Thursday, August 21, 2008
Blue marlin is a potential North Carolina record
Bill Cochran
Recent field reports
If you are going to catch one of the largest Atlantic blue marlin ever recorded, you might as well do it while fishing a billfish tournament, and you might as well do it the final day of the tournament after going fishless all week, and the fish might as well be large enough to unseat the state record.
Pending North Carolina record blue marlin, 1,228 pounds..
That’s how things all fit together for Trey Irvine of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. who won the 25th annual Pirate’s Cove Billfish Tournament last week on the coast of North Carolina.
Irvine’s fish weighed 1,228.50 pounds, making it a pending North Carolina record. The long-standing record is a 1, 142-pound blue marlin landed in 1974 by Jack Herrington. That catch has made Herrington’s name famous for more than 30 years.
The world record Atlantic blue marlin weighed 1,402.20 and was landed off the coast of Brazil in 1992.
Irvine was fishing aboard the Mimi. The contest win netted the crew just under one-half million dollars.
The crew had spent a week offshore fishing without landing a single billfish. On the final day of the tournament, “We decided to go for the Hail Mary,” Mimi team member Paul Spencer told the Virginian-Pilot. So the anglers tried a new area that really hadn’t been holding many fish; yet it offered an outside chance at a really big one. Just in case, the crew put out their biggest baits on hefty tackle. The sea was calm and the crew could see the giant fish move in to take the bait.
With each leap, the estimates of the size of the fish increased, staring at 800 pounds and growing to 1,000. When the fish marlin was aboard the boat, following a two-hour battle, the estimate was 1,100 pounds.
The actual weight came as a shock, Spencer said.
“I think this is something that’s going to be talked about around here for a long time,” said Spencer, who lives in the Outer Banks area.
BILL
ADVERTISEMENT NOT INTENDED TO BE DISRESPECTFUL
An advertisement in Woods and Water Magazine promoting an outdoor show this weekend at the Salem Civic Center brought a complaint from a sportsman who thought it was disrespectful slur directed at hunters.
The ad features a silhouette of a leaping buck on a diamond-shaped highway sign, the kind the highway department uses to warn drivers of the hazards of a deer crossing. There are three bullet holes in the chest area of the buck and above the sign are the words, “Excited about deer season?”
Show promoter Waynette Anderson of Roanoke said she had received a complaint “from a gentleman that wanted us to know he didn’t approve of the ad.”
Bullet-ridden highway signs have been the trademark of the outlaw element of hunters for many years.
“We did not intend to offend anyone,” said Anderson. “Our goal with print advertising is to break through the clutter of all the other ads and stand out. Out art design department obviously accomplished this.”
Anderson’s organization, called Sponsor Hounds, promotes a summer and winter edition of the Virginia Outdoor Sportsmen’s Classic in the Roanoke Valley. She said it would be foolish to offend the people she is trying to attract.
“I can assure you it is a labor of love and great respect,” she said.
She offered an open invitation to the sportsmen who was displeased with the ad to attend the show free of charge.
“I want him to experience the show so he can see first hand how much we put into making the show entertaining for all that attend!”
This weekend’s show runs Friday through Sunday and will feature more than 150 vendors along with seminars and hand’s-on events that include an ATV track and archery shoot. One of the show’s highlights is the Virginia Outdoor Open Turkey Calling Contest. Members of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and Hunters for the Hungry will be present to discuss their programs with guests.
This will be the biggest show yet, Anderson said.
“We all work 12-hour days year around to bring Southwest Virginia their very own hunting and fishing show,” she said.
Additional information on the show can be found at vaoutdoorsportsmensclassic.com.
BILL
FOUNDER OF TURKEY FEDERATION HONORED
Celebrating its 35th anniversary, the National Wild Turkey Federation recently reflected on its roots. Those roots are a man named Tom Rogers, who in 1971 began laying the groundwork for the federation from his home in Fredericksburg, where he wrote a syndicated outdoor column.
