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By Mark Taylor
Action has been pretty good the past couple of weeks on a number of fronts. This nasty system may put things on hold for a few days, but good fishing will likely return just in time for the weekend, with action steadily improving over the second half of March. Bass fishing on big lakes is about what you expect for the pre-spawn season. Action isn't necessarily fast, but, as weight totals at recent tournaments show, it's a great time to put a few quality fish in the boat. Lake Gaston saw a ton of pressure over the weekend, with a Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament Saturday, and a Virginia Bass Fishing Teams (VBFT) event Sunday. The BFL tournament drew 210 boaters and another 210 co-anglers, while the VBFT tournament attracted 81 two-man teams. In the BFL event, nearly 75 percent of the boaters brought at least one keeper to the weigh-in. Rodney Sorrell of Stokesdale, N.C., had the biggest sack, an impressive five-fish catch of 18 pounds, 14 ounces. Jon Moss was the top co-angler with a four-fish catch weighing 11 pounds, 8 ounces. Despite the heavy pressure Saturday, the VBFT folks caught plenty of fish the next day. "It was real good," VBFT angler Mike Fosbre of Roanoke said of the action. Larry Harter and Thomas Dillow of Bluefield, W.Va., used a combination of crankbaits and spinnerbaits to boat their 8-fish tournament limit, which weighed 23.97 pounds. Spinnerbaits and crankbaits are always popular and effective lures at Gaston this time of year, but other tactics worked over the weekend. Fosbre and partner Thomas Wooten of Huddleston fished quite a bit with soft plastic finesse baits and did well enough to finish third. On the bass lakes in this region, action is picking up, although it's probably not as good as it is on the warmer Piedmont waters. Slow-moving jerkbaits are producing a combination of smallmouth and largemouth bass at Smith Mountain Lake. Jig-and-pig combinations and small hair jigs are also taking some fish. At Claytor Lake, bass fishing is fair, with jerkbaits and small jigs producing some fish. The best action reportedly is taking place in the hour before dark. Of course, bass aren't the stars of what's traditionally some of the best fishing in March. On waters with good populations of yellow perch, this is prime season. I've heard reports of good yellow perch fishing at both Claytor and Smith Mountain lakes. As usual, Lake Moomaw is producing the best fishing. Ben Murray of Roanoke stopped by the Bait Place on his way to the lake over the weekend to ask Larry Andrews for some advice on yellow perch fishing. It must have been decent advice because Murray stopped by on his way home with a couple of trophies. The biggest weighed 2 pounds; the second was 1.97 pounds. The lake also is giving up a few big trout, although action isn't exactly blazing. Andrews said Johnny Shaffer of Iron Gate, one of the lake's best trout fishermen, stopped by with a couple of big browns Monday. The largest weighed 6.69 pounds. Still skiing While many of us are dusting off our fishing tackle and golf clubs, a few die-hard skiers continue to head for the hills. They're finding decent conditions for their final runs of the season. Recent temperatures have been cool enough at night to allow many resorts to fire up snowmaking equipment. If forecasters are right, some resorts should also see some snow from the front that hit the region late yesterday. Most will probably get some rain at the tail end of the system. Rain is not such a bad thing as snow bases are still pretty healthy around the region. Most mid-Atlantic ski resorts plan to remain open through the final weekend in March. Some are even more ambitious. West Virginia's Snowshoe Mountain, for example, plans to remain open through April 11. For updated ski conditions, see southeastski.com
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