Fishing Report for April 1, 2010
Hickory shad fishing is hot on the Roanoke River this week. If you’re up for tangling with a mess of shad, now is the time to hit the river.
Jeremy McCargo, a fisheries biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, reported that he and fellow biologist, Kevin Dockendorf, saw quite a few hickory shad during their weekly sampling run this week. They collected about 200 for the day, which was quite a few more than last week. They also saw more female fish, which means the fish are definitely in spawning mode and are biting well.
Anglers at the Weldon boat ramp were catching shad right off the bank. The more successful ones were using shad darts and brightly colored crappie jigs. Boating anglers were catching good numbers down river around the “big rock.”
Bobby Colston, owner of Colston's Tackle Box on Highway 48 south of Gaston, said that the shad fishing continued to be good around the 48 bridge in Roanoke Rapids, with silver and gold spoons and pink and white jigs working the best.
With temperatures soaring into the mid-80s by this weekend encouraging even more spawning activity, McCargo expects the fishing to get even better before it finally tapers off. However, the departure of hickory shad heralds in the arrival of the striped bass. In fact, stripers are biting, if only in small numbers.
McCargo said that clerks working the creel downriver in Williamston and Jamesville reported a few catches of striped bass. Ricky Mobley of the Roanoke Sportsman in Williamston said water levels have fluctuated over the last week so the water's muddy, slowing down the striper bite to a few here and there. There were a few stripers reported in the Weldon area, but not many. The water temperatures are a little on the cool side for good striper action.
