Thursday, April 24, 2008
Charges against former game warden dismissed
Bill Cochran
Recent field reports
Felony embezzlement charges against former state game warden Michael Caison were dismissed this week in Richmond by Circuit Judge B.W. Snukals, who ruled that the state failed to prove that Caison misused a state credit card. Caison’s superiors at the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries had signed off on the expenditures that Caison had charged, Snukals said. Some of the purchases in question were for a 2004 African safari.
William Woodfin Jr, the agency’s former director, and Terry Bradbery, former enforcement chief, are scheduled to be tried the first week of June on charges of embezzling state money. Lawyers for the two have requested Attorney General Bob McDonnell to drop the cases against their clients, according to the Virginian-Pilot. McDonnell already has been criticized by some sportsmen for being slow to move the cases forward.
Caison’s attorney said his client made the purchases in question at the direction of his bosses and that anything bought ultimately would be owned by DGIF, not the defendant. That may not bode well for Woodfin and Bradbery. Both men were Caison’s superiors.
The charges followed a 52-page audit that underscored cronyism, waste and misuse of sate property. The DGIF board has been laboring to restore the agency’s credibility, but winning back some sportsmen has been a difficult process.
BILL
SMITH MOUNTAIN LAKE CITATION COUNT
Smith Mountain Lake anglers last year registered 38 striped bass in the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ Angler Recognition Program, the highest number in four years. To qualify, a striper must meet minimum standards of 37 inches or weigh 20 pounds.
The count dropped as low as 7 in 2004, following a die-off of stripers. The number of big fish has been building since then, but the count remains well off the 164 total of 2001.
As for this year, nine stripers had been registered as of April 1, according to information provided by Dan Wilson, DGIF biologist.
The largemouth bass citation count at Smith Mountain in 2007 was 23. That was well off the 75 pace of 2000 but ahead of the 14 posted in 2004. In summary, 2004 was a poor year for striper, largemouth, smallmouth and crappie citations.
Last year, anglers entered 18 trophy smallmouth bass from Smith Mountain, down slightly from the annual average of 22 since 2000.
Last season was a good one for catching trophy crappie at Smith Mountain Lake. The citation count was 33 fish measuring a minimum of 15 inches or weighing 2 pounds or more. That was the most since 2000.
BILL
WANTED: YOUR OPINION ON HOUND HUNTING
If you have opinions on hunting with hounds in Virginia, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries would like to hear them. Public input is being sought through an informal survey. You can link to the process through dgif.virginia.gov/houndhunting. You will be assigned a special password.
DGIF and Virginia Tech officials are heading up a major hound study, called “Hunting with Hounds in Virginia: A Way Forward.” Officials say that while the informal survey cannot provide statistically accurate data it can be the source of useful information for consideration by the study’s stakeholder advisory committee.
BILL
ARRINGTON BACK HOME WITH ROYAL SLAM
Gary Arrington of Bedford returned from Mexico recently with a 22-pound Goulds turkey that will give him a Royal Slam. My April 10 Cochran Column contained information about Arrington earning a Grand Slam by killing turkeys of four different sub species in the United States.
Arrington killed two Goulds, the largest bearing two beards, one 9-3/4 inches and 5 inches.
It took four hours to outsmart the big tom, which was accompanied by three jakes (young males) and three hens, Arrington reported.
“One hen was standing beside me about 4 to 5 feet and had me pinned, but the gobbler finally moved to the right spot,” he said. “It was an emotional experience and the trip and place was more than words can describe.”
ANN LEWIS WAS THE GRACE BEHIND BASS
One of my favorite pictures shows me covering a BASS fishing tournament. I have a frown on my face and I am scribbling notes in my reporter’s pad. Immediately behind me is Ann Lewis, and behind her is my wife, Katherine. Ann and Katherine are laughing.
When Ann gave me a copy of the picture, I studied it for a long time and realized that I was taking these tournaments way too seriously. After all, it was fishing, not war.
Form 1983 through 1999, Ann was media relations manager for BASS. A big part of her job was to sell hardnosed newspaper editors on the fact that professional bass fishing is a sport that merits coverage. Many sports editors believed if there wasn’t anything to hit, catch or pass, then it wasn’t a sport.
Ann won over the media types with a smile, a hug and kindness, not to mention the strictest professionalism. If you had a question, Ann could answer it. If you needed a fact, she had it.
She traveled from tournament to tournament, often setting up makeshift press headquarters in a small town motel room or the BASS Bluebird bus. Equipment to dispatch stories in those pre-Internet days was pretty primitive and subject to failure. Yet I never saw the pressure get to Ann and I never heard her say an unkind word about another person. She made everyone around her feel important. Funny, I thought she did that just for me, always asking about family, work, hobbies. Later I found she treated everyone that way. If you had kids, she probably knew their names.
Those of us who were touched by Ann were saddened last week to learn of her death following a lengthy illness. She was 61 and lived in Montgomery, Ala. She was director of publicity for Buckmasters a short while after leaving BASS.
Ann never received the publicity she deserved for the key roll she had in helping to make professional bass fishing the credible giant it is today. Most of us will remember her not as a BASS pioneer, but as a dear friend.
BILL
OUTDOOR BRIEFS
>>When Marvin Bugg reeled a 39-pound striped bass from Claytor Lake earlier this month, some people wondered, can the lake produce a state record? Well, it has a long way to go to top the 53-pound, 7-ounce record taken from Leesville Lake in March 2000. One thing for certain, the size of Claytor stripers continues to march upward, and that is a good sign. You don’t have to look back too many years to a time when anything over 20 inches was rare and most fish left the lake before reaching trophy size.
