Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.

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Bill Cochran's Outdoors

Recent columns

• 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
• Column archive

Bill's Mailbag

• Putting down a bear cub brings complaint
• Recommendations for Virginia’s Wild Turkey Management Plan
• Mail archive

Bill's Field Reports

• A. Willis Robertson great name for new DGIF headquarters
• Big striper smashes Optimist tournament record
• Field reports archive

Resources

• Trout stocking schedule

Several streams have been added to Virginia’s trout stocking program for 2005 and other streams currently on the stocking list will get more trout than in the past. That’s the word from Larry Mohn, regional fisheries biologist of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Streams that have been added to the stocking schedule either late last year or this year are Howells Creek in Floyd County; Swift Run in Green County along with an additional portion of South River in Ridgeway Park inside the limits of the City of Waynesboro.

Mint Spring Pounds in Albemarle County and Hawksbill Creek in Page

County will be stocked more frequently due to an upgrade in classification from B to A. Going from C to B is Stock Creek in Scott County.

Complete coverage of Virginia’s trout program can be found in the January issue of Virginia Wildlife Magazine. Copies are available for $2 each. Send a check payable to the Treasurer of Virginia to Virginia Wildlife Special Trout Guide, P.O. Box 11104, Richmond, VA 23230-1104.

N.C. LICENSE INFORMATION INCORRECT

North Carolina’s new saltwater fishing license won’t be required until Jan. 1, 2006. Last week’s field reports incorrectly stated that the license would be required this year. There’s even a chance that it will be delayed until 2007.

HYPERVENTILATING OVER FOREST PLAN

Some environmentalists have been doing a lot of premature ranting over the revision of the National Forest Management Act released just before Christmas by the U.S. Forest Service. Typical was an oped piece in the Sunday Roanoke Times by David Muhly of the Sierra Club. Similar pieces have appeared in the Washington Post, online and elsewhere. Most say the new plan is a sell-out to the timber industry, and they describe the pending doom.

I asked Jim Loesel what all this might mean for the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests in Virginia. Loesel is a long time national forest activist, head of the Citizen’s Task Force, a man who knows more about forest plans and management that most other environmentalists combined.

“The hyperventilation by the environmentalists is almost comical,” Loesel said. “The planning regulations are so skeletal at this point that it is hard to predict what the planning process will actually look like when the George Washington starts its revision in October.

“However, all newspaper writers and editorial writers feel compelled to write something anyway. Almost everything I have read in the 25 stories or so that I have seen is garbage.”

Loesel is attending the Forest Service Congress in Washington this week, where he is talking with key planning players and congressional staff.

FISHING REPORT

The James River generally is lauded for the best blue catfish action in Virginia, but this week the Chickahominy River steals the show. That’s where Jim Hughes of Harrisonburg landed blue catfish on cut shad that weighed 44, 41, 41, 27 and 23.5 pounds apiece. This doesn’t mean the James isn’t producing catches. It is turning out cats 20-pounds and above. Some 15-to 20-pounders are being caught in the upper reaches of Kerr Lake.

Recent mild weather has created good conditions for catching crappie in a number of impoundments. The hot spot is Chickahominy Lake where Kenny Glenn of Richmond caught 40 on jigs. Minnows produced 24 crappie for Douglas Nelson of Lanexa.

OUTDOOR BRIEFS

>Following four good years, there was a huge drop in black sea bass catches last year. The new season, which opened Jan. 1, will have no closed periods this year, and the past year’s possession limit of 25 fish and size limit of 12 inches remains unchanged.

>Several boats trolling for striped bass along the coast of Virginia have had their lines broken or all the line taken from their reel by fish they describe as hitting like a “freight train.” The mysterious fish is believed to be bluefin tuna. Some in the 50- to 100-pound class have been landed.

>The Virginia Bass Federation reported a $1,700 donation to the Children’s Miracle Network following a charity tournament on Smith Mountain Lake in October.

>The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has closed the shooting range at Chickahominy Wildlife Management Area due to vandalism. The range is expected to remain closed until February while department staff repairs the damage and address security issues at the site.

>Ann F. Jennings, is the new Virginia director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. She succeeds Roy Hoagland, who ran the office for 2 1/2 years. Hoagland moved to be a vice president in the group's Annapolis, Md., headquarters. Jennings is the third person, and the first woman, to run the group's Virginia office, which opened in the early 1980s.

>Roger Fitchett, long-time president of the Virginia BASS Federation, has been re-elected to lead the organization. Charlie Beal was elected vice president.

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.

Central Virginia Boat & Water Sports Show, Richmond Convention Center, Jan 7-9, macevents.com.

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

50th annual Virginia Boat Show, Jan. 21-23, The Showplace, Richmond, royalshows.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.

Mid-Atlantic Sport & Boat Show, Feb. 5-13, The Pavilion, Virginia Beach, 757-446-2655.

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.

Washington Boat Show, Feb. 9-13, Convention Center, Washington, D.C., 301-468-6701.

Tidewater Fresh & Saltwater Fishing Show, March 11-13, Virginia Beach Pavilion, information from 575-437-7616.

National Capitol Boat Show, March 10-13, Dulles Expo Center, Chantilly, Va. 804-425-6556.

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.

Tidewater Boat Show, April 1-3, Hampton Roads Convention Center, Hampton, Va. 804-425-6556.

Youth day spring gobbler hunt, April 2.

Spring gobbler season, April 9-May 14.

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