Fishing Report for April 29 2010
Striped bass anglers fishing the Roanoke River have until Friday at 11:59 p.m. to harvest their limit of two fish. Although tomorrow is the last keeper day, catch-and-release fishing should continue to be terrific, particularly for this weekend, when the temperatures are forecasted to be in the upper-80s, low-90s.
Like last week, most reports from the river say that the fish are pretty much everywhere, from Weldon down to the mouth of the river.
Jeremy McCargo, a fisheries biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, along with fellow biologists Kevin Dockendorf, said they collected more than 1,000 fish during Monday’s sampling effort, the highest number to date. The majority of the fish were between 16 and 22 inches, but they also collected larger fish.
McCargo observed the heaviest fishing pressure and largest concentrations of fish around the big rock and right below, although anglers were catching fish from the boat ramp down to Halifax as well.
Many anglers were using live bait, although jigs and flukes were landing fish too. McCargo expects the fishing to be good at least for the next couple of weeks. Water temperatures are right for spawning activity, and although he and Dockendorf didn’t see any spawning activity during their Monday sampling, they did hear reports from anglers of spawning activity on the surface.
Bobby Colston, of Colston’s Tackle Box on Hwy. 48 south of Gaston, agreed that there were lots of fish in the river now, particularly from the big rock down to the powerlines. He also said he heard reports of fly-fishermen catching stripers close to the surface.
Down river at Williamston, Ricky Mobley from the Roanoke Sportsman said that fishing was “pretty good” as well with many anglers casting lures or fishing with large minnows.
