2013 Virginia Freshwater Fishing & Watercraft Owner's Guide

More documents

Recommendations

Info

2013 Fishing Regs & WOG 11-15-12_Layout 1 11/16/12 1:01 PM Page 31body and fairly large mouth. Lower jaw protrudesslightly. Back is olive-green with sidestarnished gold or brassy colored. Each scalehas a dark central spot. Large spots on itslower body forms a striped-like appearance.Has a discernable dark outline on its anal fin.Has wide vertical blotches on its sides and adark spot on its cheek. Average 6 to 8 inches,but will reach 12 to 14 inches and 1.5 to 2lbs. Cheeks with obvious scales.Best Fishing: Lakes: Smith Mountain,Moomaw, and Laurel Bed. Rivers: Roanoke,New, Jackson, Maury, James, Bullpasture,Calfpasture, Buffalo, North Fork Shenandoahand Clinch.Fishing Techniques: Voracious feeders thatreadily strike spinners, jigs, small crankbaitsand flies. Favored live baits include minnows,crayfish, nightcrawlers, mayflynymphs and hellgrammites.Identification: Sunfish family. A deep-bodied,almost round fish, with many spines onboth dorsal and anal fins. Color is a yellowgreenor brassy-olive to brownish-gold, witha dark brown to black spot on each scale,appearing as rows of spots. A dark verticalstreak extends downward from the eye tothe lower edge of its cheek. It has large,rounded fins, much like a crappie, with ahead and mouth similar in shape to abluegill’s. Slow growing, they reach up to 10inches in length.Best Fishing: Lakes: Drummond, Airfield,Kilby, Cohoon, Meade, Lee Hall, and MottsRun. Rivers: Dismal Swamp Canal, Nottoway,and Blackwater.Fishing Techniques: Most are probablycaught incidentally by fishermen fishing forcrappies in early spring. They will hit dry andwet flies, as well as small minnows andworms using typical small panfish rigs. Fisharound stumps, sunken brush, cypresstrunks and knees, and near or underbridges.Identification: Temperate “true” bass family.Light greenish back, light yellowish-green tosilver sides to a silvery-white below, 6 to 8horizontal faint stripes; stripes below lateralline are broken; the first stripe below the lateralline is not complete to tail. Deep-bodiedwith distinctively arched back, considerablysmaller than its striped bass cousin. Singlespine on gill cover; variable patch of teeth ontongue. Commonly reaches 0.5 to 2 lbs.Best Fishing: Lakes: Buggs Island, SmithMountain, Claytor, and Leesville. Rivers:New, and the Dan and Staunton (duringspawning).Fishing Techniques: Spinning or spincastingoutfits with live minnows, or artificials imitatingminnows, including jigs, spinner baits,streamers, spinner-bucktails, crankbaits andspoons. Caught during the spawning runs,also below dams in the tailraces, and byjump fishing schools in open water.Roanoke BassCommon Names: Redeye, rock bass.Identification: Sunfish family. Robust bodymuch like the rock bass but with dark, olivegreento olive-brown back, fading to grayishsides and white belly. Has smaller scale spotsthan the rock bass and lighter, small whitishor yellowish spots on its upper body. Has aslightly concave outline over the eyes.Cheeks scaleless or nearly so.Best Fishing: Lakes: Leesville and SmithMountain. Most of the trophy “rock bass”registered by anglers are really Roanokebass. Rivers: Nottoway, Roanoke/Staunton, and Blackwater and Pigg of theRoanoke drainage.Fishing Techniques: Spinning and spincastingwith small to medium spinner baits,small spoons and crankbaits. Live baitsinclude minnows, crayfish, and worms.FlierCommon Names: Round sunfish, millpondflier.WarmouthCommon Names: Openmouth, warmouthbass, Indian fish.Identification: Sunfish family. A largemouthed,robust fish with mottled sides andwavy lines on its cheek. Basically darkbrownish above, with mottled and barredsides, and mottled or spotted fins. Can beolive-brown colored with greenish cast.Seldom gets larger than 8 or 9 inches.Best Fishing: Numerous small lakes, pondssuch as lakes Orange, Lee Hall, and Airfield;and slow-moving, swampy rivers andstreams, such as Dragon Run and Nottoway.Fishing Techniques: Caught incidental toother fishing activities. Will take a variety ofsmall artificials, as well as worms, small crayfishand minnows.White BassCommon Names: Silver bass, linesides.Striped BassCommon Names: Striper, rockfish.Identification: True bass family. Streamlined,elongated body; coloration shadesfrom dark olive above through silvery sidesto a white belly; 7 to 8 prominent unbrokenblack stripes originate behind the head andextend to the tail; more prominent than onthe white bass. Two spines on the gill cover;two patches of teeth on tongue. Ten to 15 lb.fish are common with 30 to 40 +lb. fish landedeach season.Best Fishing: Lakes: Smith Mountain, BuggsIsland, Anna, Claytor, Gaston, Leesville andWestern Branch. Rivers: Staunton/Roanoke,Dan, and all tidal rivers.Fishing Techniques: Heavy baitcasting, spincastingor spinning outfits with a good backboneand 15 to 25 pound test line. Live baitincludes large minnows or gizzard orthreadfin shad. Large feathered or plastic jigcombinations, spoons, crankbaits that imitateshad or other fish and bucktails. Trolling,drift fishing, jump fishing or deep jigging areusual fishing methods.Fish illustrations by Duane Raver/USFWSwww.HuntFishVA.com 31
