see a few small sunfish, but no bass.
Gillespie and 9-year-old Lindsey and 8-year-old Elizabeth had staked out their spot toward the upper end of one of the lake's two arms.
"I caught one bass," Gillespie said, shaking his head. "It was about 9 inches long.
"That's the biggest fish I've ever caught here."
As daylight faded I hooked a little sunfish behind its dorsal fin and started pitching the offering toward shore. The large cork quivered, and I hoped to see it plunge.
Sam, who had caught some decent bluegills on a small fly rod popper, started casting a larger bass bug toward shoreline cover.
Nothing.
Maybe the answer was a big, pulsating black spinnerbait. When working the shoreline didn't produce, I pitched it into the depths, let it sink and slowly rolled it back to the boat.
Eventually, I figured, this was going to work.
But we wouldn't get to eventually.
Bright flashes of lightning started exploding to west, the thunder rolling through the hills.
We headed for the boat ramp.
Around the lake shore, anglers' lights went out as the fishermen packed before the arrival of the storm, which would turn out to be a good one.
It had been a tough night on the lake, but better than sitting around the house.
