03-23-2005, 02:50 AM
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Nasty weather forecasts aside, the fishing barometer is slowly but steadily rising on the Roanoke River. Angler reports of hickory shad are increasing, as is the number of anglers lining the banks or trying their luck out of boats up and down the Roanoke River. Kenneth Clark, a boating technician with the Wildlife Commission’s Division of Engineering Services, said anglers lining the banks near the Weldon boat ramp are catching shad, but the fishing is still sporadic. There have been about six or seven people fishing at the boat ramp every afternoon this week and they’re catching some fish right now, but nobody has caught a limit,” Clark said. “I talked to a game warden on Tuesday and he told me he hasn’t checked anybody this week who had a limit (10). Kevin Dockendorf, a fisheries biologist with the Wildlife Commission, said shad fishing in the lower Roanoke River and other area rivers continues to improve. He still has March 21 circled on his calendar to begin electrofishing in the upper Roanoke River as part of his routine fisheries survey work. Over the weekend, Dockendorf fished for shad in the Cashie River near Windsor. He cast pink-and-white curly tail grubs on jigheads to reel in six shad in about three hours of fishing.[/font]
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