Thursday, October 15, 2009
Bill Cochran's Field Reports: Large largemouth population at Carvins Cove
Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.
Bill Cochran's Outdoors
Recent columns
- 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
Bill's Mailbag
Bill's Field Reports
Resources
A recent nighttime sampling of Carvins Cove by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries verifies that the 630-acre water supply impoundment owned by Roanoke city has a good population of largemouth bass and decent smallmouth bass numbers.
“Most of the largemouth collected were between 11 and 17 inches, with a couple larger ones, but not any real big fish,” said Dan Wilson, DGIF biologist.
Wilson and his crew sampled the lake in the spring and again on a recent autumn night.
“I will be looking at the data more this winter and discussing different options,” he said.
Through the years, the lake has been a favorite fishing spot for many anglers; then, 15 years ago Roanoke officials put tight restrictions on its recreational use out of fear that zebra muscles would be introduced. The DGIF backed away as manager, saying that the new rules made the lake so much like a private impoundment that the agency could not use public funds to oversee it.
The door was opened for the agency to resume management last July when the Western Virginia Water Authority, the lake’s new operator, lessened restrictions. Since then, DGIF has been moving toward a management plan.
What that might be is uncertain.
“I do not know what we have for future stocking options since we may not be able to put any water or fish in the lake from an outside source,” Wilson said.
While largemouth bass dominate the current fish population, the crappie also looked good, Wilson said.
“I have heard several accounts of anglers catching smaller striped bass that certainly do not sound like they were from out stockings,” said Wilson. “I would like to get some of the heads from caught striped bass to determine their age and to determine if they were stocked or naturally reproduced.”
BILL
DON’T DUMP FAWNS ON HUNTERS FOR THE HUNGRY
Hunters for the Hungry expects to process 8,000 deer donated by hunters this season in its gallant effort to provide meat for the needy. The processing fee on the average is $40 per deer. It doesn’t matter the size of the deer, the fee is the same.
The kind of deer the program’s leaders prefer are the larger bodied animals that will yield a good 50 pounds or more of meat. Problem is, some hunters dump fawns on the program, deer that hardly weigh 50 pounds, much less yield that much meat.
“If you are going to give us a deer, please give us the biggest bodied deer you can,” Lara Newell-Furniss, program director, recently told a group of hunters. “That makes our program more cost effective.”
If you are shooting a deer for Hunters for the Hungry, pick the largest antlerless deer in a family group. Does will have a larger and longer face than a fawn. Be careful in shooting the first deer coming into a field, because often it will be a button buck.
BILL
SEA BASS OFF LIMITS IN FEDERAL WATER
For a number of seasons, big sea bass have heated up the winter fishing off the coast of Virginia, but that is about to go cold. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has enacted an emergency regulation that prohibits the taking of sea bass between 3 and 200 miles offshore for the next 180 days. The ban covers federal water from Cape Hatteras, N.C., to Maine.
The fishery in Virginia that produces impressive numbers of cold-weather trophy fish is well beyond the 3-mile mark.
“This is devastating to me … and I know a lot of others,” said Skip Feller, a well-known captain who runs a headboat out of Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach. Feller told Lee Tolliver of the Virginian-Pilot that he has charters scheduled every weekend for months and will have to give them up.
NOAH said it made the decision to close the fishery because recreational anglers already have caught their 2009 quota. If the fishery were continued, it could put the annual catch over the quota by 200 percent, the agency said.
Since the quota already has been exceeded, look for tighter regulations next year.
The Recreational Fishing Alliance is exploring legal options to reopen the fishery. Some precautionary measures may be justified, but not a complete shutdown, said the alliance.
BILL
OUTDOOR BRIEFS
- The U.S. Department of Agriculture is scheduled to invest $2 billion in the Conservation Reserve Program in the coming year, protecting approximately 31-million acres of farmland for waterfowl, quail and other wildlife species.
- North Carolina has increased its minimum size limit on speckled trout from 12 to 14 inches. The 10-fish limit remains unchanged.
BILL
VIRGINIA SALTWATER FISHING TOURNAMENT
The Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament has a new leader in the gray triggerfish category. Here are the standings:
BLACK DRUM: 84 pounds, 12 ounces, William Brown, Hampton, Inner Middle Ground; C-13
BLUELINE TILEFISH: 20 pounds, 10 ounces, Kenneth Bowe, Chester, Norfolk Canyon.
COBIA: 105 pounds, 8 ounces, Wes Blow, Newport News, lower Chesapeake Bay.
CROAKER: 5 pounds, 3 ounces, Nathan Clendenin, Richmond, lower York River. .
DOLPHIN: 39 pounds, Robert Manus, Ark, Triple Zero’s.
FLOUNDER: 12 pounds, 12 ounce, Mike Perron, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
GRAY TRIGGERFISH: 5 pounds, 1 ounce, Thomas Shepard, Virginia Beach, Hanks Wreck.
KING MACKEREL: 33 pounds, 1 ounce, Ed Cromwell Jr., Virginia Beach, inshore waters off Virginia Beach.
KINGFISH: 1 pound, 12 ounces, Bill Pope, Norfolk, Sandbridge Pier.
SEA BASS: 8 pounds, 4 ounces, Wei Zhohg Zheng, Saranac, N.Y., Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.
SHEEPHEAD: 17 pounds, 4 ounces, Lesley Inge, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake Bay.
SPADEFISH: 14 pounds, 14 ounces, state record, Roland Murphy, Fredericksburg, the Cell.
SPANISH MACKEREL: 6 pounds, 7 ounces, Michael Bell, Lynchburg, 26 Mile Hill.
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): 168 pounds, Paulette Johnson, Uniontown, Ohio, 100 Fathom off Virginia Beach.
TUNA: 230 pounds, Jeff Creekmore, Chesapeake, Norfolk Canyon.
WAHOO: 72 pounds, 4 ounce, Lonnie Brock, Virginia Beach, 100 Fathom off Virginia Beach.
MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS
Annual Virginia Deer Hunters Association banquet, Oct 22, Kroger Center, Richmond, information from virginiadeerhunters.org.
Youth turkey hunting day, Oct. 17
Grouse season Oct. 24-Feb. 13
Benefit bass tournament organized by Greg Bowman in behalf of a 34-year-old friend with cancer, Oct. 25, Smith Mountain Lake, 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., headquarters at Smith Mountain Lake State Park, $60 per boat entry fee, with 70 percent payback; 30 percent goes to the cancer victim and $10 toward a big fish prize in largemouth and smallmouth division. Information from Bowman at 540-570-0213. Sign up at the lake beginning 5:30 p.m. on day of the tournament.
Early muzzleloading season, Oct. 31-Nov. 13
Rabbit season, Oct. 31-Feb. 27
Quail and pheasant season, Nov. 7-Jan. 30
Woodcock hunting season, Nov. 7-21; Dec. 26-Jan. 9, three per day.
Firearm’s deer season November 14.
Smith River Trout Unlimited meeting, Dec. 3, 6:30 p.m. at Rania’s Restaurant in Martinsville, program by Scott Smith, Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ biologist on the Smith River fishery, guests welcome, meals available, information from Al Kittredge or smithrivertu.com.
Youth spring turkey hunt day, April 3, 2010.
Spring gobbler season, April 10-May 15, 2010.
BASS Elite Blue Ridge Brawl, April 15-18, Smith Mountain Lake.
North Carolina State University Sport Fishing School, May 30-June 3, 2010, Hatteras, N.C.
Got an event? Let us know: xtrails@earthlink.net.
