Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.

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Most of the time, catching a 83.5-pound freshwater fish is a guarantee that you will get your name etched in the state record book. But not this time.

Chris Eberwein, a James River fishing guide, landed an 83.5-pound, 54.5-inch blue catfish last week that is believed to be the largest ever taken from the James River. But it isn’t a Virginia record. The record is a 92-pound, 4-ounce giant taken June 29, 2004 by William Zost. Zost was fishing Kerr Lake, which is in competition with the James River for biggest catfish honors.

Prior to the Kerr catch, the record was a 71-pound, 12-ounce James River trophy landed by Hugh Self Jr. on Nov. 19, 1999. This means Eberwein’s fish is the second largest on record.

Eberwein said he got help landing the fish from his friend, Floyd Dormire. The two anglers battled the fish in tag-team style until it was captured after a 35-minute fight.

When he took a look at the size of the fish, Eberwein had certified scales brought to the Dutch Gap area of the river in Richmond where Bob Greenleigh, a Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologist, certified the weight.

DIGF RETRIEVES SOME MONEY

Gov. Mark R. Warner’s proposed amendments to the 2004-2006 State Biennial Budget would retrieve some Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ watercraft sales and use tax funds that were lost during the budget crunch. But the agency still would be about $2 million short of getting 100 percent of the funds it once received from this source.

Under the proposed budget, DGIF would receive an additional $300,00 in 2005 and $600,000 in 2006 from boat monies. The cutback in boating funds has resulted in drastic reductions of ramp building and enforcement patrols.

The DGIF operating budget for 2005 is posted at $44,947.917 in non-general funds. That figure for 2006 is $45,426,517. This represents more than a $14-million increase since 1996. Most of the agency’s funds come from hunting and fishing license and boat registration fees, along with matching federal funds.

In 2006, the agency would lose five positions, the result of technical people being transferred to the Virginia Information Technology Agency where state computer services are being combined.

The budget reflects an increase in the salary of the Bill Woodfin, the executive director, the result of DGIF going from a Class III to a Class I agency. The director’s salary would increase from $108,607 in 2004 to $111,865 in 2005 and $115,221 in 2006.

Capital expenses would include $932,000 to build a warehouse behind the agency’s headquarters on West Broad Street in Richmond, and $500,000 for dam maintenance.

FOREST SUPERVISOR RETIRES

Bill Damon, Supervisor of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests for nearly 10 years, has announced that he will retire Jan. 1. Damon helped make smooth the administrative merger of the George Washington and the Jefferson National Forests into one unit that is headquartered in Roanoke.

He improved the performance and the moral of the forest staff at a time when budgets and personnel were in decline. His expertise in computer technology was utilized nationally by the Forest Service.

Damon oversaw the difficult task of revising the Jefferson National Forest Plan. He is a native of Big Stone Gap. His replacement has not been named.

FIRST SHOT FIRED

Most legislators know that if you mess with hunting dogs you’ve stirred up a hornet’s next. And that may be what Del. Mark Cole, R-Fredericksburg, has done with a bill prefiled with the 2005 Virginia General Assembly. The bill addresses the touchy issue of retrieving hunting dogs on private property.

Dogs, of course, can’t read “No Trespassing” signs, so they often wander onto private property while chasing deer, bear, raccoons and other wildlife during the hunting season. A long-time tradition gives hunters the right to retrieve their dogs without permission from the landowner.

Some landowners will tell you that dog owners abuse this right by turning loose their dogs from public roadways onto property where they don’t have permission to hunt.

Cole’s bill is aimed at stopping that by stating: “It is unlawful for any person to release his dogs on another person’s posted land for the purpose of pursuing, taking, chasing, flushing or killing game or wild animals without the landowner’s permission.” If a dog were found on private property where its owner does not have permission to hunt or where the owner does not have control of his dog, the owner would be subject to a Class 4 misdemeanor.

THE BLOXOM APPOINTMENT

The appointment of Robert Bloxom to the new cabinet position of Virginia Secretary of Agricultural and Forestry is an interesting one.

He is a Republican. Gov. Mark Warner, who appointed him, is a Democratic.

Bloxom lives on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, an area where there is farmland and water, but few forests, yet he will be the secretary who is responsible for the Virginia Department of Forestry.

He also will be in charge of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Virginia Marine Products Board. Sometime agriculture and marine interests clash. Agriculture, for example, is listed as one of the main polluters of the Chesapeake Bay.

Bloxom’s background in agriculture and Chesapeake Bay interests will come in handy in this balancing act. So should his knowledge of politics. He served in the House of Delegates from 1978 until his retirement at the end of 2003.

Some outdoor leaders have weighed-in on Bloxom’s side, saying he will make a good cabinet secretary.

FISHING

The top saltwater fishing is for striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay and along the ocean front at Virginia Beach and southward. The most promising freshwater fishing is for jumbo blue catfish in the Richmond area of the James River. Here’s a look at the two fisheries:

STRIPERS: The big question for striper anglers who fish the Chesapeake Bay and oceanfront is where to go next. The fishing has been fantastic, with some of the bigger fish taken along the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and along the deep water on the eastern side of the Bay.

Good-size fish also can be found from Cape Henry southward along the oceanfront all the way into North Carolina. Some anglers have caught so many stripers that they now are targeting other species, including tautogs and jumbo-size bluefish. Often stripers will crash their bluefish rigs.

With cooperative weather, the striper fishery should continue through the end of the year, when the season closes in the Bay. Then the action will shift to the ocean, where bragging-size fish can be expected well into January. January traditionally gives up the biggest fish and is the time to think state record.

CATFISH: This is the time to crank in one of those 50-pound-plus blue catfish that fin about in the tidal section of the James River in the Richmond area. Note the 83.5-pound catch reported at the top of these notes.

Matt Nuckols of Goochland and Wayne Long of Richmond recently landed 12 citations up to 50 pounds while fishing with guide Mike Ostrander of the James River Fishing School, JamesRiverFishing.com.

Ostrander said his business had slowed, due to cold weather and the Christmas rush, but the catfish haven’t taken a break.

OUTDOOR BRIEFS

>The task of Phillip Lownes to provide Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ boating access has been challenged recently because of the scarcity of funding. Even so, Lownes won the 2004 National Outstanding Service Award by the States Organization for Boating Access at its 18th Annual Conference held in Montana.

>Ducks Unlimited has launched an expanded website program that will offer information on state DU news and activities. Click on ducks.org then the “In Your State” tab at the top of the page.

>Bass anglers will get the chance to begin their New Year with some familiar faces in a new ESPN2 program titled “BASS Saturday. It begins Jan 1, airing at 7 a.m. and updated at 11 a.m. The host is John Kernan, former Channel 7 Roanoke TV sports director and host of the former long-running motor sports news show on ESPN2.

BILL

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.

BILL

MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS

Smith River Trout Unlimited meeting, 7 p.m. Jan. 6 at Rania’s Restaurant in downtown Martinsville (147 E. Main St.), program on tying the Allieworm and Soft Hackle Nymph by Al Kittrege and Ralph Mueller. Guests welcome. Information from Shane Pinkston, 276-638-3757, or Ted Tomczak 276-629-2962.

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.

Richmond Ducks Unlimited Wild Game Feast, Feb. 3, Tredegar Iron Works, $75, information from durichmond.com.

Eastern Sports and Outdoor Show, 50th anniversary, Feb. 5-13, State Farm Show Complex, Harrisburg, Pa. 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.

Got an event? Let us know: xtrails@earthlink.net