Who (besides the Ralph Barton crew) has been fishing?
As I wrote about in my column yesterday in The Roanoke Times, I got out late last week for a day of fishing with my buddy Alfie Hammerstrom.
We were hoping to find some yellow perch and crappies at Holliday Lake (aka Holiday Lake), but never did get on them. We did catch some bluegills, which tells you just how warm this winter has been. Normally those things are quiet until at least April.
I know Ralph Barton, who guided his son Chris (with a 6-p0under!) and girlfriend Jan into these great Smith Mountain Lake largemouth bass on March 11, isn’t the only one getting out there and putting fish in the boat.
Let’s get some reports, folks!
March 19, 2012 - 12:10 PM
Fished Smith Mt. with a friend on Friday and it was pretty slow. We fished about 6-7 hours and I caught two largemouth (one was a five pounder though so that was sweet) and he caught four. It was a beautiful day to be on the water even though the action wasn’t as fast as we thought it might be.
My son and I went to a pond in Bedford County yesterday for about 2 hours and had a blast catching bluegills, crappie, and largemouth. The big catch of the day was a big female largemouth on topwater. I estimated her weight to be in the 7 – 8 lb range. There is not much that tops that drammatic explosion of a big fish hitting a top-water lure.
Looking forward to many more days on the water with my son Hunter.
Karl — Were you guys ‘yakking it?
Glen — Sounds like a great day on the pond!
We were back out bass fishing yesterday on the upper Roanoke River section of Smith Mountain Lake. Water temperature was 60 – 62 degrees! climbed 10-12 degrees in just a week! That’s pretty warm for mid march. I thought the fishing was going to be great but actually for us was SLOW, (go figure?). With that water temperature they should have been chewin! We only got bit by three bass and really couldn’t develop a pattern. Of course I’m anxiously awaiting my next trip… I’ll be out there a couple more times this week and hopefully fishing will pick up….. I’ll keep ya posted!
No fishing of late, but did get a couple of my kids out for some upland bird hunting at a preserve over in Palmyra on Saturday. I had a great time watching my son and daughter shooting phesant, Chuckar and quail. My dad, two brothers and a neice were there as well, it was a veritable Kempkreig on the birds. I was hoping to fill my Lorax tag, but we did not see any.
A couple coworkers and I floated the upper New (Foster Falls-Bluecat on the New) last Thurs for walleye and smallmouth. No walleye were caught but some sizeable smalljaws were landed; threw xraps and husky jerks primarily in eddies and below ledges. The fish had awesome colors and fat bellies!
Ralph — I need you to do some good crappie recon for me! C’mon! Help a guy out!
John — Diese Vögel hatten keine gelegenheit gegen ihre Kempkreig.
Ben — I love that float! I’m surprised you guys didn’t get at least a couple ‘eyes on that float. But not surprised that jerkbaits got you some nice smallies.
Sorry I don’t have pics, but I went out Saturday and fished the James. My buddy caught about a 19.5″ Smallmouth and while I was watching him take his fish off the hook, I got bit by a 20.25″ Smallie with some nice girth.
Several of my friends have really been into the big smallies over the past week.
Now’s the time to catch the bigguns.
Mark,
Ja, am 20 und 16 guage flak war dick und zielgruppengerecht. Die Hunde waren deutsche kurzhaarkatzen, und behandelt die Wärme gut. Ich denke Sohn#2 ist nun mehr in die vogeljagd als Xbox !
my boys and i hit carvins cove sunday 3/18 about 900 am till 100 pm …not much action ..even fished thru a rain storm ..i did get to see a guy on the bank catch a nice largemouth . he told us he had caught two nice smallmouth there on saturday. that figures …we are out in john boats catching nothing and he is catching them on the bank . we will head somewhere this weekend. my hit one of the department owned lakes.
Mark,
My buddy Tom floated the Cowpasture Sunday and caught nothing but smallmouths on a Mepps #2. All I caught was grief for not going with him.
I was too busy messing around @ the cabin,go figure !
Mark – no, I’ve yakked a little at SML in the past launching from private property or a boat ramp and fishing a discrete area as if it were a smaller body of water, but this time I was fortunate to be a guest on my friend’s bass boat.
Mark – Ok, we’ll see if we can get you on some Crappies. Thursday I’m gonna be Bass fishing but I’ll take a light spin rig & some mini-jigs and test a few likely spots. I’ll let you know if I locate any slabs. Have you got a hand-held GPS? If so I could Email you coordinates if I stumble on some Crappie HotSpots.
jbeanes — I need to hit the Cowpasture. Haven’t been up there in too long. I take it the water is back on?
Karl — Yaks have their time and place, but a big boat is nice sometimes, too.
Ralph — Any help you can provide would be great. Would love to get the kids on some slabs. And, yes, I have a GPS.
Jason — Sorry to hear you and your boys had a tough one. Carvins Cove should really turn on here soon
Scott — With the water up and with some color, you are exactly right that now is a great time to catch your biggest smallmouth of the year. Might not get tons of bites, but they will be quality fish.
John — Wenn mehr Kinder ging die Jagd sie würde erkennen, daß die reale Sache ist viel mehr Spaß als Xbox!
Mark,
Cowpasture looks good ! Water may be on this weekend too….
I love fishing, but I dom’t have a boat. Is there any place along the Cowpasture or Craig’s Creek that offere good public access?
Any one know the water temp around Indian Creek or Grimes Creek on Smith Mtn.? Gosh I can’t wait till the shad come up at night. “Swoosh”
Mark,
How about starting a thread on Turkeys. Is anyone hearing what I’m hearing? These guys are going crazy in the mornings!! Will this affect the season this year?
Was out on Claytor Lake this past Sunday on the Float Tube. Had some short strikes on a couple of jerk baits. It was great to be on the water hope to do it again this Sunday.
Also it was nice to see the float plane to land on the water. All in all it was a good day. Why don’t you join me sometime anyone with a float tube for that matter I won’t be hard to spot.
My youngest Peyton and I got out Saturday for some trout fishing on the Pigg and Runnett Bagg creek. Fishing was slow and tough as the streams were down and very clear….had to fish well downstream of your shadow to even get a bite…did manage to limit out but took most of the day to do it…all browns and all on gulp minnows. Great way to spend a beautiful day though. Peyton lost interest quickly as kids will do when the fish are being stubborn so I give him my old fly rod rigged with a small popper to let him practice working the fly rod…the kid’s getting the hang of it…even got one of the browns to hit the thing in a deep hole in the creek. He missed setting the hook in the fish but from his excitement I’d say he might just be hooked on topwater fishing. He didn’t stop talking about it the whole ride back from Runnett Bagg.