ROANOKE RAPIDS LAKE
Kenny Deloatch lives in Roanoke Rapids and fishes Roanoke Rapids Lake regularly. A former fishing guide who now runs a hunting operation at Meherrin River Outfitters in Hertford County, he loves his hometown lake. At 4,600 acres, it's just downstream from 20,500-acre Lake Gaston, which draws most of the fishing traffic that isn't going even farther upstream to 49,500-acre Buggs Island (Kerr) Lake.

"The fishing pressure here is nothing like at Lake Gaston," Deloatch said. "There's a little local tournament, probably 10 or 12 boats, once a week, but there isn't a lot of outside traffic. The lake isn't built up yet."

For one thing, Deloatch said, the lake is dangerous to run because it consists basically of extremely shallow, stump-filled flats that drop off directly into the old Roanoke River channel. Fishermen who aren't familiar with the lake should stay away from the upper half of the lake until they learn it -- and that's where Deloatch said the best fall fishing usually happens.

"You'd better know where you're going on this lake -- anywhere on the lake," he said. "And that's enough to keep a lot of people away from here. One other thing that's good is that even though there is some local pressure, the local guys know what they've got here -- and they take care of it. You don't see 'em taking a lot of fish out of here."

Like Gaston, Roanoke Rapids Lake is full of hydrilla. On the upper end of the lake, from Deep Creek upstream to Gaston Dam, the grass grows out literally from the bank to the river channel, the edge of which is lined with big stumps that can instantly turn into dangerous obstacles to navigation because the water level can fluctuate up to 2 or 3 feet within a couple of hours.

"There are some places where you've only got 2 or 3 feet of water all the way out to the drop -- then it drops all the way out to 18 feet (in the channel)," Deloatch said.

The key is working that edge because in most places, the hydrilla will be matted out at the surface, or perhaps just a couple of inches below the surface.

"The fish will be on the edge, or they'll be buried up in it," he said. "You can throw a buzzbait up there if the water's up because it only takes an inch or two of water to fish it with a buzzbait. If you don't have enough water for a buzzbait, I like to fish a floating worm or a Fluke across the top of the grass. They'll come up to get it, and sometimes, they'll be so deep in the grass that when you hook the fish, you've got to go in and get them."

Deloatch keys on the upper end of the lake because the water coming through Gaston Dam is cooler and the fish will be more active. In addition, there's more grass on the upper end, and you get the chance to fish stumps along the end of the grass on the channel drops.

"I like fishing that kind of cover -- the stumps and rocks and grass all together," he said. "That's where I normally fish in the fall. The farther you go up, the more water they move, and the more defined the channel drop is."

There you have it: four pretty good bass lakes, some with weeds, some with channels and points, some with blowdowns and boat docks but none with heavy fishing pressure. If you get a chance this fall, check them out.