RIVERGUARD REPORT: Whipping white perch
Published 11:24 am Friday, March 29, 2024
- Pictured is a rockfish, or striper depending on one’s name preference, caught during RiverGuard Jeff Turner’s March 25-27 patrol on the Nottoway River below the Bronco Club. The measurement shows the fish meets the minimum 18-inch requirement for keeping. (Photo submitted by Jeff Turner)
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Spirit of Moonpie and I spent March the 25th through the 27th on the Nottoway below the Bronco Club. The water was clear, fast, 1.82 on the Riverdale USGS gauge and 54 degrees. Air temps ranged from 34 to 62 degrees. It was a pretty chilly trip actually with the wind beating me up pretty good. I saw no water quality issues, but the entire river smelled like sewage for some reason. I guess it could have been the swamps just a stinkin’ from all the high water recently. I picked up very little trash.
The fishing on this trip was pretty good. I caught some small and a few nice white perch. I talked to some folks that had really been whipping up on the white perch though. Fun fish to catch, especially when they go to the shore. I don’t think they have done that yet though. The ones I and JRay caught were caught on the blade bait. I caught two rockfish on this outing, both also on the blade bait. Yea, picked up JRay at Round Gut the second day hoping to get him on a rockfish, but sadly that didn’t happen. However, towards the end of the day, he started casting a spinnerbait and began catching largemouth. He also caught a nice jack. I caught one or two on a crankbait, but the spinnerbait was on fire. After he left, I switched to a spinnerbait and caught another couple of small bass and a jack, but hooked two really nice fish. However, I never saw what they were.
So, the fish action is definitely picking up. It’s a great time to get the kids out on the river when the white perch are biting, as they are plentiful and easy to catch with regular ol’ earthworms fished on a bottom rig. Sadly the rivers are going to flood again soon, but normally this time of year there is no better opportunity to get youngins’ (or wife or girlfriend/boyfriend) hooked on fishing on the two rivers we call the Nottoway and Blackwater.
Jeff Turner is the Blackwater Nottoway RiverGuard. To contact him about river issues, send him an email at blknotkpr@earthlink.net. He can also be followed on the Blackwater Nottoway RiverGuard Facebook page. Just type in “Blackwater Nottoway RiverGuard” in the search field on Facebook.
