Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.

xtrails
@earthlink.net

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

CROSSBOW LICENSE: Hunting deer in Virginia with crossbows moved closer to reality when the House approved a bill 98-to-0 that would establish a crossbow license. The measure, which is now before the Senate, would allow crossbow use during the bowhunting season. The cost of the license would be set by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

SUNDAY HUNTING: House and Senate efforts to remove the ban on Sunday hunting have failed. A Senate bill that would have allowed hunting on Sunday from noon to one-half hour after sunset was passed over in committee. A provision in HB 2697 that would have lifted the ban on Sunday hunting was deleted in committee this week when “a lot of people objected” to it, according to the sponsor J.M. Scott, D-Merrifield.

MENHADEN MANAGEMENT: For the second year in a row, anglers were outmaneuvered in their worthy battle to have the management of menhaden transferred from the General Assembly to the scientists of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. The victor was powerful Omega Protein, whose efforts were more polished and better financed than those of sport fishermen led by the Coastal Conservation Association. It was a matter of politics over biology; industry over recreation. So it is, “try again next year.”

An industry-backed bill that does little to advance the scientific management of menhaden replaced the angler-supported bill.

GOING TO THE DOGS: A number of bills supported by animal-rights backers that would have hampered dog use and ownership by hunters have been defeated. Thanks for this work goes to Bob Kane and his Virginia Hunting Dog Owners’ Association.

One measure, HB 2927, sponsored by Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, was the target of about 800 e-mails. The bill would require breeders and others to sterilize and implant a microchip in any companion animal they released to a new owner. Kilgore pulled the bill after it backfired.

GUN SHOWS: The Senate rejected a bill that would have required background checks on all firearm transactions at gun shows. Said the NRA: “The Senate once again sided with Virginia’s law-abiding gun owners and refused to enact a solution in search of a problem.” The NRA thanked Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Centerville, Sen. Ken Stolle, R-Virginia Beach, Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Hot springs and Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke for leadership and support on the Senate floor.

BLAZE ORANGE: Anytime there is a firearm’s deer season in progress, bowhunters must wear blaze orange. That would change under HB 2102, which would exempt bowhunters from the blaze orange requirement when hunting in areas where firearms are prohibited. The bill passed in the House 78-20 and is now before the Senate.

MEETING ON MENHADEN

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Council is scheduled to meet on the menhaden issue in Fairfax Feb. 8 and 9. The meeting is expected to draw as many as 100 anglers from Virginia and Maryland

A white paper will be issued that states there is a serious depletion of menhaden in the Virginia and Maryland portions of the Chesapeake Bay and this is impacting the well-being of striped bass.

CHANGE FOR BASS FEDERATION

BASS has announced a restructuring of its State Federation setup, which will put Virginia into a new division to be known as the Mid-Atlantic Division. The division will include West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia.

Virginia formally was part of the Eastern Division, which stretched all the way to Maine. The new arrangement moves the Federation from five to six divisions. Remaining in the Eastern Division are Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

For Virginia anglers, this will mean less travel time to certain tournaments and perhaps tournament sites that are more typical of back-home water. Even so, many Virginians would have preferred to be in the Southern Division.

OUTDOOR BRIEFS

>Takahiro Omori, winner of the 2004 CITGO Bassmaster Classic, added another first-place trophy to his case on Sunday, winning the season-opening CITGO Bassmaster Tour event at central Florida's Lake Tohopekaliga. The Japanese pro reeled in a four-day total of 50 pounds, 11 ounces to take the $100,000 first-place prize money and the early lead in the CITGO Bassmaster Angler of the Year race.

>About 3,000 hungry grass carp likely will be released into Lake Norman in North Carolina this year to continue the work that 6,000 of the sterile fish began last year. Their job: eating all the hydrilla they can find. Hydrilla is a non-native, fast-growing waterweed that has infested about 400 acres of Lake Norman. Anglers like a certain amount of cover for fish, but boaters, swimmer and lakefront owners say that too many weeds choke the lake.

>Virginia’s abundance of spadefish helped set three International Game Fish Association World Records in 2004. Bill Hall established a record in the 20-pound line class with a 12-pound, 14-ounce spadefish taken in the Chesapeake Bay. Bonnie Jenks set the 20-pound line class record for women with a 7-pound, 14-ounce catch taken off Virginia Beach. In the fly-rod category for 20-pound test tippets, Steven York landed an 8-pound, 12-ounce spadefish at the Chesapeake Light Tower.

MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS

Smith River Trout Unlimited meeting, 7 p.m. Feb. 3, Rania’s Restaurant (147 E. Main St.) downtown Martinsville, Larry Townsend and Ben Cochran will demonstrate tying Smith River dry flies, guests welcome, more information form Shane Pinkston, 276-638-3757, or Ted Tomczak, 276-629-2962.

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

Smith Mountain Striper Club meeting, 7 p.m., Feb. 4, Moneta Community Center.

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.

Meeting of the Procurement Review Committee of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to discuss the agency’s methods of purchasing, Feb. 10, 10 a.m., department headquarters, 400 West Broad St., Richmond.

National Striped Bass Association Aztec Rentals Claytor Lake Striped Bass Tournament, Feb. 12, information from Ron Clifford, 540-320-8672.

Appalachian Highlands Chapter Ruffed Grouse Society Banquet, March 5, Holiday Inn Hotel and Suites, Bristol Convention Center, Bristol, Va., information from B.G. Young, 423-534-6542.

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

Smith Mountain Striper Club meeting, 7 p.m., March 4, Moneta Community Center.

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.

The 2005 Virginia Ducks Unlimited State Convention and Banquet, March 18 and 19 at the Kingsmill Marriott in Williamsburg.

Smith Mountain Striper Club meeting, 7 p.m., April 1, Moneta Community Center.

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

Youth day spring gobbler hunt, April 2.

Cave Spring Optimist Club Tournament, Aprils 29, 30 and May 1, Smith Mountain Lake.

Spring gobbler season, April 9-May 14.

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