2025 Roanoke River Striped Bass Report

I've been fishing Weldon during the annual spring Striped Bass run for about 18 years now.  It's such a special place, and it's become a tradition to go back and spend time on this beautiful river each spring.  I was excited to return again this past May and spend about 10 days targeting "Rockfish" on the river.

The flow rate of the Roanoke River at Weldon is controlled by a series of dams upriver.  Kerr Reservoir flows into Lake Gaston, separated by a dam.  Then Gaston flows into Roanoke Rapids Lake, and that is also regulated by a dam.  And the final dam lies below Roanoke Rapids Lake before the water flows down past Weldon.  I've seen the Roanoke River flow range anywhere from 3K CFS, where there is hardly any water moving down river, up to 30K CFS, which puts the water in the trees and covering the boat ramp parking lot.

Although the lake levels take priority, the Corps of Engineers have agreed to keep the flow at spawning levels, which is between 8,000 and 12,000 CFS whenever possible in April and May.  Flows above that range can flood the eggs and fry up into the swamps and flows below that range will cause the eggs to hit the river bottom.  When I arrived at the end of April, the flow was only around 6,000 CFS.

Fish were in full spawn mode, but the bite was tough past 7am and didn't really get good again until 7pm.  With the fish spawning hard, I think they were in rest and recovery mode during the daylight hours.  Three days into my stay, they dropped the river flow to barely 4,000 CFS.  Needless to say, it made the Stripers a bit pickier, and it also had me dodging rocks under the surface every time I drifted down river.

Fish were caught and fun was had, but we definitely had to work for the bite this year.

This place is fun, even when you have to work for them.  And it's always great catching up with old buddies while fishing the Roanoke.

Although the days were tough, the evenings were pretty good.  Sometimes they were flat out great.  Each afternoon about 6 or 7pm the topwater bite fired off and we caught some really nice fish on poppers and plugs.

The lower the sun got, the better the topwater bite got.

We ran back to the ramp in the dark several nights, because it was just too hard to leave the bite, while fish rolled all around the boat.

Earn your stripes...

I got to meet some new to me anglers and I look forward to fishing with them again.

I also got to see some repeat clients experience the Roanoke Striper bite for the first time.

Hooked up...

Fluorescent Yellow for the win!

The Roanoke is a beautiful place to wet a line.

Sending them back home healthy.

Brian sending it.

We had a great class of fish on the river this May.

Double trouble.

The bite really picked up on my last day, making me wish I had a few more days to stay.

Not quite time to head back to the ramp.  

The prettiest place to wet a line in May.  I'll be back in 2026, and hopefully they'll regulate the water flow a little better.  Keep your eye open for dates and availability for the 2026 season.