Sunday, August 09, 2009
Tucked-away treasures: Boating Hungry Mother's muskies no easy task
Marion's state park can yield the elusive fish, and the dreary summer day might aid in landing one.
SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times
Outdoors editor Mark Taylor and photographer Sam Dean of The Roanoke Times found tough fishing and conditions at Hungry Mother State Park while pursuing muskies, bass and walleyes.
Photos by SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times
Other than a few tiny blue gills, the only fish caught at Hungry Mother State Park was this small largemouth bass hooked on a popper by photographer Sam Dean.
Outdoors editor Mark Taylor reaches into his tackle box for another lure during a futile fishing outing at Hungry Mother State Park in Marion. Hopes for reeling in a muskie went unfulfilled.
Mark Taylor is outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times.
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MARION -- The saying goes that the muskellunge is the fish of 1,000 casts.
If there is a day when it may take less, this could be it.
During most summer days, no self-respecting muskie would be caught dead cruising the shallows. But this Wednesday in late July isn't like most summer days.
It is chilly, the sky is a dark gray and it is dumping buckets of rain as Sam Dean and I launch my small aluminum johnboat onto the dimpled surface of Hungry Mother Lake.
Because the weather is so horrible, we have the 108-acre lake completely to ourselves for this seventh stop in our summer-long quest to explore some of Virginia's smaller public lakes.
After struggling to catch largemouth bass on our previous few trips, a change of pace seems in order, and this seems a good place and good day for it.
Hungry Mother Lake is not only stocked annually with muskies, it also gets a yearly dose of fingerling walleyes, a species that tends to be more active in low light.
If the muskie effort falls short, walleyes will be next.
There is a slight problem, however.
I have left my lightly stocked but serviceable muskie box, at home. All I have is bass tackle.
So I look for the biggest surface lure I have, and it comes down to a Zara Super Spook or a big Lake Fork Frog, one of the buzz toads I've come to love over the past year.
Because the shallow cove with the boat ramp is littered with trees that have fallen into the water, the weedless toad seems the way to go.
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With his fly gear, Sam opts for a bass-sized popper which he starts pitching into bassy-looking pockets along the shoreline.
As the toad gurgles seductively along the surface, I wait for a long torpedo to jet out from under a fallen log.
I'm not fishing with a wire leader -- they're in the muskie box -- and realize that even the heavy PowerPro braided line probably won't hold a toothy muskie.
But I just want a strike.
And, if not from a muskie, at least from a bass.
Tiny bluegills are nipping at the rubber legs on Sam's popper. Before long, he gives in and ties on a smaller popper.
That works and he starts boating a few bluegills, and even a small largemouth bass.
Nothing follows the toad.
Water is pooling on the floor of the boat.
I make cast number 179.
And two 12-inch bass casually follow the lure back to the boat.
Another 100 casts later and it's time for walleyes.
The best time to target the lake's walleyes is in May and June, when the fish move into the shallows at night to attack spawning alewives, the lake's primary forage fish.
During the summer the fish move into deeper water. Finding the fish can be difficult, which is why trolling is a favored way of prospecting.
Onto one light-action rod I tie a spinner rig and bait it with a whole nightcrawler. To another I tie a hair jig and tip it with a 3-inch-long Berkley Gulp Minnow.
We are in the main lake, where the water quickly drops to 20 feet and beyond within just a few yards of shore.
I troll just fast enough to keep the lures moving just off the bottom.
Suddenly, one of the rods arcs. But it's just a snag.
Photos by Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times
Outdoors editor Mark Taylor and photographer Sam Dean of The Roanoke Times found tough fishing and conditions at Hungry Mother State Park while pursuing muskies, bass and walleyes.
Outdoors editor Mark Taylor reaches into his tackle box for another lure during a futile fishing outing at Hungry Mother State Park in Marion. Hopes for reeling in a muskie went unfulfilled.
This is how it goes for a couple of hours, the only excitement coming when one of the rigs hooks one of the submerged trees that cover the bottom of the lake.
This is starting to look like the first trip on which I will be completely skunked, so I swallow my pride and start fishing for bluegills with a small piece of worm.
But that's not happening, either.
The water is now an inch deep on the floor of the boat.
Despite the ruggedly beautiful setting, it is becoming more difficult to not become disheartened.
As we make our way back toward the boat ramp, I decide to try something that shouldn't work, because sometimes that's what ends up working.
I begin casting the big Spook into open water, walking the lure across the choppy surface in a muskie-tempting zig zag.
Again and again, the lure goes untouched.
But if I'm going to not catch something, I might as well not catch a muskie.
