Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.

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Bill Cochran's Outdoors

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• Drum fishing on Virginia’s Coast comes in two colors
• Elk advocate finally gets his day
• Turkeys are plentiful, so why are hunting regulations so tight fisted?
• Anglers say closure of the point of Cape Hatteras is for the birds
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• Recommendations for Virginia’s Wild Turkey Management Plan
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• Big striper smashes Optimist tournament record
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The number of jumbo-size striped bass being caught in the Chesapeake Bay is on the increase, and the first major catch of big ocean stripers of the fall/winter season has occurred along the Virginia Beach waterfront.

There was an excellent striper bite at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel Friday after Thanksgiving Day, and that also was the case the previous Tuesday, according to Dr. Jack Cranford, a Virginia Tech professor who frequently fishes the area. Cranford reported catches of stripers up to 41 inches. The fish fell for live eels fished around the pilings and the high-rise structure of the bridge tunnel. Bucktails cast to the structures also produced strikes. The fish were feeding on 4-to 6-inch flounder, Cranford reported.

Deeper in the Bay, Capt. Ferrell McLain, of Bayfish Sport Fishing Charters, reported catches of striped bass that measured from 40 to 44 inches.

“Those big fish are caught while trolling, using umbrella rigs, tandem bucktail rigs or large spoons,” Ferrell said.

The ocean action occurred Friday in the Sandbridge area of Virginia Beach.

“They came right in on the beach,” said Claud Bain, director of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament. “You could surf cast for them. They were nice fish, big fish, they were 20-25-pound fish. We are getting more citations every day.”

That trend should intensify from now into the New Year.

A BEAR REPORT FROM DAVID SMITH

The constant rain the day before Thanksgiving kept my son and me pinned up inside in front of the TV, and doing those other helpful things you do the day before the Big Feast.

We had traveled from our home in Tennessee to spend the holiday with my folks in Elliston, and had planned to get in a little deer hunting on Wednesday and Thursday. I awoke to strong winds, but decided to give the woods a try anyway. I hadn't hunted in the Craig County hills in several years. I was sure they would be a welcome sight. I hoped to maybe catch a glimpse of one of those big bucks I've seen over there when hunting season was many weeks away.

Just being in the woods in my home state of Virginia, if for only a couple hours, would be well worth fighting the weather and that warm-bed withdrawal.

Cade, my 10-year-old son, didn't win his "battle of the bed" and elected to stay behind and sleep in. After trudging up one of the ridges off highway 42, I paused to rest on an old roadbed, only a hundred yards or so from the top, which backs up nicely to the Jefferson National Forest.

I spotted something black moving through the woods above me. My first thought was it was probably a turkey. Seems I see as many turkeys as squirrels these days. But then this black creature stood up!

Never seen an 8-foot tall turkey! "It's a bear!" I realized.

Knowing this Thanksgiving Day I could legally harvest a bear, my first reactions were to pull my rifle up, find the bear in my scope and then finally take the safety off. So I looked at this bear through my scope for what seemed like forever as he paced back and forth, nose in the air trying to find and figure out what he was smelling.

This was my first experience seeing a bear in the wild, and as I continued to watch this magnificent creature through my scope, merely 50 or so yards away. I began to ask myself, "Just what are you gonna do with a dead bear?" I knew what to do with a prize buck, you know, been there, done that. You celebrate, show it off, butcher it, cape it, take the head and cape to a good taxidermist and, of course, share the meat with friends and neighbors. But a bear, so much more rare, and I’m not certain about the quality of the meat.

So anxiety sets in. My conscience begins to argue with itself. “Shoot.” You may never see another bear “Don’t shoot. What are you going to do with a dead bear? You have no reason to kill it!”

“Wow I wish I had my camera,” I thought. Just then I remembered I had something better in my backpack. I had my camcorder! So I ease the safety on my rifle, put it down and take the backpack I'm still wearing off of my shoulders and kneel to dig out my next move. I power up, find this bear, who's still trying to figure out my location in this 30 mile an hour wind and shoot two minutes of one of the greatest experiences I've had in the woods.

The bear finally spotted me through the trees, and hurried off in the other direction. Maybe we'll cross paths again. So what do you do with a dead bear? Guess I'll have some time to figure that one out on my own. But for now I'm happy with my decision and I have something to show for this encounter.

Only it doesn't hang on the wall, it's best admired with a TV screen.

GOT GAME GETTING A WORKOUT

Nearly 70,000 deer have been checked through the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries new Got Game telephone system. Mat Knox, deer biologist of the DGIF, estimates this is about 45 to 50 percent of the deer killed.

“This is a little higher than I expected,” Knox said. “Most of the hunters I have talked to have used it and liked it. It definitely passes the convenience test, which is the reason we implemented it.”

About half of the deer are being checked at traditional game stations, often located in country stores.

One of the most common complaints about the new system is one that many people did not anticipate. It has to do with the fact that the phone system does not offer callers a chance to report game law violators. Often when hunters have checked deer at big game stations they’ve also reported violations.

“It goes without saying that the telephone system is not as strong of a low enforcement tool as the traditional check station system,” Knox said.

FISHING

>The tidal section of the James River, in the Richmond area, is producing excellent blue catfish action. Several fish above 50 pounds have been landed. The hot bait is eels. Channel catfish are striking in Kerr Lake.

