The annual Smith Mountain Lake fishing tournament, brought to us for 45 years now by the Roanoke Valley Optimist Club, ran Friday through Sunday at Smith Mountain Lake.

As I wrote in my story in today’s Roanoke Times, the event featured some pretty impressive catches, including a 35.32-pound flathead catfish pulled in my Christee Ayers (picture here) of Union Hall. This wasn’t just a lucky catch for Ayers. She is a catfishing expert who has been at this a long time.

As for the disqualification, which you can read more about in my story, they used to be rare at this event. In recent years they have become a regular occurrence. Tournament organizers pulled a number of anglers in for polygraph tests and that delayed the awards by a bit. When one of the tournament officials made an announcement apologizing for the delay due to the desire to ensure the cleanest tournament possible, the crowd cheered. One man shouted, “That’s the way it should be.”

Officials in Bristol have announced that Cabela’s will anchor a shopping development in the city.

According to a city press release, construction on the store could start as soon as next summer, with a target opening date of October 2014.

The nearest Cabela’s is a store that just opened in  Charleston, W. Va., about three hours from Roanoke.

There are two Bass Pro Shops super stores within three hours of Roanoke, one near Charlotte and another in Richmond.

Bristol officials are counting on the Cabela’s location to be more than just a big retail store, but for it to be a tourist draw.

That the stores will draw big tourist crowds is often cited by Cabela’s and Bass Pro leaders as they seek store locations, with their decisions often hinging on generous  financial incentive packages. However, some analyses, including one  cited in this recent article,  dispute the idea that  public investment in the large stores is a wise investment.

Here’s the full release from Bristol:

Bristol Virginia Lures Cabela’s To The Falls

BRISTOL, VA – The City of Bristol, Virginia has lured an important anchor store to a new retail tourism site located on 140 acres within the city’s limits. City officials announced today that signed documents are in hand from outdoor outfitter giant, Cabela’s, who will be the first of two anchor stores at The Falls. With 38 retail stores worldwide, the Bristol store will be the first Cabela’s in Virginia.

“Cabela’s has a deep customer base not only in and around Bristol but across the region, people who share our passion for the Great Outdoors,” said Tommy Millner, Cabela’s Chief Executive Officer. “These outdoorsmen and women have supported Cabela’s for a long time, shopped with us via our catalog and online, so it was time to bring them the unique Cabela’s retail experience.”
Read more »

This is something you don’t see too often this time of year: a big Smith Mountain Lake striper. Richard Millar of Lake Ridge caught it Thursday.

Here’s his story:

“On 26 July during a morning striper fishing trip with Capt Kenny Short we – my daughter Melanie (of Atlanta) and son Richie (of Richmond) – caught 21 stripers including this 38- inch, 22-pound citation striper (me pictured).

Capt Kenny was so good, several times it seemed liked fishing for tuna – we were just catching them on all lines; but alas his fishermen (us) were not good enough to bring them all into the boat.  It is fun to occasionally watch a boat captain get so frustrated at his crew – then we learned to hook the stripers better.

We were staying at The Virginia Cottage at Smith Mountain Lake and read in their guest book of the great time other guests had had fishing with Captain Kenny’s Striper Guide Service.  So we gave him a call.

Funny thing – to us not Kenny – because on Sunday he hit a submerged log in his boat which put it out of action. He had borrowed a boat so he could take us fishing.  He was not totally accustomed to the smaller boat and different layout.  He did a great job despite the rookie fishermen and the unfamiliar boat.  I can’t image how many fish we would have caught had we been in his primary boat.  We were fishing on the upper Blackwater with live bait (shad) in 30 – 40 feet.”

Who else is out there fishing? Let’s hear some reports.

Last night was the annual Catfish Campout at Smith Mountain Lake with my buddies Erich Faber and Rich Dorsett.

Normally we do this on Erich’s dock far back in a shallow cove. He has a tent set up on  his dock and we just cast out in all directions. The cats typically keep us pretty busy all night, which means very little sleep.

So, this year I proposed that I would bring my little camper down the road on the adjoining property, stay in it later in the night and then fish that part of the bank. I made this proposal earlier in the week when it looked like there might be some thunderstorms Wednesday night. But, while staying out potentially bad weather was one reason, another is that I really like getting at least a few hours of sleep every night!

Long story short, we moved the whole operation to a neighbor’s nearby dock. It’s a much bigger dock. It’s covered. And fishing can be good.

