July 31, 2006Fishing the RoanokeHere's a short video from a recent short canoe trip Roanoke Times multimedia editor Seth Gitner and I took on the Roanoke River. You'd never know it by watching the clip, but we actually did catch some fish. The best was a nice redbreast sunfish Seth caught on a Rebel Wee Craw. Along with a handful of sunfish, we had a couple rock bass and a few smallish smallmouths, too.
July 27, 2006I feel sickYesterday word got out that Tour de France drug testers had made an "adverse analytical finding" on a sample after Stage 17 -- the race Floyd Landis won in dramatic fashion to claw back into contention. Then Landis pulled out of a couple of lucrative one-day races, fueling speculation that Landis was the rider in question. Please, no... Well, yes. Landis' team just confirmed that he was the rider whose test was funky. The sample, which reportedly indicated high levels of testosterone, will have to be tested again. I can predict the scenarios. If it comes back negative or inconclusive, Landis will still have that cloud hanging over him. If it comes back positive, we'll hear that something natural happened to increase the level. There's no winning. I love this sport but I am getting sick of this. July 26, 2006Eating crowMy friend Freddy McGuire just pointed out that I needed to eat crow regarding my entry about Floyd Landis saying "goodbye to any hopes he had of inheriting the throne vacated by Lance Armstrong" after his meltdown in the Alps on July 19. It wasn't like I didn't have company. No one -- except Landis, apparently -- gave him a chance to recover. I missed the live coverage of the stage because I was out of town at a meeting. I planned to watch primetime coverage so even though I figured Landis was cooked, I still tried to avoid finding out what happened. That plan got blown when I heard, on NPR of all places, this story teaser: "Floyd Landis has an amazing day in the Alps." I still didn't think it would be THAT amazing. It really was one of the gutsiest, greatest individual performances in Tour history, and there have been plenty great rides in that event. Clearly, Landis -- I'm not sure we can call him Floyd, ala Lance, just yet -- helped bring attention to a race that wasn't drawing that much excitement over here in the wake of Armstrong's retirement. But what about next year? Landis will have his hip replaced in the next couple of months. As tough as that dude is, it's hard to imagine that he will be able to defend his win next year. When he does come back it will probably be for his Swiss Phonak team, even though Armstrong has hinted that he'd love to bring him back to the Discovery Channel team. The Discovery Channel team needs to do something because, even though it had a rider briefly in yellow and another win a stage, it was a disappointing Tour for them. George Hincapie, who took over for Armstrong as the team's leader, wore yellow briefly. But he faded as the race wore on and showed he just isn't cut out to be a GC (general classification) contender. Which means I hope we get to see him putting more attention back toward the European spring classics, where he excels. Discovery is reportedly recruiting American Levi Leipheimer, who has podium potential but must improve as a time trialist. Rumors have also surfaced that Discovery might be pursuing Jan Ullrich, the German who never could quite beat Armstrong. Ullrich, who was out of this year's Tour because he is under investigation for doping, was recently fired by his T-Mobile team. The team also has some other riders with potential. Despite all of Ullrich's baggage, I like him. The guy is a fighter, and he's a character. Providing he survives this latest doping scandal and can stay out of trouble, he's the kind of guy who will command attention, even from -- or maybe especially from -- an American public that is still just learning about the nuances of bike racing. Landis amazing in defeatSeven hours ago Floyd Landis appeared poised to become just the third American to win the Tour de France. Then the bottom fell out. Landis blew up on the day’s final climb, lost tons of time and said goodbye to any hopes he had of inheriting the throne vacated by Lance Armstrong. I try not to miss any mountain stages so I was watching the live