Fishing

Back Bay Bass Stocking _020-LR

Will lunker largemouth return to Back Bay?

By Andy Thompson | May 11, 2012

A Back Bay marsh, as seen from False Cape SP

That’s the question posed in my column in today’s Times-Dipatch. I went down to Back Bay earlier this week to witness the stocking of 125,000 fingerling bass. It’s the first of three consecutive years of such stockings.

As I write in the column, Back Bay in the 1970s and early 1980s was considered one of the top bass fisheries in the entire United States. The reason was the explosion of a non-native aquatic vegetation called Eurasian watermilfoil. It provided such good habitat for the bass that they could escape predators and grow quickly. But when the grass mysteriously disappeared in the ’80s, the bass died off with it. Now, the grass is coming back, though no one is positive exactly why, and the DGIF figures they’ll see if they can jumpstart a fishery that was once the pride of Virginia bass anglers.

As an aside, the Back Bay area is one of the coolest, though least-known, places in the state. Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge is a stopover point on the Atlantic flyway for thousands of migratory birds. To its south, False Cape State Park is a spectacularly empty stretch of beach, dunes and marsh — 4,000 acres of it. If you ever get the chance to explore the area, jump on it.

 

False Cape State Park

 

 

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The keys to stalking James River catfish

By Andy Thompson | April 24, 2012

By Andrew Chase, Richmond native and self-described “insane fishing addict”

A fog horn sounds. Only the passengers and crew of the boat are present to hear the sound. The paddle roars through the water, finally docking in Memphis after a night of ferrying passengers across the river. If one could see through the thick fog, they would see a massive brown river slowly rolling through the land, perhaps even an alligator gar surfacing for air or “rolling”. The year is 1880, and the boat is on the Mississippi River, prior to most of the damming, pollution, species introductions and habitat destruction. This is a catfish river, the natural habitat where our American catfishes grow to mammoth size. It is still this way to an extent, though things have changed tremendously.
 
Today one of America’s top catfish rivers, the James, has only known the fish for 40 years. For better or for worse, the blue and flathead catfish are here to stay. The James is in interesting river. Starting its journey as a collection of cool, clear trout streams in western Virginia’s mountains and finally emptying into The Chesapeake Bay as a massive tidal river. The falls of the James is a seven-mile stretch in which the river drops 105 feet in elevation, producing the best urban whitewater in the country. Thankfully the James River Park System maintains over 500 acres of river access, attracting over 500,000 visitors a year.
 
 

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VDGIF launches Android version of HuntFishVA app

By Andy Thompson | February 14, 2012

 
Last year the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries rolled out a smartphone application called “HuntFishVa,” for iPhone users. The app was designed with hunters and fishermen in mind, but as I’ve used it over the past few months, I’ve found it quite handy for many different outdoors-related pursuits. The sunrise-sunset timer would be useful for any birdwatcher, and the “Trophy Case” allows you to upload pictures and information on any animal you see. Sure, it’s designed for hunters and anglers with their catches and kills. But if your trophy case includes prothonotary warblers or wood ducks or a coyote seen by the side of the road, that’ll work too. My favorite feature is the “Near Me” button. Click it and you can find boat slips, lakes and wildlife management areas near you.
 
Now the free app is available for Android users, as well. Here’s a portion of the release from the DGIF:
 
 

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New Virginia record striped bass

By Andy Thompson | January 22, 2012

I wrote about this beast of a fish and the story behind the catch for my column in today’s Times-Dispatch. There was only room for one picture in the paper, so I figured I’d share a couple more here. The catch, by Manassas native Cary Wolfe, went 74 pounds even and was 57.75 inches long. The captain, Tim Cannon, said he and Virginia Marine Resources Commission representative Lewis Gillingham were surprised, based on the length of the fish, that it didn’t weigh more. The female only had a couple of eels in its stomach, Cannon said, despite being caught in and area loaded with menhaden, the rockfish’s preferred meal. He guessed that if she had been well fed, she might have broken the world record of 81.88 pounds set in August.

 

 

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Conservation helps wildlife, preserves good life

By Andy Thompson | January 11, 2012

Did you see the Sunday commentary in the Richmond Times-Dispatch from Jim McVey, chairman of the board of directors of The Wildlife Foundation of Virginia? He had a lot to say about protecting the outdoors and open spaces in Virginia.

 

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