Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.

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One thing about the Cave Spring Optimist Club fishing tournament on Smith Mountain Lake, you can take it as seriously or as casually as you wish. Kids can compete with granddads and pros with amateurs. A casting platform can be a $100,000 boat or a space on the shoreline. Luck counts about as much as skill.

But if you are scheduled to fish the May 1-3 event, some planning doesn’t hurt. At least, that was the case last year.

Ricky Cowder of Roanoke went into the 2008 tournament with a plan to fish for bass, stripers and catfish during the after-dark hours and for crappie during the daylight.

The hard work paid off. He was a rare two-category winner, weighing the biggest catfish, a 35.12-pound flathead, and the best crappie, a 2.38-pound fish. That gave him $2,500 in take-home money, which included a $500 bonus for the largest catfish ever entered in the 40-year-old contest.

Cowder caught his catfish on the Blackwater arm of the lake near midnight the first night of the tournament. About mid-day the next day he caught the crappie beneath a fallen tree.

The contest has categories for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, muskie, catfish, crappie and striped bass. The heaviest fish in these categories wins a $1,000 first-place prize. Second place pays $500; third place $300 and fourth place $150.

Tickets must be purchased prior to the tournament, and can be found at many businesses around the lake or may be ordered from the Optimist Club of Cave Spring, P.O. Box 1276, Salem, Va. 24153. They are $40. Ticket orders by mail must include an additional 50 cents for handling. Money collected goes toward the Optimist Club’s youth programs. The contest headquarters is FoxPort Marine & Lodge.

HEY KIDS! CHECK THE BOAT DOCKS

One thing Smith Mountain Lake has plenty of is boat docks. These structures offer a prime place for kids to catch carp and sunfish in the May 2 Bill Cochran Youth Tournament.

The tournament is in conjunction with the Cave Spring Optimist Club Tournament. Youngsters age 12 and under are invited to participate. They don’t have to buy a ticket, pay a fee or register, as long as they are accompanied by an adult who has a ticket for the Optimist tournament.

The kid’s fishing is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the weigh-in site those hours is FoxPort Marina. Awards will be made just after noon on May 3 at FoxPort. Contestants need to have a Social Security number because prizes include savings bonds in addition to other items.

Back to boat docks, you can fish them from a boat or, if you have permission, from the dock itself. Worms or small minnows are good baits. Don’t spend too much time in one spot. Look for schools of fish or just lower your bait around the pilings, trying different depths.

What size fish does it take to win? Last year the carp category was taken by Allen Yopp of Moneta with a hefty 10.90 poundcatch. The sunfish category was won by Dalton Matney of Roanoke who entered a .56 pound fish.

OUTDOOR BRIEFS

• Boater’s World, which operates 129 boating/fishing superstores across the country, including six in Virginia, has announced it is going out of business. It is owned by Ritz Camera Centers Inc. which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy late February. Boater’s World has stores in Hampton, Norfolk, Richmond, Springfield, Virginia Beach and Woodbridge. Liquidation sales are expected to last into early summer.
• Carson Quarles of Roanoke has had one of those spring gobbler seasons you dream about. Even before Virginia’s season opened, he killed two big toms during a hunt in the South. Last week, back in Virginia, he called in a 20-pound tom that his wife, Norma, killed. This week he got one for himself, a 22.5-pounder. Quarles parting comment: “Will now sleep in for a few mornings.”
• A bill that would increase the cost of a Duck Stamp from $15 to $25 through 2016 and $35 after that has been introduced by Congressmen John Dingell of Minnesota and Robert Wittman of Virginia. The measure is called the Migratory Bird Habitat Investment and Enhancement Act (H.R. 1916). Funds from the stamp go toward purchasing or leasing waterfowl habitat. The program has generated more than $700 million since 1934 and that has protected more than 5.2 million acres of habitat.
• The Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel is a popular and productive spot for kayak anglers to stalk big striped bass after dark. But that sport is in jeopardy, because the ramp at Willoughby in Norfolk prohibits parking after 9:30 p.m. unless your vehicle has a boat trailer.” The rule is designed to deal with undesirables, but one night last week it became a snag for kayak anglers who were confronted with citations when they got off the water past 9:30 p.m.
• Birding is big business in Virginia, according to a study of the Virginia Birding and Wildlife Trail, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary. Research by the Conservation Management Institute of Virginia Tech reveals that more than 640,000 visitors are attracted to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries trail annually and they infuse more than $8.6 million into the state economy.
• A new agricultural depredation order allows farmers in Virginia to use lethal methods outside the hunting season to deal with problems caused by resident Canada geese.
• Funds are being allocated to rebuild the hurricane-damaged Jennette’s Pier at Whalebone Junction on North Carolina’s Outer Banks. The more than $20-million funding for the 1,000-foot pier and pier house is coming from storm water money.
• The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance is spearheading an effort calling on American sportsmen and women to ask radio personality Rush Limbaugh to disassociate himself from the Humane Society of the United States, the largest animal rights group in the country. The society revealed that Limbaugh had recorded two radio announcements supporting two of its programs. This caused an uproar in the sportsmen’s community due to HSUS’ long-standing history in opposition of hunting, fishing and trapping.