coverage as Landis imploded. It was gut-wrenching. As his rivals pedaled away, Landis was helpless, grimacing and staring at the road ahead of his front wheel. It was reminiscent of that scene in 1982 when triathlete Julie Moss staggered and crawled the final stretch of the Hawaiian Ironman. When he finally finished Landis didn’t say much as he was hurried into a team car. But later, in an interview that can be seen here, he met the press. And he was amazing. The guy walked in with a smile on his face. Landis, who has shown refreshing modesty in all of his interviews during the Tour, said ignoring the situation wouldn’t change things. He didn’t make excuses. He said he had a bad day on the wrong day. He said he’ll keep fighting, even though he knows he’s got little hope of winning. Landis faces hip replacement surgery at the end of the season. It could end his career. I bet it doesn’t. July 18, 2006Urban archers lose an advocateRoanoke city officials have been reluctant to participate in Virginia's urban archery program, even though the program could be an effective and economical part of the city's efforts to deal with its problem whitetail population. Chances that the city will change its course just got slimmer. Joe Schupp, the one guy who made any effort to get the city to consider urban archery, just called to tell me he's moving to Texas in August. I met Joe a few years ago. He was on a citizen's committee appointed to study the deer problem. He's a bowhunter and hoped that could be part of the deal, although he was smart enough to understand that it wouldn't totally solve the city's problem. The committee got the city to realize they had to do something, and so far that something has been sharpshooters. They're expensive, but they're working. I don't see nearly as many deer in the city as I did three or four years ago. Of course that's just anecdotal. Deer-car collision data will tell the real story and I need to look into that. Even after his work on the committee was done Joe kept pushing for urban archery. He didn't get it done, but he got city leaders to listen, and that was a pretty big step. Each year the number of localities participating in urban archery is growing. Without Joe fighting here in Roanoke, I think we're stuck with only sharpshooters for the foreseeable future. July 17, 2006Kumar on SMLJay Kumar of Bassfan.com has already come out with some initial thoughts on Smith Mountain Lake's inclusion on the 2007 BASS Elite Series schedule. Here's his take: "Okay, no memories here. I hear it has good stripers, maybe some catfish." Kumar is right, and not just about the lake's good stripers and catfish. Outside the regional bass scene, Smith Mountain Lake is pretty much unknown. Elite Series anglers Mike Iaconelli, Rick Morris and Dave Wolak all finished in the top 10 in a 2004 Northern Open event on the lake. John Crews lives nearby and has fished it plenty. The rest? They're in the same boat, so to speak, as Kumar. But I think they'll figure it out. What do you think about the Elite Series coming to SML? Big news? Or who cares? Post a comment. Or read Kumar's complete synopsis here. Or both. Blue Ridge BrawlAfter an amazingly successful BASS Northern Open event at Smith Mountain Lake in the fall of 2004, anglers and BASS officials alike said they felt the lake would be an ideal site for an Elite Series event. They were right. Smith Mountain Lake is one of 11 site for next year's series. This is the most prestigious tournament to ever hit the lake. Here's the full 2007 Elite Series scedule, plus the three Bassmaster Majors:
The Western Run #1 March 8-11 Battle on the Border, Lake Amistad Del Rio, Texas #2 March 22-25 Duel in the Delta, California Delta Stockton, Calif. #3 March 29-April 1 Golden State Shootout, Clear Lake Lakeport, Calif. The Southern Swing #4 April 19-22 Pride of Georgia, Clarks Hill Lake Evans, Ga. #5 April 26-29 Southern Challenge, Lake Guntersville Guntersville, Ala. #6 June 7-10 Blue Ridge Brawl, Smith Mountain Lake Moneta, Va. The Turn #7 June 21-24 The Sooner Run, Grand Lake Grove, Okla.
#8 July 12-15 Champion’s Choice, Lake Champlain Plattsburgh, N.Y #9 July 19-22 Empire Chase, Lake Erie/ Niagara River Buffalo, N.Y. #11 Sept. 13-16 Sunshine Showdown, Lake Tohopekaliga Kissimmee, Fl.
