A first-timer on the Roanoke

One visit shows why anglers flock to the river each spring to fish for striped bass

I'm a sucker for the bonanza of massive fish migrations.

In my native Midwest, I was weaned on Lake Erie white bass runs up Ohio's Sandusky River, Lake Michigan chinook salmon in Wisconsin's Kenosha Harbor and Lake Michigan steelhead trout up the streams of northern Indiana and Michigan's left coast.

The key is usually timing and bait selection.

And even though my own luck could have been better April 24, when I landed two fish, the Roanoke River's striped bass run is now on my list of piscatorial pilgrimages that always will tempt me back to the water.

Just downstream of the Interstate 95 bridge, Chuck Laughridge -- known for his Roanoke River striper conservation efforts -- worked a Clouser minnow on his fly rod, and I bounced bucktail jigs off the bottom. We didn't feel a bite or see a fish. The day before, some anglers were catching up to 30 stripers apiece.

But at midnight, just hours before our outing, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers increased the flow through the Lake Gaston dam, leaving a 3-foot watermark on the trees along the banks.

This displaced a lot of the spawning fish.

"There's some fish up here, but they're mighty upset," Laughridge said.

We headed back down river to where anglers were working mostly live bait with mild success.

Bass minnows bounced off the bottom on a three-way rig and a 1-ounce sinker were doing me no good, but guide Jack Eudy, with his commercial-grade bait livewell, supplied a few live shad that were more popular with the striped bass, also called stripers or rockfish.

"I was going to let you suffer a little bit longer," Eudy said and tossed one of his lively shad into Laughridge's boat. The boats were parallel, tied to a fallen tree.

The two rockfish I caught were in the 3- to 4-pound range and gave me the bug. I jumped at the chance to fish again Saturday on the boat of Raleigh's Robert Shaw. We launched at Plymouth to avoid Weldon's crowds.

We trolled crankbaits up the Cashie River before heading into the Albemarle Sound and then up the mouth of the Roanoke River.

Earlier reports said the stripers were biting hard between Plymouth and Jamesville, but that bite had ended, so we headed way upriver.

At Scotland Neck, we went downstream from the U.S. 258 bridge and worked cut bait off the bottom. Shaw fished a Carolina rig; I used a three-way rig. This produced several catfish, and, finally, Shaw hooked a striped bass, which escaped beside the boat.

"It wasn't a keeper anyways," Shaw said.

PACK YOUR GEAR: A simple Carolina rig with an 18- to 24-inch leader in front of a 1- to 2-ounce barrel sinker will do the trick, tipped with a bass minnow hooked through the lips and fished on the bottom. Cut bait can work, too.

Lures such as Rat-L-Traps and deep-diving crankbaits can produce as well, but they also have to conform to the single barbless hook rule when used above (or west) of the U.S. 258 bridge. A local favorite, the hairy worm (a bucktail jig with a plastic worm trailer) also gets results when jigged off the bottom.

In May, the top-water bite picks up early and late in the day. Chuggers and poppers work well.

GOOD NEWS: A slow spring has prompted the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to extend the keeper season for stripers in the Roanoke River Management Area until 11:59 p.m. Sunday; learn more at www.ncwildlife.org. Separately, the season for stripers in the Albemarle Sound Management Area runs through 8 p.m. Sunday; for sizes and limits, check online at www.ncdmf.net.