ROANOKE, W.Va. — The lifting of the longtime restriction on keeping bass at Stonewall Jackson Lake opened up the opportunity for bass clubs and tournament organizations to finally hold events on the premier body of water. Initially it was thought tournament fishermen would be bringing massive weights to the scale at every tournament.
However, the Division of Natural Resources didn’t open the door completely. There is a restriction that anglers can only keep one fish over 18 inches. The rest of the six fish you’re allowed to keep must be under 18 inches. It’s created a whole new dynamic for tournament anglers. It’s created a defacto slot limit for four of the five fish in an angler’s tournament creel.
“It’s not all the hype you think it would be,” said West Virginia Bass Federation President John Burdette. “In our state championship in October there were guys turning back fish 20 plus inches and didn’t have a limit yet. They can only have one over 18 and when they catch those larger ones they have to throw it back. Guys don’t like to throw back those big fish when they still need four more to make a limit.”
Typically in the bass tournament game the quest is for the five biggest fish you can catch. The strategy changes completely when the tournament is at Stonewall Jackson.
“You really have to look for the smaller fish. It’s completely different from what we’re used to and it’s changed our fishing a little bit,” said Fairmont angler Alan Fluharty. “If you’re in the Buddy Trail and it’s a two man team you can keep two of them, so you go for those two big fish first. But when you get those, it’s tough to get the three other smaller fish.”
“You want to get those two overs and then it’s that 17 1/2 or 17 3/4 inch fish you’re trying to target after that,” said bass anglers Mark Godwin from Flatwoods. “It makes things really interesting. How do you change your plan to catch a 17 incher instead of a 19 or 20 incher. It’s a whole new twist.”
Most anglers when questioned like the idea of being able to catch and weigh-in a big fish at Stonewall, but few if any like the idea of having to throw one back after landing a second one.
“I don’t know that I like it,” Godwin said. “It goes against everything we’re trying to do. We’re always trying to catch the heaviest limit we can.”
“They don’t really care for that,” said Burdette. “It’s tough to throw those big ones back when you don’t have your limit yet.”
The DNR continues to monitor the health of the fish and the numbers. A large number of the bass over 18 inches were tagged during the spring. The agency will assess what’s happening with the fish, whether they were caught or kept, through the tagging study. Biologists will use the data to help evaluate whether to ease the restriction sometime down the road.