WELDON — Break out the heavy tackle. Concentrations of striped bass in the Roanoke River near Weldon continue to increase as spawning rapidly approaches.

Chad Thomas, the Wildlife Commission’s fisheries research coordinator for the coastal region, reports that the upper Roanoke’s water temperatures earlier this week were close to 66F.

Fly rodders are using red-and-white or chartreuse-and-white Clouser Minnows successfully, but a Half-and-Half (bottom) is more likely to draw the attention of a big, bruising striped bass because the additional feathers give the fly more bulk.

“Abundance of striped bass on the spawning grounds will soon be reaching its peak, most likely within the next two weeks,” Thomas said. “Angler catches and our electrofishing results reveal larger females are also moving up river in better numbers. We collected several females pushing 40 inches, with the largest so far being a 42-inch, 31-pound female.”

Bobby Colston, owner of Colston’s Tackle box on Highway 48 south of Gaston, said he can vouch for the steadily improving fishing.

“My son Mike and I fished Sunday afternoon and we caught about 20,” Colston said. “Five or six of them were over 27 inches and the largest one was 31 inches long.”

Colston said he and his son caught most of the striped bass on live blueback herring. A few were enticed to strike Sassy Shads in natural pearl color with black backs.

Fly rodders should be encouraged by results reported from one of Colston’s fishing buddies who also fished with a son. The tandem reported catching 28 striped bass on Clouser Minnows and Half-and-Halfs. Most were in the four- to six-pound range.

“The stripers you catch on fly rods are usually smaller,” Colston said. “You don’t use that big bait fishing a fly rod, so you don’t catch that big a fish.”

Colston said anglers this week were catching fish in a four-mile stretch of the Roanoke from the Weldon boat ramp area down river past the power lines. Large minnows and live blueback herring are producing for bait fishermen. Anglers throwing artificials should use white or chartreuse bucktails, Sassy Shads in pearl with a black back, and Flukes in albino shad or blue glimmer. Silver Stingsilvers continue to produce, Colston said.

Electrofishing – So Whassup With That?
 

Chad Thomas, the Wildlife Commission’s fisheries research coordinator for the coastal region, hefts a 25-pounder previously collected during an electrofishing excursion.

Anglers fishing the Roanoke River – or any of our State’s public waters, for that matter – sometimes see Commission fisheries biologists conducting electrofishing surveys. The answer to the invariable question, “So, whatcha’ doing?” is actually twofold: Data from the electrofishing surveys allow fisheries biologists to estimate the size and age structure of the entire fish population. Also, the temporarily stunned fish provide opportunities for biologists to tag and release the fish to learn more about fish movements.

“We collect striped bass ranging from 14 inches to 40+ inches and every size in-between,” Thomas said. “The majority of the fish that we see early in the spawning run are 3- to 5-year-old male stripers that average 18 to 22 inches. As the water warms, we see larger fish joining the festivities.”

Thomas said that the Wildlife Commission established the protective slot limit on the Roanoke River (no harvest of 22- to 27-inch fish) to protect 5- to 8-year-old female stripers.

“We age the fish by removing a few scales from the side of each striped bass and then counting annual rings, much like annual rings can be counted in a cross section of a tree trunk,” Thomas said. “The information tells us how fast the striped bass are growing, and allows us to identify strong year classes. On average, 27-inch striped bass are 8 years old. The 40-inchers average 12 to 14 years in age, so you can see the importance of time in rebuilding striped bass spawning stock.”

Thomas said that tagging and tracking striped bass movement would be impossible without electrofishing surveys.

“This past week we tagged and released almost 500 stripers,” Thomas said. “The Wildlife Commission works cooperatively with the Division of Marine Fisheries on this study to learn more about the movements of Roanoke River stripers. Each year we get reports of anglers catching striped bass tagged at Weldon from places as far away Massachusetts and the coast of Maine. It’s quite a trip.”

Anglers who catch tagged striped bass should clip off the tag and mail the tag to the address printed on the tag. Include your name and address, the length of the fish, and location where the fish was caught. Anglers returning tags are mailed hats or $5 for each returned tag. They also are notified of the time and place where the fish was tagged originally.
 

More information

Striped Bass Q&A for 2004

Guide to striped bass fishing on the Roanoke River

Check current river conditions at Roanoke Rapids

Check current river conditions at Williamston
 

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