>>The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has added two new people to its Hound Hunting Stakeholder Advisory Committee. This was done in wake of criticism that non-mounted fox hunting was not represented on the 16-member committee. William Easter, described as a leader in the foxhound hunting community, was added to the group. In an effort to keep the committee evenly divided between hunters and non-hunters, Robin Weinhold, a private landowner and non-consumptive recreationist, also was appointed.
>>Young turkeys in West Virginia were up 12 percent in 2006 over the previous year, which should mean good numbers of 2-year-old toms during the April 28-May 24 season. Officials in the Mountain State are predicting a slightly higher spring kill than last year when 9,965 gobblers were reported taken by hunters.
>>The top 20 teams (high overall) in the 2008 Intercollegiate Clay Target Championships in San Antonio included George Mason University; 7th, with a score of 1,412; Virginia Tech University, 8th, 1,405 and Radford University 16th, 1,217. Claming its fifth straight national title was Lindenwood University of St. Charles, Mo., with 1,528 out of 1,600 targets.
>>Virginia General Assembly members Sen. Stephen Newman, R-Forest, and Kathy Byron, R-Lynchburg, have won the Water Safety Category of the 2008 Governor’s Board of Transportation Safety Awards for the work they did in gaining passage of legislation that will require most boat operators to take boater safety training.
>>Kurt Dove from Fairfax, finished 11th in the Bassmaster Elite Series on Lake Amistad, Texas, winning $13,500 for his three-day catch of 61 pounds, 2 ounces. Dove led the tournament the first day. The winner was Tod Faircloth of Jasper, Texas, with a 76-pound, 15-ounce total worth $102,000.
>>Gas may cost as much as $4 a gallon this year, but that’s not going to keep the majority of anglers home, according to a Southwick Associates survey that revealed six out of 10 outdoorsmen say they plan an out-of-state fishing trip the next 12 months.
BILL
SALTWATER FISHING TOURNAMENT
The Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament has a new leader in the flounder and tautog categories. Here are the standings:
BLUEFISH: 19 pounds, 4 ounces, Richard Brown, Richmond, off Virginia Beach.
BLUEFIN TILEFISH: 18 pounds, 3 ounces, Stanley Gold, Chesapeake, off Virginia Beach.
FLOUNDER: 7 pounds, 15 ounces, Jacob Schmidt, Denton, Md., Bradford Bay.
SEA BASS: 7 pounds, 8 ounces, Reggie Myrick, Portsmouth, off Virginia Beach.
SPECKLED TROUT: 9 pounds, 15 ounces, David Hester, Chesapeake, Elizabeth River.
STRIPED BASS: 73 pounds, state record, Frederick Barnes, Chesapeake, off Virginia Beach.
TAUTOG” 17 pounds, 10 ounces, John Alfino, Flushing, N.Y., ocean off Eastern Shore.
MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS
The Optimist Club of Cave Spring 40th annual Smith Mountain Lake Fishing Tournament, May 2-4, $40 for tickets, $15,000 in prizes offered, includes fourth annual Bill Cochran Youth Tournament, Saturday, May 3, kids when 12 and under fish free with paying adult, tickets available at businesses around the lake or in nearby towns, money benefits the club’s youth programs, information from Ike Harris, 540-989-8488.
Smith Mountain Striper Club meeting, 7 p.m. May 2, Moneta Community Center, annual lake report by Dan Wilson, biologist of Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
Seventh Annual David H. Horne Memorial Hunters for the Hungry Golf Tournament, May 7, Birkdale Golf Course, Richmond, contact Braxton Bell, 804-739-3010.
Third annual Oregon Inlet (N.C.) Tuna Roundup, May 29-31, sponsored by Pirate’s Cove, $88,000 payout. Information from pcbgt.com.
Twenty-fifth annual Bluefish Derby, June 13 & 14, Reedville, information from Jett’s Hardware, 804-453-5325.
Shenandoah River Rodeo, July 19, Bentonville’s Low Water Bridge Campground, $40, to benefit Shenandoah Riverkeepers, pig roast, bluegrass, fishing, canoeing, camping information from Shenandoah Riverkeepers, P.O. Box 405, Boyce, Va. 22620.
Eastern Regional Big Game Championship, Sept. 13 and 14, Southampton County Fairgrounds, Franklin, sponsored by the Virginia Peninsula Sportsmen’s Association, more information from Kenneth Pickin, P.O. Box 1860, Williamsburg, Va. 23187-1860; 757-229-0490. This is the contest for deer, bear and turkey killed east of the Blue Ridge. Additional information from vpsa.org.
Third annual WSLS 10 Hunters for the Hungry banquet, 6 p.m. Sept. 27, Dave Sarmadi Mitsubishi, Salem, tickets $20 singles; $35 couples, kids 12 and under free, to benefit the organization’s feed-the-needy program, tickets from Jeff Fletcher, 540-985-6523 or Fred and Phyllis Wells, 540-992-3874 or may be purchased at Dave Sarmadi Mitsubishi, additional information from hunt4hungry@cs.com.
Western Regional and State Big Game Championship, for deer, bear and turkey killed west of the Blue Ridge or advanced from the Eastern Championship, Sept. 27 & 28, Rockingham County Fairgrounds, Harrisonburg, more information from Jon Ritenour, 2041 Spaders Church Rd., Harrisonburg, VA 22801, 540-434-8028. Additional information from vpsa.org.
Roanoke Valley Friends of NRA banquet, Oct. 18.
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