By James Friend Dickerson
Great fishing last Saturday on the Roanoke River in Bertie County, NC. We caught 4 herring for every Hickory Shad (we had to throw the herring back). We ended up with 9 roe shad and some males! Later, we found a man selling S.C. herring, so we bought some of those. We had a great discussion on fishing regulations and their non-conservation repercussions (many of the herring you must not keep in NC end up dead within an hour). Back with relatives in their home in Edenton, NC, we had a fine Eastern North Carolina fish fry with baked shad roe, fried herring and shad, boiled potatoes and green beans with side meat plus lots of sweet, iced tea!
Saltwater
In Virginia waters, ocean wrecks are producing sheepshead, tautogs and sea bass -which must be released. On OBX, when boats can sail they are finding blackfin, yellowfin, king mackerel and triggerfish.
It’s slow in the surf, the water is still cold at around 50 degrees. An occasional, blow toad, puppy drum, black drum, sea mullet and speckled trout is biting.
Freshwater
The tidal rivers are giving up yellow perch, white perch and the shad are just beginning to show on both the James and the Rapp. Bass, crappie and catfish are also active in the tidal rivers. The upper James is now in the best shape in quite a while and some nice smallmouth are being caught. Anna and Buggs are giving up lots of bass and crappie. Angler Landing at Lake Orange is now open for business and reports good action for crappie, bass and walleye. It’s been a long winter, but things are finally starting to happen.
