Lake Whitehurst to shut down to fishing

NORFOLK

Lake Whitehurst is closing to the public.

Access to one of the area's top fishing holes will be shut down Nov. 1.

The property on Shore Drive that is home to a parking lot, wide boat ramp and two fishing piers is owned by Norfolk International Airport.

The airport has leased the property to the city of Norfolk since 1990, and the lake is owned by the city, which uses it for water supply.

But the land lease expired last year, and the airport is taking back control of the property as part of its plans for runway expansion.

"It isn't that the airport doesn't care about recreation," airport executive director Wayne Shank said. "There were some hard decisions to be made. And if we're going to build a parallel runway in the future, we can't allow public access at that site."

While anglers might understand the airport's needs, they still say they are upset.

"We're not too happy about it, that's for sure," said Bob Bullen, who runs a largemouth bass fishing club called Bass-Jon's. "Several clubs use that lake for tournaments. It's well fished. The Navy guys at the base come over and fish from the piers.

"And of all of the city lakes, Lake Whitehurst has the nicest facility."

And some outstanding fishing opportunities.

Lake Whitehurst, which starts at Shore Drive at the end of the runway and stretches past the Norfolk Botanical Garden on its way to Military Highway, is the most unique water supply lake in the state.

Its urban location gives it a different feel than other lakes in Virginia.

Whitehurst has healthy populations of largemouth bass, crappie, chain pickerel, bluegill and perch. But it's a population of walleye - a fish known more up north and in cold-weather areas of the country - that makes the lake special.

"(Whitehurst has) the highest catch rates for walleye of any place in the state. Better, even, than the more known walleye places to the west," said Chad Boyce, a fish biologist with the state game department. "It's the only place east of (Interstate) 95 where you can catch them.

"It's been an amazing success story. This is a huge loss to the angling community."

Boyce is nearing completion of the second year of a three -year study on the lake's walleye population.

The game department stocks about 48,000 fingerlings a year in the lake at a cost of almost $30,000 a year - fish, staff time and transportation from a hatchery, according to department spokeswoman Julia Dixon.

And many of the walleye are tagged.

"There are a bunch of tags out there swimming around that are worth $20 apiece to an angler who catches them," Boyce said. "We've got a lot of time and money in that place."

Boyce and other game department fisheries managers and biologists are responsible for stocking and studying fish on public access lakes throughout the state.

But with the doors shut, Whitehurst no longer will benefit from those efforts.

It essentially will become a private lake for those who live along its western shorelines.

Norfolk public utilities spokesman Harry Kenyon said his department is sending letters to 1,300 anglers who have permits to fish on the city's water supply lakes. Signs have been posted at the ramp.

Kenyon said the city currently has no plans to build a ramp at another site on the lake.

Bullen said anglers probably won't give up that easily.

"We're going to run a forum poll on our Web site to see how many anglers use the lake," he said. "Then we're going to go to the city and see what they can do.... It's too good of a fishing place to just give up."

Lee Tolliver, (757) 222-5844, lee.tolliver@pilotonline.com