2013 Fishing Regs & WOG 11-15-12_Layout 1 11/16/12 1:01 PM Page 32Hybrid Striped BassCommon Names: Hybrid, hybrid striper.Identification: This is a striped bass x whitebass cross, with a body shape between thatof striper and white bass. Silvery-white withup to 8 dark broken stripes; first stripe belowlateral line complete to tail. Tongue toothpatches are intermediate between whiteand striped bass. Typically less than 10 lbs.Best Fishing: Claytor and Flannagan lakes.Fishing Techniques: Tackle and techniquesvery similar to striped bass, but often with alittle lighter tackle. Shiners and a variety ofspoons, crankbaits, and jigs are favoritebaits.White PerchCommon Names: Stiffback, silver perch.Identification: Not really a perch, but amember of the temperate bass family alongwith white and striped bass. Averages 8 to10 inches but reaches up to 2 lbs. Silver grayabove, fading to silvery-white below withno longitudinal lines. Has a deep notchbetween spiny dorsal and soft-rayed dorsal.No teeth on tongue.Best Fishing: Lakes: Western Branch, Gaston,Buggs Island, Motts Run, Occoquan,Anna, Smith Mountain, Waller Mill Reservoir,Harwoods Mill Reservoir, and Back Bay.Rivers: Tidal rivers (Pamunkey, James, Rappahannock,Chickahominy, Mattaponi,North Landing, Northwest and Potomac)and most of their tributary creeks.Fishing Techniques: Live bait such as minnows,grass shrimp and blood worms, plusartificials such as small spinner baits and jigs.Fish near structure such as old wharves, pilings,and sunken logs on a falling tide, whichmoves baitfish and shrimp out of cover.Fish illustrations by Duane Raver/USFWSWalleyeCommon Names: Walleyed pike, jack.Identification: Largest member of the perchfamily (Percidae). Grows up to 21 inches, 3and 4 lbs. by age three. Brassy-olive sidesflecked with green and gold, and mottled by6 to 8 obscure markings on top, white belly.Dorsal fins completely separate and unmarked,except for a distinct dark blotch atthe rear base of the front dorsal fin. Whiteblotch on tip of lower tail fin. The eye has amilky cornea, hence the name walleye.Best Fishing: Lakes: Flannagan, South Holston,Gaston (especially below Kerr Dam),Philpott, Whitehurst, Hungry Mother, andBrittle. Rivers: New, Staunton/Roanoke,South Holston, Clinch and Dan.Fishing Techniques: Jigs dressed with plasticgrubs or tipped with live bait work well,especially in cold water. Three- to five-inchminnow plugs are very effective whenwalleyes move into shallow water. Crankbaitsand jigging spoons work well when walleyesare deep. Trolling with nightcrawler harnesses(spinner rigs) is the preferred method inreservoirs during the summer months. Livebaits such as minnows, shad or nightcrawlersare always a good option for walleye.Yellow PerchCommon Names: Ringed perch, raccoonperch, striped perch.Identification: Member of the perch family,which includes the walleye, sauger and numeroussmall darters. Generally olive-greenabove, fading down the sides to green or yellow-green,to yellow or golden yellow. Haseight vertical dusky bars on its side anda silvery underside. Dorsal fins have adistinctive dusky blotch. Ventral and analfins are yellow to orange, turning a brightorange on breeding males. Average 6 to 8inches, but commonly reach 14 to 15 inchesand 1.5 to 2 lbs.Best Fishing: Brackish-water tributaries ofthe Chesapeake Bay. Top waters here in-clude Machodoc, Maddox, Aquia and Occoquancreeks. Lakes: Western Branch, Prince,Waller Mill, Little Creek, Holliday, Moomawand Claytor. Rivers: Potomac, Rappahannock,Chickahominy, Nottoway and New.Fishing Techniques: Ready feeders, but cautiousbiters and slow movers. Locate schoolsof fish by drift fishing or use deep jiggingmethods. Small minnows are the best overallbait. Other popular live baits includemummichogs, mayfly nymphs, worms andgrubs. They’ll also hit fish eyes, cut bait andpork rind, as well as artificials tipped withsome of the above, including small spoons,spoon hooks, spinners, bucktails, spinnerbaits and streamers.SaugerCommon Names: Sand pike, jack salmon.Identification: A member of the perch family,very similar to walleye. Its best identifyingmarks are its spotted spiny dorsal. Its bodycolors are more of a dusky-brown to yellowish-olive,with large, irregular patches on itsside, peppered in between with smaller darkmarkings and a white underside. Very slimbuild in comparison to walleye. Has a silvery,reflective eye similar to the walleye’s, and amouth full of canine teeth. When handled, itflares out its gills, flattens its head and shiversas if bracing itself for the hook removal.Typically 10 to 19 inches.Best Fishing: Clinch and Powell rivers.Fishing Techniques: Minnows are the bestbait. Sauger tend to feed on or near the bottom.Some of the best fishing is below damsin the tailwaters. Early morning and eveningare best times. They will hit fairly large minnowsand are “lazy” hitters. Are quite adeptat “stealing” bait. Will hit spoons, jigs orspinners, especially if tipped with a minnow.Northern PikeCommon Names: Pike, pickerel, jackfish.Identification: Member of the pike family(Esocidae). A long, lean body, generally oliveor dark green above fading to a light olive or32 2013 Virginia Freshwater Fishing & Boating Guide
Page 1: 2013 Fishing Regs & WOG 11-15-12_La
Page 5 and 6: 2013 Fishing Regs & WOG 11-15-12_La

2013 Virginia Freshwater Fishing & Watercraft Owner's Guide

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?