Thursday, November 19, 2009
The buck to beat -- if you can
Bill Cochran
Recent field reports
John Feazell with his 22 point Botetourt County rack.
The buck to beat during Virginia’s deer hunting season is a 22-point monister killed with a bow in Botetourt County Nov. 7 by John Feazell of Clifton Forge.
From pictures and information posted on the blog of Mark Taylor, outdoor editor of The Roanoke Times, it is obvious that the buck is going to rank high in upcoming big game contests, although it does not have the neat, basket-shape rack that scores well under the Virginia measuring system.
The rack hasn’t had time to cure; yet, early rough measurements show it should be in the 220 Boone and Crockett range. That’s big!
As for a little background, the buck I write about in my current Cochran Column (see this week’s Cochran column) scored 236-3/8 non-typical Boone and Crockett. The all-time Virginia Boone and Crockett non-typical rack scored 257-4/8. It was killed in Warren County during the 1992 season by James Smith of Front Royal.
Feazell, who is 35 and works for the U.S. Forest Service, reorted killing his buck on private land on Tinker Mountain. He was hunting with a bow during the muzzleloading season because he had loaned his black-powder gun to his Dad. That means the buck is a candidate for Pope and Young, the national record keeper of bow-killed bucks. It could end up as the biggest bow-killed buck ever taken in Virginia.
BILL
POTENTIAL RECORD BASS STILL UNDER REVIEW
A 22-pound, 4-ounce largemouth bass caught in Japan appears to tie the long-standing world record, according to documentation received by the International Game Fish Association from the Japan Game Fish Association. But the catch isn’t in the record book just yet.
IGFA officials have reported that the written documentation, photos and a video that have been received and are under review.
The current 22-pound, 4-ounce record was taken June 2, 1932 by George Perry who was fishing Montgomery Lake near Jacksonville, Ga. Many view this record as the best know and most sought after of all fish records. IGFA has called it the “Holy Grail” of freshwater records; even so, some of the expected excitement has yet to develop around the new catch.
For one thing, it is a potential tie, not a record. For another, the fish was caught in Japan and documentation has been slow. In Japan, the largemouth bass, which happen to be the most sought after freshwater fish in America, is a non-native, invasive species.
Had a potential record been caught in the United States, say in Florida or California, which has come close, the excitement would have been intense and there would be talk of thousands of dollars in endorsements.
Manabu Kurita, 32, of Aichi, Japan, isn’t likely to get a lure endorsement for his Lake Biwa catch. He reported hooking the fish on a live bluegill.
IGFA is posting information on the catch on its Web site.
BILL
OUTDOOR BRIEFS:
- On Tuesday of this week, I drove from Virginia’s Eastern Shore westward to the Blue Ridge Mountains and saw very little hunting activity. If fact, you had to look closely to see any at all, a four-wheel drive driven by a guy with blaze orange cap, a dog box full of anxious hounds in the back of a pickup. Now that deer hunting is spread across the state and across the calendar, you no longer find the big concentrations of hunters you once experience. I did hear about one club having killed 33 deer thus far.
- Last week’s nor’easter pounded the 1,400-foot Lynnhaven Fishing Pier in Virginia Beach with sledgehammer force, toppling the final 300 feet and taking out another 300-foot section close to shore. Owners say they hope to complete the estimated $200,000 in repairs for a May 1 reopening. Meanwhile, Sandbridge Pier escaped major damage from a 570-foot runaway barge that ran aground near the pier.
- West Virginia anticipates 280,000 hunters will be afield during the state’s buck season set for Nov. 23-Dec. 5. Officials anticipate a slightly higher buck kill than last year when 67,365 were registered, a 29-percnt jump over the previous season.
BILL
VIRGINIA SALTWATER FISHING TOURNAMENT
Eleven months into the 2009 Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament an no one has entered a citation gray trout, a testimony to how low populations of this popular species have fallen. Here are the tournament standings.
BLACK DRUM: 84 pounds, 12 ounces, William Brown, Hampton, Inner Middle Ground; C-13
BLUELINE TILEFISH: 23 pounds, 5 ounces, Michael Adkins, Sutherland, Norfolk Canyon.
COBIA: 105 pounds, 8 ounces, Wes Blow, Newport News, lower Chesapeake Bay.
CROAKER: 5 pounds, 3 ounces, Nathan Clendenin, Richmond, lower York River. .
DOLPHIN: 39 pounds, Robert Manus, Ark, Triple Zero’s.
FLOUNDER: 12 pounds, 12 ounce, Mike Perron, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
GRAY TRIGGERFISH: 5 pounds, 2 ounce, Ben Shepherd, Chesapeake, Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
KING MACKEREL: 33 pounds, 1 ounce, Ed Cromwell Jr., Virginia Beach, inshore waters off Virginia Beach.
KINGFISH: 1 pound, 12 ounces, Bill Pope, Norfolk, Sandbridge Pier.
POMPANO: 2 pounds, 6 ounces, Ben Shepherd, Chesapeake, First Island of Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
SEA BASS: 8 pounds, 4 ounces, Wei Zhohg Zheng, Saranac, N.Y., Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.
SHEEPHEAD: 17 pounds, 14 ounces, Wei Zhong Zhen, Saranac, N.Y., Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
SPADEFISH: 14 pounds, 14 ounces, state record, Roland Murphy, Fredericksburg, the Cell.
SPANISH MACKEREL: 7 pounds, 2 ounces, Sophia Vella, The Plains, Great Wicomico River.
SPECKLED TROUT: 13 pounds, 14 ounces, Michael Whittaker, Chesapeake, Elizabeth River.
SPOT: 1 pound, 2 ounces, Chris Brooks, Virginia Beach, Elizabeth River.
STRIPED BASS: 66 pounds, 8 ounces, Pete Johnson, Hampton, Smith Island.
TAUTOG: 21 pounds, 13 ounces, Skip Feller, Virginia Beach, wreck off Virginia Beach.
TUNA (BLUEFIN): 168 pounds, Paulette Johnson, Uniontown, Ohio, 100 Fathom off Virginia Beach.
TUNA: 230 pounds, Jeff Creekmore, Chesapeake, Norfolk Canyon.
WAHOO: 72 pounds, 4 ounce, Lonnie Brock, Virginia Beach, 100 Fathom off Virginia Beach.
MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS
Deer Hunting Workshop, Nov. 21, sponsored by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and the Bedford County Economic Development Authority, information from 434-525-7522.
Smith River Trout Unlimited meeting, Dec. 3, 6:30 p.m. at Rania’s Restaurant in Martinsville, program by Scott Smith, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ biologist on the Smith River fishery, guests welcome, meals available, information from Al Kittredge or smithrivertu.com.
Youth Rabbit Hunting Workshop, December 5, Bedford County, sponsored by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Outdoor Education Program, contact Jimmy Mootz.
The 16th annual CCA-Green Top Striped Bass Tournament, Dec. 5, $17,000 in prizes, $100,000 bonus for landing a Virginia record striper, at Norview Marina in Deltaville, $225 per boat, Maryland water included.
Youth Deer Hunting Workshop, Claytor Lake, Dec. 18 and 19, information from Jimmy Mootz..
Bassmaster Classic, Feb. 19-21, Lay Lake, Birmingham, Ala.
Youth spring turkey hunt day, April 3, 2010.
Spring gobbler season, April 10-May 15, 2010.
BASS Elite Blue Ridge Brawl, April 15-18, Smith Mountain Lake.
North Carolina State University Sport Fishing School, May 30-June 3, 2010, Hatteras, N.C.
Got an event? Let us know: xtrails@earthlink.net.