Yes, the NWTF is a product of Virginia, the work of an outdoor writer who knew how to dream big, but probably not big enough to cover what his modest beginning would accomplish. The federation became one of the largest and most influential conservation/hunting organizations in the world.
When Rogers started, there were an estimated 1.3 million turkeys in North America. Now there are more than 7 million. To be sure, many people were involved in this super success story, including unheralded wildlife department employees, but Rogers was a big factor in getting the public to think turkeys.
The Federation wisely awarded Rogers its one-of-a-kind founder’s award during a ceremony at its headquarters in Edgefield, S.C., earlier this month.
Roger’s work merits praise. In a short period, he founded the NWTF, named it, named its publication the “Turkey Call,” and moved its headquarters to Edgefield where he organized the first state chapter. He even kicked in $10,000 of his own money to become a life sponsor.
Since then, the organization has raised more than $279 million for wildlife conservation and the tradition of hunting.
“Without him, the NWTF wouldn’t exist, and wild turkeys literally would not be where they are today,” said George Thornton, the new CEO of the organization.
The official word is that Roger’s retired from NWTF in 1981, but there was more to it that that. Following his departure, he labored to organize similar groups for quail hunters and smallmouth bass anglers, but with modest success.
“My dream was to give the wild turkey a promising future, and I knew that trapping and transferring wild turkeys was the way to accomplish that mission,” Rogers said. The fact is, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries was doing pioneering live trapping work when Rogers resided in Virginia.
With much of the restoration work accomplished, the NWTF now moves onto other tasks of developing new hunters and new places for them to hunt. It is a good time for the organization to look back at where it all started.
BILL
TOP DEER IN CLASSIC CONTEST
An 18-point buck killed in Culpeper County by James Taylor of Rochelle was the top buck in the recent Virginia Deer Classic, which was part of the Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show held in Richmond. Under Virginia’s measuring system, the buck scored 242 1/16.
“Once again, I’m blown away by the outstanding quality of the trophy racks that have shown up over the past few years,” said Dean Miller, chief judge of the show. “It is obvious that some folks are doing their quality management correctly by all the comments from show attendees about the big deer and where they are coming from.”
Miller also was encouraged by an increase in the number of deer entered by youth. Muzzleloading entries also were up, he said.
The event was sponsored by the Virginia Deer Hunters Association.
BILL
WATERFOWL REGULATIONS SET
A three-way Virginia duck hunting season has been set for Oct. 9-13; Nov. 15-29 and Dec. 6-Jan. 24. There will be a youth day Oct. 25.
The bag limit is five per day, with restrictions on some species. The canvasback season has been closed and the wood duck limit has been boosted from two to three daily.
The Canada goose season has been set for Nov. 15-29; Dec. 15-14 and Jan. 15-Feb. 14 in the western section of the state where resident geese reside. These dates are in addition to September dates that were set earlier.
The goose bag limit for the first two segments of the newly established season has been boosted from two to three. The final portion has a bag limit of five.
In the east, an Atlantic population season has bee set for Nov. 15-29 and Dec. 19-Jan. 24 with a two per day limit.
BILL
OUTDOOR BRIEFS
>>Sgt. Charlie Mullins, a conservation police officer with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, has been named North American Wildlife Enforcement Officer of the Year by the North American Wildlife Enforcement Officers Association. Mullins, is a team leader who works out of Giles County.
>>Three hunter education volunteers who have worked a combined 5,000 hours and reached 27,000 students have been honored by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. They are Lewis Austin of Virginia Beach, Jack Broughman of Augusta County and John Dobson of Culpeper. They received the DGIF Director’s Volunteer Award during a ceremony in Richmond Tuesday.
>>Revenue from boat registration fees and taxes coming to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is off about $105,000, according to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Officials say the decline reflects slow boat sales and is likely to continue during upcoming months.
SALTWATER FISHING TOURNAMENT
The first spot of the season showed up in the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament, and there are new leaders in the flounder, gray triggerfish and spadefish categories. Here are the standings:
BLACK DRUM: 87 pounds, 3 ounces, Paul Elliott, Surry, Latimer Shoals (C-2 Buoy). BLUEFISH: 19 pounds, 4 ounces, Richard Brown, Richmond, off Virginia Beach.
