Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.

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Bill Cochran's Outdoors

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• Less freedom at Hatteras for surf casters
• Here’s the scoop on hunting shed antlers
• Want more grouse? Get used to hearing chainsaws
• Sunday hunting bills aplenty, but some hunters hold out
• Column archive

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• Hunting for a book on rabbit hunting
• More comments on Sunday hunting
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Bill's Field Reports

• Winterize your boat? Heck no! Keep on fishing
• Senator gets attention of DGIF
• Field reports archive

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• Trout stocking schedule

Support for Sunday hunting lost ground in the latest survey of members of the Virginia Deer Hunters Association.

When asked if they would support Sunday hunting for the entire season, 62 percent of the survey participants said no. The same question in the club's 2006 survey netted a 57-percent no vote.

Efforts to make Sunday hunting more palatable by shortening the time it is permitted also resulted in a negative vote but by less margin. Fifty-six percent of the participants said they opposed Sunday hunting even if it were limited to afternoon hours.

Sixty percent said they didn't think Sunday hunting would be supported by landowners.

Sunday hunting always is a hot item in the club's survey, which is taken every other year, but this time hound hunting was a more volatile issue, said Denny Quaiff, executive director of the 5,000 member organization.

While 68 percent said that houndsmen should be required to obtain permission before retrieving their dogs from posted property, only 38 percent favored removing the right-to-retrieve law from the Virginia Code, which allows hunters to retrieve hounds on private property without permission of the landowner.

Fifty-two percent of the survey participants said they favored a deer hound chase season similar to the one bear hunters enjoy. Ninety percent said it should be illegal to release hunting dogs from roads onto land where permission to hunt has not been granted.

On another subject, 52 percent of the participants favored a statewide, one week primitive muzzleloader season open to hunters using traditional guns and equipment. Seventy-four percent said the season should follow the general firearms season, which would put it in January.

LOOKING FOR A GOOD SMALLMOUTH SPAWN

June is an important month for smallmouth bass anglers. Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologists have determined that good fishing for this popular species is directly linked to river flows, particularly in the mount of June.

If stream flows in June deviate significantly from average, going high or low, then chances are the newly spawned bass will suffer a high degree of mortality.

What kind of June can we expect? Thanks to higher than average rainfall in 2009, most streams contain a good flow. Some, however, have been up and muddy during recent rains.

Biologists have determined that there were good spawns and survival in 2004, 2005 and 2007. These strong year classes particularly should produce significant trophy fishing in 2012, 2013 and 2015.

Smallmouth grow slowly. On average, it takes five years for them to reach 12 inches and often 16 years to reach 20 inches.

AMERICAN SHAD SUFFERING HARD TIMES

Efforts to restore the American shad to the James River have been disappointing following stocking efforts, protective regulations and breached dams. Last year was a particularly bad season, and biologists have been on the water recently checking the 2009 status, which isn't expected to offer much of an improvement.

At one point, this fish was considered the most important commercial finfish in the Chesapeake Bay Drainage. It fed Native Americans, European settlers and important fish species like the striped bass.

Restoration efforts were promising when they started several years ago, but have bottomed out and mystified fish experts. The falling off of shad has been blamed on a number of things, from commercial fishing nets to hungry blue catfish (see Cochran column) to global warning.

OUTDOOR BRIEFS

• The board of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is scheduled to give a final vote June 2 on a host of hunting and trapping regulation proposals that are of key importance to sportsmen. The proposals, including one that would establish a bear hunting license, have received input at public hearings and online; still, they will be subject to a final round of comments prior to the vote. The meeting is set for 9 a.m. at DGIF headquarters, 4000 West Broad Street in Richmond.

• A Virginia Marine Resources Commission proposal that would have tightened recreational fishing for tilefish and grouper was set aside to allow more time to research the needs of the fish. Deep-lining for these species well off the coast of Virginia has become a popular new fishery and some participants say the proposed regulations would have ended it.

• Want to go down to the North Carolina Aquarium Pier to do some saltwater fishing? Where? Well, that's the name some people wanted to tag onto the newly reconstructed Jeannette's Pier in Nags Head, N.C. No way, said many of the pier's fans, and Gov. Bev Perdue agreed. Following a $22.5 million reconstruction project the pier will retain its old and popular name, Jeannette's.

• The Open Fields Program, authorized in the 2008 Farm Bill to provide access to private land for hunters and anglers, is proposed to be terminated by the Obama Administration in its 2010 budget.

BILL

VIRGINIA SALTWATER FISHING TOURNAMENT

Here are the standings of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament:

• BLUELINE TILEFISH: 20 pounds, 4 ounces, David Akridge, Jr. Norfolk, caught at Norfolk Canyon.
• CROAKER: 3 pounds, 10 ounces, Philip Scott, Suffolk, Nansemond River.
• DOLPHIN: 39 pounds, Robert Manus, Ark, Triple Zero's.
• FLOUNDER: 10 pounds, 9 ounce, James Breen, Newport News, Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
• GRAY TRIGGERFISH: 4 pounds, 4 ounces, Julie Ball, Virginia Beach, wreck off Virginia Beach.
• SEA BASS: 8 pounds, 4 ounces, Rob Collins, Norfolk, wreck off Virginia Beach.
• SPECKLED TROUT: 13 pounds, 14 ounces, Michael Whittaker, Chesapeake, Elizabeth River.
• SPOT: 1 pound, 2 ounces, Chris Brooks, Virginia Beach, Elizabeth River.
• STRIPED BASS: 66 pounds, 8 ounces, Pete Johnson, Hampton, Smith Island.
• TAUTOG: 21 pounds, 13 ounces, Skip Feller, Virginia Beach, wreck off Virginia Beach.
• TUNA (BLUEFIN): 119 pounds, Ryan Masters, Ellicott City, Md., Cigar.

MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS

• North Carolina State University Sport Fishing School, May 31-June 4, Hatteras, N.C., $1,445, limited to 45 participants.
• 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 Street, Richmond.
• Smith Mountain Striper Club meeting, June 5, 7 p.m., Moneta Community Center, program on wildlife artistry by taxidermist Dale Carson.
• Free fishing days, June 5-7, fish freshwater or saltwater without a license.
• Summer squirrel hunting season in designated areas June 6-20.
• Triangle Bowhunters of Montgomery County 3D tournament June 7, check www.vfaa.org for details or contact Jim Overfelt, james.overfelt@vfaa.org.
• Smith Mountain Striper Club meeting, July 10, 7 p.m., program on fly fishing for stripers, Moneta Community Center.
• Smith Mountain Striper Club member/guest "Just for Fun” striped bass tournament, $7 entry fee, headquartered at Mitchell's Point Marina, tournament director is Frank Skillman, 540-721-1220.
• South Holston Fly Fishing Fest, July 18, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., on South Holston River near Bristol, Tenn., anglers, artists, activities, vendors, $5 entry fee,
• Pirate's Cove Billfish Tournament, North Carolina Outer Banks, Aug. 10 and 11, information form Kevin Crum, kevin@gotcabinfever.com.
• Triangle Bowhunters of Montgomery County 3D tournament Aug. 16, check www.vfaa.org for details or contact Jim Overfelt, james.overfelt@vfaa.org.
• Roanoke Valley Friends of NRA banquet, Aug. 29, Salem Civic Center. Address questions or ticket purchase to Al Milton, jamilton@cox.net.
• 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.
• Triangle Bowhunters of Montgomery County 3D tournament Sept. 13, check www.vfaa.org for details or contact Jim Overfelt, james.overfelt@vfaa.org.
  

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