[dropcap]C[/dropcap]an you imagine catching an 80-pound striper in a river that’s a cast and a half wide and three- to twelve-feet deep? Sound like heaven? It’s called the Roanoke River and it stands as a shining example of how conservation efforts can return a decimated fishery to complete recovery. There are records of many 80- to 100-pound fish being caught out of the Roanoke in the early 1900’s. At least hundreds and possibly thousands of years before that, we know Native American fishermen came here every spring for the great striper fishing. All those years and the action has always happened within a few miles of what’s now known worldwide as the Weldon boat ramp. When you enter Weldon, the sign welcoming visitors to this small town in the northeast corner of North Carolina says “Rock Fish Capital of the World,” and for about two months in the springtime, they have every right to that title. Stripers that live their adult lives in the ocean travel through Albemarle Sound and up the Roanoke River almost 160 miles every spring to spawn. Depending on water level and temperature, they always end up within a few miles of the boating access area in Weldon. For roughly four to eight weeks, it’s literally a fisherman’s paradise. Thousands of fish from up and down the eastern seaboard and beyond have congregated each spring for hundreds of years in the same tiny piece of river. That spring spawning ritual is what makes the Roanoke River such a unique and special fishery. Chad Thomas, Coastal Region Supervisor and Fisheries biologist for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, explains why this happens. “We know that hundreds of years ago, long before there were any dams on the river, Native Americans fished for stripers on this exact same site. What makes the river near Weldon so unique is the presence of a fall line, a change in elevation where the coastal plain ends and the piedmont begins. A combination of factors including good spawning habitat and a good flow of water draw the migrating stripers to this spot…the same spot they have come to for hundreds and possibly even thousands of years.”
By the late 1980’s, what had been an unbelievable fishery for many years was nearly totally gone. Legal overfishing as well as illegal catch and sale of stripers from the Roanoke took a tremendous toll and we lost a special spot here in North Carolina. People like Chad Thomas of NCWRC were determined to bring the fishery back to its glory and they’ve succeeded in a big way. “In the late 1980’s the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission began introducing new regulations to protect spawning striped bass. The make-up of the fishery at that time consisted of mostly three-, four-, and five-year-old striped bass in very low abundance.” Thomas explained. Reasons for the decline in the fishery were numerous and included overfishing throughout the system, illegal activity, poor water quality, and highly variable flow regimes from Roanoke Rapids Dam. About that same time a group of individuals consisting of anglers, scientists, power company officials and others formed what became known as the Roanoke River Flow Committee. The objective of this committee was to look at the relationship between survival of eggs and fry of striped bass in the Roanoke and the amount of flow from Roanoke Rapids Dam. The group came up with a series of guidelines that showed what flow levels in the spring would help the striped bass population spawn most successfully. The changes to the flow regime have proven to be a significant benefit to the fishery. We have also seen marked improvements in water quality over the last thirty years. So we now have optimum spawning flows, improvements in water quality, and fishing regulation in place to protect the existing spawning stock. Those three things in conjunction with one another are primarily responsible for the tremendous increase in the numbers of striped bass in the system. One of the tools NCWRC uses is a boat with charged electrodes that stun the fish so they can be netted, weighed, measured, and tagged. Their data reinforces what fishermen already knew. “Back in 1991 most of the fish we observed while electro- fishing were small three- to four-year-old males around 18 inches. As time has gone by, now we’re seeing ten-, eleven-, twelve-, and occasionally thirteen-year-old fish in this population. Once you get a striped bass to thirteen years old, that fish is over 40 inches, and usually between 33 and 37 pounds. So, each year we’re seeing bigger and bigger fish and that’s a really good sign, especially when those fish are males.”
Everything happens based on water temperature. The fish begin to arrive in Weldon when water temperature in the river reaches the mid-50s. They spawn at around 64 degrees and they leave when water temps reach above 70 degrees and stay there. The last two years have been strange weather years. A cold, rainy April last year caused water temps in all of April to hold in the mid-50s for the entire month. Lots of fishermen came, got frustrated, filled the internet blogs with negative reports, and went elsewhere to fish. I normally leave just before Memorial Day to head south of Myrtle Beach to fish with the tourists that flock to the Grand Strand in summer, but last year I stayed in Weldon until the second week in June. There were literally three weeks I fished with three or four trucks and trailers in the parking lot and had over three hundred releases in single days.
Watch for the daily updates I post at captainponytail.com and ncwildlife.org for their weekly updates… come when they are here and bring anyone who hates to wait on a bite… you’ll have the time of your life!
Watch the Coastal Angler video and find out more about tags used on the Roanoke… you might win A HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!!!!