Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Big stripers still a couple weeks away
Mark Taylor is outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times.
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The latter half of November is usually when coastal anglers find themselves giving thanks for big striped bass.
This is one Thanksgiving that might be delayed into December.
Some large stripers are in the Chesapeake Bay, and more are likely headed that way. But it seems unlikely that the holiday weekend will bring the kind of explosive action for big rockfish that is usually under way by this time of year.
For the fishing to really explode, water conditions must be favorable to concentrate the loads of big stripers around their favored lower bay haunts.
That hasn't happened just yet.
"From what I understand there are a ton of big fish in the middle bay up off Reedville," reported Claude Bain, the retired director of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament who stays up on coastal fishing through his part-time fun job working at the Princess Anne Distributing bait and tackle store in Virginia Beach.
As water temperatures in the bay drop, those fish will move toward the ocean.
Their migration to the lower bay typically coincides with the arrival of fish that have made their way down the coast from summering grounds off New England.
Some good fish are showing along the Atlantic beach as far south as Delaware. But it seems the biggest push of big migrants is still at least a couple of weeks distant.
Bain said he got reports of a huge school of medium-sized stripers around the Chesapeake Light Tower. But those fish are in federal water and off limits to angling.
Water temperature has been an issue this fall.
Bay temperatures are in the upper 50s, which is about eight degrees above normal for this time of year, according to Mark Snook at Chris' Bait and Tackle, a shop on the Eastern Shore.
The water is warm because air temperatures have been much warmer than normal.
"It's been in the 50s at night," Bain said. "It feels good, but it doesn't do much for the trophy striper fishery."
It's not that stripers aren't around.
As usual, piles of schoolie-sized fish in the 18- to 28-inch size range are concentrated around the pilings and man-made islands of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
Larger fish are around, but scattered.
Snook said he's gotten some reports of fish up to 20 pounds being caught on hook and line during the day, with nighttime anglers picking up a few fish up to 45 inches.
The daytime eel fishery off Cape Charles hasn't yet materialized. But Bain said he expects that to get going soon as some of those larger fish from the middle bay move down into the area.
The eel fishery is a relatively new thing but has become hugely popular because it is so effective.
In short, anglers fish along defined bottom contours such as steep drop-offs with live eels suspended below floats or on freelines.
The technique is similar to the way Smith Mountain Lake anglers target stripers with live gizzard shad, except that lake anglers actively troll while coastal anglers can simply drift with the current.
Slots remain for youth deer hunting workshop
One common frustration with special youth-hunting opportunities is that they attract participants who don't really need the events.
Put another way, the kids would be hunting anyway.
Organizers of an upcoming youth muzzleloader deer hunt and workshop in the New River Valley are trying to reach beyond the choir, so to speak.
The free event for hunters 12 to 17 will be held Dec. 18 and 19 at Claytor Lake State Park, which relies on carefully managed deer hunts to help control a whitetail population that, if left unchecked, would decimate the park's habitat.
One of the requirements is that participants must have never taken a deer with a muzzleloader.
The young hunters must also be accompanied by an non-hunting parent or guardian, and must have completed a hunter education course and meet all license requirements.
The workshop gets under way the evening of Dec. 18 (a Friday) with a workshop covering whitetail biology and game management, hunting safety and ethics, and muzzleloader safety and shot placement.
For Saturday's hunt, participants will each be personally guided by a volunteer hunter education instructor.
Hunters who bag deer -- and they will be allowed to shoot a doe or a buck -- will get help with game care.
For more information, contact DGIF education coordinator Jimmy Mootz at (804) 367-0656 or jimmy.mootz@dgif.virginia.gov.