It was good: for the sunfish we planned to use for bait. In no time we had plenty of bluegills and green sunfish in our bait basket. So then it was time to get the baits in the water and wait. Read more »

We are in the process of overhauling Roanoke.com, and we’ve been reaching out to readers for feedback on what they’d like to see with the new site. We even have a blog, The Refresh RT blog, to keep readers in the loop.

So, let me pose that question to you all: How can we improve the Outdoors content on Roanoke.com? What are we doing well? What can we do better? What else would you like to see? Are there other outdoors sites we should look at for ideas?

Be blunt and honest. Your input will make a difference.

First, some basic background on what we have now.

–Outdoors stories and columns that appear in The Roanoke Times comprise part of our online Outdoors package. I write nearly all of these.  Read more »

I haven’t written a post in a few days, in part because Friday I was out all day fishing, then went straight to work in the office until after midnight.

Then I just took the weekend off, other than a few comments to that last post on Sunday hunting.

This week I’m working on a piece on winter fishing. I did something a few weeks ago on winter bass fishing tournaments, but this will be on the various species available to anglers during the colder months, as well as some techniques for catching them.

This was the only yellow perch my buddy Tom Maynard and I managed to scare up on Friday from Claytor Lake. We did get a few walleyes, however, which we really had to work for.

We’re eating them tonight, and they will be tasty.

I’ll be chewing on something else for a while. On the way back to the ramp my boat’s engine died. One second it was running like a top, the next it was buzzing to a stop. It didn’t take me too long to figure out the problem: out of gas. Tom, being a fishing guide who likes things in order, had sent me an email a few days earlier with a long checklist of things. They ranged from having enough lifejackets to making sure my fishing license was valid. One item was to make sure I had enough gas. “You didn’t even read it, did you?” he asked. “Of course I read it,” I replied. “I just didn’t heed your advice.” Tom said the only reason he sent all that to me was “I have done all of those things myself.”

Fortunately we had only about 2 miles back to the ramp so were able to get in on the trolling motor.

Another one for the “This happened to me while boating” file.

Anyway, back to fishing. What are some other fish you all like to target this time of year? Favorite spots? Tactics? I’m not looking for any super secrets, just basic info.

Thanks in advance.

Rumors started floating around a couple weeks ago that Sportsman’s Warehouse would be reopening its Roanoke location.

Those rumors were confirmed when the company recently added Roanoke to its map of store locations. Karen Seaman, the company’s chief marketing officer, left no doubt.

“We are returning to the area this spring and looking forward to reopening our store in Roanoke,” she wrote to me in an email earlier today.

According to the company’s website, the store, which is on Ferncliff Avenue near the Hersberger Road and I-581 interchange, will open on April 16, with a grand opening celebration on April 28.

I’m trying to connect with Seaman by phone for more details.

The Roanoke store was one of 23 the company closed in 2009 as part of  Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. Fifteen stores were sold to a Canadian company. A cash investment from a venture capital company helped the company get back on its feet, and Sportsman’s Warehouse emerged from Chapter 11 in August of 2009.

Since word of the return of Sportman’s Warehouse has started getting around, I’ve heard from several people who were enthusiastic about the news. Even though the Roanoke store was open for less than two years, the store earned plenty of devoted fans.

I just got done doing something I don’t like to do: deleting a user-submitted comment before it was published.

Comments are hugely important, and the vibrancy they add to this blog is critical. Almost everybody is mature and thoughtful (and legal) with their comments, even those in which they disagree with something. But there are exceptions.

Most of you know this, but I personally must approve every comment made here. Every one. If I don’t approve it, it doesn’t  get on. I might not agree with the writer. But as long as the comment meets our Terms of Service, I approve it. Read more »

I was going though my overstuffed e-mail inbox when I found this picture.

Unlike the two big bass I “caught” during an electrofishing trip earlier this year, I actually caught this one with a rod and reel.

I was fishing of the dock at my late father-in-law’s place in Georgia, over the July 4 weekend. We were actually watching the community fireworks display over Lake Blackshear when I noticed some action on my one of my catfish rods. So, it’s not like catching this took too much skill.

Anyone care to guess the weight of this bass?

Keith Thompson sent in this shot from a recent fishing trip with his father, Richard, at a small pond in Salem. Here’s the story he included:

“Around 8:30 p.m., using his last medium minnow, he managed to catch this monster catfish which weighed close to 20 pounds.  He fought the catfish for 20 minutes on a 6-foot medium spinning outfit with 15-pound braid.  The catfish made four incredible sizzling runs.  We did not have a net or boga grip but I managed to wrestle this giant out of the water for him.  It flat wore him out and he had to sit down for about 30 minutes. But at 76 years of age he won this battle.”