Fishing Report for May 7, 2009
The first week of May is usually the time when the Roanoke River striped bass are spawning at Weldon, and this year is no exception.
Kevin Dockendorf, fisheries biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, reports another spectacular day on the river Monday. During their weekly sampling trip, Dockendorf and other Commission personnel collected 677 striped bass, including the largest of their sampling season – a female striped bass weighing in at 48 ½ pounds and measuring 45 ½ inches.
The fish collected were a good mixture of males and females with the males ranging in size from 12 to 32 inches and females, from 16 to 47 inches. These numbers, sizes and mix of males and females mean that anglers can expect continued good fishing, probably for the next week or so, as the stripers continue to spawn
Water temperature was a spawn-conducive 68 degrees Fahrenheit and creeping towards the 70-degree mark when striped bass spawning on the Roanoke usually tapers off. With air temperatures forecasted to be in the lower 80s at Weldon this weekend, now would be a good time to head down east if you haven’t had a chance to get in any fishing this year.
Dockendorf said that with the relatively early spawning season this year compared to previous years, he expects that we’re on the downside of the spawning peak and that the fish will be migrating back downriver within the next couple of weeks.
He said that fishing with artificial baits and topwater lures in the early morning and late afternoon will likely be productive over the next week or so. Anglers are also reporting high catches using live bait with the majority of fish being caught in the vicinity of big rock.
“Although fishing effort has decreased since the closure of the striped bass harvest season, anglers are still catching and releasing good numbers of fish with some reports of 40 to 100 striped bass per outing,” Dockendorf said. “Those catch rates are impressive and a testament to the quality of the striped bass spawning run in the Roanoke River.”
Bobby Colston, of Colston’s Tackle Box on Hwy. 48 south of Gaston, concurs. “There’s still a lot of fish at Weldon, especially around the big rock,” Colston said. “Some are catching stripers above (the big rock) some below, and live minnows seem to be the best bait.”
