BRANCHING OUT FOR SHELLCRACKER

Everything on the boat seemed small.

The first two inches of a 14-inch ruler were torn off. The rods and reels were of ultra light. The hooks were golden and tiny; the size of a small paper clip. The bait was a little squirmy worm called a red wiggler. It looked like a miniature nightcrawler.

It was no stretch of the imagination to assume that no big fish would be landed on that boat . . . until Pete Rose of Suffolk crammed about seven of those worms on the small hook.

Early Wednesday morning it became apparent that this was a comfortable mouthful for the little bottom feeding giants called shellcracker, which thrive in Western Branch Reservoir in Suffolk.

When the weather allows, Rose spends as many as six days per week fishing for them. It's a routine he started in 1992.

After a short run from the boat ramp, he shut off the gas engine and turned the trolling motor on low.

"You have to sneak in here," he said, obviously nearing a prime spot. "The big motor will spook them."

He pointed to a willow tree, which to the uninitiated was hard to pick out from the one next to it. A stump-laden sandbar, he said, runs straight out from that tree. When the depth finder flashed 8-feet, Rose gave the order to drop the bow anchor as he lowered the stern anchor.

"This is low-key, laid-back fishing," he said, popping the tab on a Pepsi can after rigging the last of nine rods and placing them in PVC rod holders around the boat. Fishing that many rods on the 14-foot fiberglass skiff seemed like an awful lot of work, especially if he fished alone.

"No work. All pleasure," said Rose, who is no relation to the banned baseball star, but is retired from Norfolk Naval Shipyard and drives a bus part time for Nansemond-Suffolk Academy.

The winds whipped across the main stem of the 1,579-acre lake that is part of the Norfolk water system. For a couple of minutes he cranked reel handles to get the wind-blown slack out of the line. Rose said using both anchors was a must. Otherwise, there would be too much play in the line to detect the sometimes subtle bites.

In an instant, one of Rose's rods doubled over with a snap.

"Got him," Rose grunted. "Come to papa. Woooaaa. It's not that big, but it's a good one."

The grunts seemed overplayed a bit until he swung the beefy shellcracker out of the water and toward the boat.

"Ahhh, that's what we came here for," he said.

The 10-inch fish looked like a bluegill on heavy steroids. Big lips, gaping mouth, bulging sides. This must be how a bluegill looks to a 10-year-old who is afraid to take it off the hook.

"This is a small one," Rose said. "Probably 8 or 9 ounces."

Small? Well, it's small to someone accustomed to catching shellcracker that top 1 pound. Rose caught 79 last year.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries awards citation plaques to shellcrackers topping the 1-pound mark. Release citations can be earned for fish that are at least 11 inches long.

"And those were the ones that were computerized. Some people have so many citations that they don't bother turning them in any more," Rose said. "I’ve seen one guy catch 20 in one day. Most of the time I release the really big ones as long as they don't swallow the hook."

In 1993 there were 803 shellcracker citations issued to anglers who caught them in Western Branch. In 1994 there were 823. For the first three or four months of this year about 90 have been issued by the game department, according to Nancy Archie, who is the coordinator of the Virginia Angler Recognition Program.

The largest catches Wednesday were two shellcracker that weighed approximately 12 ounces. The citation shellcracker that are pulled from the lake usually range between 1-pound, 1-ounce and 1-pound, 6-ounces. Rose said he heard of a 2-pound, 9-ounce that was caught a couple of years ago.

Why do these fish grow so big?

"They don't grow any faster or slower than in any other of the lakes down there, like Lake Prince or Burnt Mills," said Ron Southwick, assistant chief of fisheries management at the game department. "They have better than adequate food supply and spawning habitat at Western Branch, though. Lake Prince and Burnt Mills drain into that lake, so it probably has more nutrients and more habitat."

Rose has identified selected areas to catch shellcracker in the sprawling lake. Sandbars are his main choices and points are the other.

"The really big ones are down there really close to stumps, shrubs and other bottom cover," Rose said. "Shellcracker stay right down near the bottom. They aren't like bluegill, which will come up near the surface."

Shellcracker, which are also called redear sunfish, get their name for their affinity to munch on freshwater clams, but they aren't so finicky that they won't take red wigglers, crickets, small minnows or nightcrawlers.

The bites are sometimes subtle, so Rose used as small a weight as he could get by with.

"You’ve got to be right there when they bite," he said.

You can bet Rose will be there when the next one bites.

"I’m looking for that big 3-pounder as a birthday present soon," he said. "But, I’ll take a 2-pounder."

TIPS

* TACKLE AND TECHNIQUES:

* Rod: ultralight.

* Line: 10-pound test monofilament.

* Hook: No. 4 gold.

* Bait: Red wiggler worms.

* Rig: A modified Carolina Rig that employs a splitshot – instead of swivel – 12 inches from the hook. An egg sinker is threaded on the line above the splitshot.

BOATING ACCESS:

* Ramps at Western Branch and Lake Prince. Open sunrise to sunset. Bait, tackle, drinks and snacks are available at the tackle shop at Western Branch. Call Western Branch at 255-0214 or Prince at 539-8916.

RENTALS AT WESTERN BRANCH:

* Aluminum boat: $10.

* Boat, trolling motor, battery life jackets: $20.

* Batteries and trolling motors: $6.

* After 3 p.m. boat, trolling motor and battery: $12.45.

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