VIRGINIA SALTWATER FISHING TOURNAMENT

There is a new blueline tilefish entry in the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament that not only is a state record, but a potential all-tackle world record. The 20-pound, 4-ounce fish was landed near the northeast corner of the Norfolk Canyon by David Akridge Jr. of Virginia Beach. The old record was a 19-pound, 4-ounce catch by Rick Wineman of Yorktown.

The catch by Akridge is one of 244 blueline tilefish entered in the tournament this year, a huge number, considering that many anglers never heard of the species until recently and it wasn’t added to the tournament until the 2007 season.

Anglers have learned deep-dropping techniques needed to catch this species. Akridge reported hooking his record in 330 feet of water while fishing aboard Max King’s Contender 27. He was jigging a Williamson 9-ounce Abyss single hook jig. The paperwork is underway to get the fish certified as a world record.

There also are new leading entries in the flounder and bluefin tuna categories of the tournament. Here are the standings:

BLUELINE TILEFISH: 20 pounds, 4 ounces, David Akridge, Jr. Norfolk, caught at Norfolk Canyon, 244 citations for the species.

FLOUNDER: 10 pounds, 9 ounce, James Breen, Newport News, Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, seven citations.

GRAY TRIGGERFISH: 4 pounds, 4 ounces, Julie Ball, Virginia Beach, wreck off Virginia Beach, two citations.

SEA BASS: 8 pounds, 4 ounces, Rob Collins, Norfolk, wreck off Virginia Beach, 60 citations.

SPECKLED TROUT: 13 pounds, 14 ounces, Michael Whittaker, Chesapeake, Elizabeth River, 400 citations.

SPOT: 1 pound, 2 ounces, Chris Brooks, Virginia Beach, Elizabeth River, one citation.

STRIPED BASS: 66 pounds, 8 ounces, Pete Johnson, Hampton, Smith Island, 397 citations.

TAUTOG: 21 pounds, 13 ounces, Skip Feller, Virginia Beach, wreck off Virginia Beach, 27 citations.

TUNA (BLUEFIN): 109 pounds, Ryan Masters, Ellicott City, Md., Cigar.

MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS

Bassmaster Blue Ridge Brawl, Smith Mountain Lake, April 23-26, Parkway Marina, Huddleston, bassmaster.com.

Smith Mountain Striper Club annual lake report meeting, May 1, 7 p.m., Moneta Community Center, program by Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologist Dan Wilson.

Cave Spring Optimist Club fishing tournament on Smith Mountain Lake, May 1-3, $15,000 offered in categories for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, striped bass, crappie, muskie and catfish, Tickets -- $40 plus 50 cents shipping -- from the Optimist Club of Cave Spring, P.O. Box 1276, Salem, Va. 24153. Outlets in lake area are contest headquarters Foxport Marina, Crazy Horse Marina, Virginia Outdoorsman, Captain’s Quarters and Franklin Outdoors. In Roanoke, they can be purchased at Metro Heavy Duty Distributors, 913 McDowell Ave. (next to the Regional Trash Transfer Station).

Fifth annual Bill Cochran Youth Fishing Tournament, May 2, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., in conjunction with the Cave Spring Optimist Club tournament (see item above). Open to youngsters 12 and under, no entry fee as long as contestants are accompanied by an adult entered in the Optimist tournament. Competition for the largest carp and sunfish. Prizes will include saving bonds.

Joe Malat’s Outer Banks Surf Fishing School, May 7-10, Comfort Inn South in Nags Head N.C..

North Carolina State University Sport Fishing School, May 31-June 4, Hatteras, N.C., $1,445, limited to 45 participants.

Smith Mountain Striper Club meeting, June 1, Moneta Community Center, program on wildlife artistry by taxidermist Dale Carson.

Board meeting of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to finalize hunting/trapping regulations, 9 a.m., June 2, DGIF headquarters, 4000 West Broad St., Richmond.

Roanoke Valley Friends of NRA banquet, Aug. 29, Salem Civic Center. Address questions or ticket purchase to Mike Kessler, or Al Milton.

Hunters for the Hungry banquet, Sept. 12, 5:30 p.m., Roanoke Moose Lodge #284, 3233 Catawba Valley Drive, Roanoke County, $20 single, $35 couple, children under 12 free, tickets from Dave Sarmadi Mitsubishi, Jeff Fletcher, 540-985-6523 or Fred and Phyllis Wells, 540-992-3874.

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