BLUEFIN TILEFISH: 18 pounds, 14 ounces, Chris Boyce, Hampton, Norfolk Canyon.
COBIA: 90 pounds, 10 ounces, Charles Thain, Birdsnest, Inner Middle Ground, C-13.
CROAKER: 4 pounds, 8 ounces, Michael Whittaker, Chesapeake, 664 Bridge Tunnel; Monitor.
DOLPHIN: 58 pounds, 6 ounces, Burt Whitt, Norfolk, Cigar.
FLOUNDER: 13 pounds, 4 ounces, Brian Ashley, Suffolk, Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
GRAY TRIGERFISH: 4 pounds, 13 ounces, Jason Judd, Newport News, Tiger Wreck.
GRAY TROUT: 9 pounds, 8 ounces, Joseph Hudgins, Jr., Chesapeake, Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (4th island).
KING MACKEREL, 62 pounds, 3 ounces, James McDonald, Virginia Beach, Sandbridge Pier.
KINGFISH: 2 pounds, 3 ounces, Bill Pope, Norfolk, Sandbridge surf.
POMPANO: 2 pounds, 4 ounces, Jared Wilson, Norfolk, Ocean View Fishing Pier.
SEA BASS: 7 pounds, 8 ounces, Reggie Myrick, Portsmouth, wreck off Virginia Beach.
SHEEPSHEAD: 14 pounds, 5 ounces, Kay Alley, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. .
SPADEFISH: 14 pounds, 1 ounce, Josh Durvin, Dunnsville, The Cell.
SPANISH MACKEREL: 6 pounds, Alfred Simpson, Virginia Beach, Sandbridge Pier.
SPECKLED TROUT: 9 pounds, 15 ounces, David Hester, Chesapeake, Elizabeth River.
SPOT: 1 pound, 8 ounces, Michael Whittaker, Chesapeake, 664 Bridge-Tunnel.
STRIPED BASS: 73 pounds, state record, Frederick Barnes, Chesapeake, off Virginia Beach.
TAUTOG: 20 pounds, 6 ounces, Michael Shreve, Glen Burnie, Md., Monroe Wreck.
TUNA, BLUEFIN: 226 pounds, Kim Schwallenberg, Edgewater, Md., off Wachapreague.
TUNA: 93 pounds, 6 ounces, Harry Barr, Virginia Beach, Norfolk Canyon.
YAHOO: 68 pounds, Ron Fair, Cheriton, off Wachapreague.
MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS
Virginia Outdoor Sportsmen’s Classic, Aug. 22-23, Salem Civic Center, tickets $9 ($2 discount available from Hardee’s in the Roanoke area). More information from vaoutdoorsportsmensclassic.com.
2008 Virginia Waterfowler’s Association Virginia State Duck and Goose Calling contest, Bass Pro Shops store in Hampton, Aug. 23 and 24
Smith Mountain Lake Striper Club Fishermen’s Flea Market/Swap Shop, Sept. 5, 7 p.m., Moneta Community Center.
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.
Triangle Archer’s 3D tournament, Sept 14, Blacksburg, fee $12 or $25 per family, information from James Overfelt.
Sixteenth annual Eastern Shore Birding and Wildlife Festival, Sept 18-21, brochure from info@esvachamber.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.
National Hunting and Fishing Day, Sept. 27.
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 Road, Harrisonburg, Va. 22801, 540-434-8028. Additional information from vpsa.org.
Fall Optimist Club of Cave Springs Fishing Tournament, Oct. 3-5, Smith Mountain Lake.
Saltwater striped bass tournament opens Oct. 4.
Roanoke Valley Friends of NRA banquet, Oct. 18.
Virginia Outdoor Sportsmen’s Classic, Roanoke Civic Center, Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2009, vaoutdoorsportsmensclassic.com.
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