Bassmaster Majors #1 May 17-20 Bassmaster American, High Rock Lake Greensboro, N.C. #2 July 26-29 Bassmaster Memorial, Oneida Lake Syracuse, N.Y. #3 Aug. 23-26 Bassmaster Legends, Arkansas River Little Rock, Ark. "First" fish The river was in perfect condition for fishing, flowing about twice normal for this time of year and a great green. Last time Seth and I were on the water -- I was bowfishing at Smith Mountain Lake -- he got bored out of his skull. I don't blame him. I don't know how those guys who shoot every second of action in bass tournaments do it. So a few days he bought a fishing license. His first ever, I think. I hooked him up with the little Shakespeare ultralight spincast outfit I recently got for my kids. The lure? A Rebel Wee Craw, one of the best, easiest-to-fish lures for river smallmouths and redbreast sunfish. I told him to cast as close as possible to the bank and he did a pretty good job of it. After a few missed strikes he finally hooked up with a hand-sized redbreast sunfish. He fought it like a champ. "This is my first fish," he said, proudly. "At least since I was a teen-ager." He asked how much I paid for the rod and reel combo. "Twenty bucks," I said. He's going to get one. Awesome. July 12, 2006"Sounds like paradise"That's what a co-worker just said in response to my description of part of my weekend trip to Lake Moomaw. He was being sarcastic. OK. Moomaw is paradise in many ways. A good-sized reservoir north of Covington, it is surrounded by steep hills and mountains. Because the surrounding land is owned by the U.S. Forest Service and the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, there is no shoreline development, save for a couple of public campgrounds, boat ramps and recreation areas. It is beautiful. The water is clean. Not alpine lake clean, but cleaner than Virginia's other big reservoirs. The fishing can be great, too. But take a look at the beach at Coles Point and you see something less appealing. I'm not talking about the pack of teen-aged, overweight, bikini-clad, tatoo-adorned, baby-totin', cigarette-smokin' moms hanging out there Sunday. I'm talking about goose crap, and lots of it. The geese love the beach. It doesn't help that some visitors think the geese are pretty -- and they are -- and enjoy feeding them. After that food goes into the goose, it comes out of the goose. Quickly. And right onto the beach. A sign at the beach entrance says Forest Service personnel will scoop poop whenever possible. As if they don't have enough other stuff to worry about. I plan to do my part, too. On or shortly after Sept. 1, I think I'll head back to Moomaw with my goose droppings reduction system -- a Browning Gold Hunter 12 gauge. Sept. 1 is the opening day of Virginia's early goose season. You can't hunt at the beach, of course. But you can hunt nearby. And I plan to. July 10, 2006Great perch; better smile Seven-year-old Lauren Wood of Rocky Mount caught this citation-sized yellow perch at Smith Mountain Lake on Saturday. The fish was just over 12 inches long. That's a great perch, but the best part of this picture is that great smile on Lauren's face. Is she proud, or what? A lot is written about how important it is to take kids fishing so they can "continue the heritage" and so on. I don't disagree with that notion, even if the powers behind it are agencies that sell fishing licenses and companies that sell fishing gear. I don't blame them for trying to hook future customers. The most important reason to take kids fishing is pure and simple: most of them love it. July 5, 2006Foxworthy on whitetailsIf you've spent much time watching hunting videos, chances are you've seen some segments featuring Jeff Foxworthy. He's a regular on the Realtree Monster Bucks series and also has his own collection of "Incomplete Deer Hunter" videos. Foxworthy is funny, but like a growing number of deer hunters he's serious when it comes to deer management. My buddy Christian Berg, the outdoor writer at the Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call just wrote a great column about Foxworthy's obsession. |
About this blog
While growing up in rural Southern Oregon, Mark Taylor developed a passion for the outdoors while he and his younger brother tagged along with their father on fishing, hunting and camping adventures. Graduating from Northwestern University in 1988, Taylor spent four years as an officer in the U.S. Navy based in Norfolk before moving into journalism. After five years writing about the military for a Norfolk-based publishing company, he became the outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times in 1998. He lives in Roanoke with his wife and twin daughters. .....Advertisement.....
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