>Striped bass better than 30 pounds have been landed at Claytor Lake by anglers using side planers and trolling cut bait at super slow speeds.

>Fishermen trolling deep-running Red Fins have been catching walleye to 5 pounds at Lake Gaston.

>Good numbers of largemouth bass up to 5.5 pounds are being landed at Chickhominy Lake. Minnows are the bait of choice.

OUTDOOR BRIEFS

>Elk hunters in Virginia have had a slow season, with just one cow reported killed through the Thanksgiving Day Weekend. That animal was taken in Wise County, according to Allen Boynton of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

>Two studies done at Virginia Tech showed very little lead damage to the environment from bullets left on battlefields or on a carefully designed shotgun/rifle range.

>A waterway in Philadelphia is giving Virginia and Maryland competition when it comes to sneakhead fish sightings. This is a contest no one wants to win, because the snakehead is an invasive, predator that could be tough on native species. Nine of the fish have come from Meadow Lake in Philadelphia’s FDR Park, and that’s not counting a bucket full of young fish, proof of breeding. Nineteen snakeheads have been counted from the Potomac River, which flows through Virginia and Maryland.

>If you launch a boat at Morley’s Wharf in Northampton County on Virginia’s Eastern Shore you are required to stuff money into a fee box, provided you aren’t a county resident. That process started last month. Now the next county north, Accomack, want to do the same thing at its county ramps. The Accomack County Board of Supervisors has instructed its staff to establish a system for charging out-of-area boaters. Nevermind that these boaters are leaving behind big bucks for bait, tackle, lodging, fuel and food.

VIRGINIA SALTWATER FISHING TOURNAMENT

Here are the standings in the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament:

BLACK DRUM: 95 pounds, Joseph Roub, Baltimore, Md., Hog Island Bay.

COBIA: 103 pounds, 8 ounces, Vince Ainsley, Aylett, lower-western Chesapeake Bay.

CROAKER: 5 pounds, Jarvis Taylor, Richmond, lower York River.

DOLPHIN: 50 pounds, Jereme Wilson, Chesapeake, off Virginia Beach.

FLOUNDER: 14 pounds, 4 ounces, Betty Smith, Chesapeake, lower-eastern Chesapeake Bay.

GRAY TRIGGERFISH: 5 pounds, Mike Barboza, Virginia Beach, off Virginia Beach.

GRAY TROUT: 12 pounds, 12 ounces, Greg Thayer, Gloucester, upper-eastern Chesapeake Bay.

KING MACKEREL: 52 pounds, Cecil Smith, Virginia Beach, off Virginia Beach.

KINGFISH: 1 pound, 14 ounce, Bobby Smith, Portsmouth, lower-western Chesapeake Bay.

POMPANO: 3 pounds, 6 ounces, Arlon Stith, Petersburg, lower James River.

SEA BASS: 6 pounds, 14 ounces, Mark Fueller, Rio Grande, N.J., off Virginia Beach.

SHEEPHEAD: 19 pounds, 3 ounces state record, Jeff Hutton, Virginia Beach, lower eastern Chesapeake Bay.

SPADEFISH: 13 pounds, 10 ounces, Jake Mapp, Franktown, upper-eastern Chesapeake Bay.

SPANISH MACKEREL: 6 pounds, 6 ounces, Patrick Quisenberry, Mechanicsville, upper-western Chesapeake Bay.

SPECKLED TROUT: 13 pounds, 12 ounces, Walter Kellum, Hayes, Mobajack Bay.

SPOT: 1 pound, 10 ounces, Wilson Haynes, Wake, lower Rappahannock River.

STRIPED BASS: 63 pound state record, Carolyn Brown, Virginia Beach, off the Virginia Coast.

TAUTOG: 22 pounds, 9 ounces, Julie Ball, Virginia Beach, off Virginia Beach.

TUNA (BLUEFIN): 180 pounds, 4 ounces, Okey Bolling, Pasadena, Md. off Eastern Shore.

TUNA (OTHER): 241 pounds, Mike Wolf, Sterling, off Virginia Beach.

WAHOO: 107 pounds, Chris Miles, Virginia Beach, off Virginia Beach.

MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS

Virginia Ducks Unlimited Rockfish Tournament, Dec. 4, Bluewater Yacht Sales on Sunset Creek in Hampton, rules and other information from vadurockfishshootout.site-101.com.

SaltWater Sportsman Magazine National Seminar Series, Virginia Beach, Jan 15, 6 hours of instruction at Virginia Beach Convention Center, nationalseminarseries.com.

Bassmaster University, where pros instruction anglers on bass fishing, Jan. 22-23, Wyndhan Hotel Richmond Airport, Richmond, instructors include Kevin VanDam, Denny Brauer, Shaw Grigsby, Woo Daves, Zell Roland, Mike Auten. Information from 866-732-BASS.

Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show, 50th anniversary, Feb. 5-13, State Farm Show Complex, Harrisburg, Pa., features angler Jimmy Houston and hunter Chuck Adams. Reported to be the largest consumer show of its kind, easternsportshow.com.

Wilderness First Aid Class, March 12-13, Blacksburg, 18 hours of hands-on instruction and study that results in a two-year certificate, coast $160, visit wfa.net.

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