Darrell McAuly and his Labrador, Drake, with some typical Roanoke Rapids Lake waterfowl, including a mallard, ring-necked duck and lesser scaup. Photo by Mike Marsh.

When most waterfowl hunters think of the hotspots that have the highest concentrations of diving ducks, they most likely think of the state's largest reservoirs or coastal swamps, rivers and sounds. Certainly, the national wildlife refuges come into play. But hunting them requires permit applications, lottery drawings, and hoping for luck to be drawn for a blind.

Nevertheless, there are some excellent places to hunt divers on some of the state's smaller hydroelectric power generation lakes.

Perhaps one of the most out-of-the-way and fairly undiscovered place for hunting diving ducks, as well as a few puddle ducks during the latter part of the waterfowl-hunting season, is Roanoke Rapids Lake.

Located in northern Halifax County, along the former Roanoke River channel that forms North Carolina's common boundary with Virginia, Roanoke Rapids Lake is a moderate-sized body of water of more than 4,600 acres. However, it's large enough to support a sizeable winter population of diving ducks.

Puddle ducks have always migrated along the Roanoke River's floodplain, using the hardwood bottoms for feeding, resting and wintering habitat. Downstream of Roanoke Rapids Lake these migratory puddle ducks, especially mallards and wood ducks, still hold sway as the predominant species in the river bottoms.

These puddle ducks still use the lake, which is located downstream of the Lake Gaston Dam. But swarms of diving ducks are what most hunters will see when they head to Roanoke Rapids Lake. Unlike many of the lakes in the interior of the state, and many vastly larger reservoirs, divers find not only resting areas but also nutritious food in the form of a state and federally listed noxious waterweed on Roanoke Rapids. Diving ducks can feed on bottom-dwelling organisms, especially species of small clams. However, both puddle ducks and diving ducks feed on Hydrilla verticillata, commonly called only by the plant's genus name, hydrilla.

Hydrilla is so prevalent on Lake Gaston it is the object of intense scrutiny, as federal and state eradication programs are trying to fight the weed with herbicides. There's even talk of forming special tax districts among the surrounding lakefront residential properties along the lake's 47 miles of shoreline to raise money for the control efforts.

However, once established, there's little chance hydrilla will ever be completely eradicated. The submergent plant has been called the perfect water plant, with branched stems up to 25 feet long. The leaves grow in whorls around the stem, creating a green vine-like plant as long and strong as twine.

Ducks eat the plant stem and leaves of hydrilla. But they are especially fond of the 1/4-inch-long turions, or small "nuts" at the leaf axils, as well as the potato-like tubers attached to the roots in the mud.

Roanoke Rapids Lake extends for eight miles between the Gaston Dam and the Roanoke Rapids Dam. Both dams are used to generate hydroelectric power for Dominion Company, which owns the lakes.

Roanoke Rapids Lake has seen some controversies over duck blind sites over the years. There is a rule that allowed blinds to be built on former sites of blinds. However, no new blinds may be built.

Therefore, most hunters use boat blinds, or sit among the rocks and trees of the islands in the middle of the lake for hunting waterfowl. The islands, and indeed the entire lake bottom and shoreline, are studded with boulders and cobbles, which can destroy the propeller or lower unit of a standard outboard motor. Occasionally, a jet drive outboard is seen on the lake. However, the danger of sucking a bunch of hydrilla into the drive mechanism discourages this type of motor as well.

Darrell McAuly is a waterfowl guide who divides his time between Roanoke Rapids and Harris lakes. Roanoke Rapids Lake has no North Carolina Wildlife Commission impoundment rules, while Harris Lake has date restrictions. McAuly and his clients shoot several hundred ducks at Roanoke Rapids Lake each season.