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Bill Cochran

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It likely will cost more money to go saltwater fishing in the near future. The Virginia Marine Resources Commission is considering raising the prices of numerous fishing permits. The basic individual license for a recreational angler would go from $7.50 to $12.50 annually, a 40-percent jump.

A boat license, which covers everyone on a recreational watercraft, would advance from $30 to $38.

No change is recommended for the $5 10-day license, nor for the license required of charter boats. A six-passenger charter license would remain $150.

Commercial fees would increase. A basic $150 commercial license would go to $190.

The Virginia General Assembly gave the Virginia Marine Resources Commission authority to raise license fees within limit.

The proposed increases will be discussed during a series of public hearings this month: July 14, 7 p.m., Lake Write Quality Suites, Norfolk .

July 18, 7 p.m., Rappahannock Community College , Glenns.

July 20, 7 p.m., Rappahannock Community College Workforce Center , Warsaw .

July 25, 7 p.m., Eastern Shore Community College , Melfa.

July 26, noon, Virginia Marine Resources Commission, Newport News .

KERR NOW PLACE TO GO FOR WHITE BASS

The prime place to catch a white bass no longer is the South Holston Lake/River or Claytor Lake , but Kerr Lake .

This 50,000-acre impoundment has become Virginia ’s new white bass hot spot. Anglers at Kerr have been catching good numbers of white bass up to 2.5 pounds apiece.

Kerr also is home of one of the few reproducing populations of striped bass. Fisheries biologists in the past have tried to keep white bass out of Kerr and upstream Smith Mountain and Leesville Lakes , fearing they would be harmful to stripers. They now can be found throughout the Roanoke River drainage.

At Kerr, white bass generally are being caught from Grassy Creek to Bluestone Creek, according to Rusty Rutledge, owner of Buggs Island Bait and Tackle. Successful anglers have been casting or trolling Rooster Tails, Little Cleos and small Hopkins bearing white tails.

Kerr also contains white perch. It can be a challenge for some anglers to distinguish between white bass, white perch and striped bass when they are in juvenile stages, Rutledge said.

White bass have declined in many of their traditional waters, including South Holston Lake/River and Claytor Lake . They really never caught on in a big way at Smith Mountain .

MUSKIE MEET THE GRIM REAPER

Several months ago a reader inquired about what lures to use on the New River for muskie. I misplaced the person’s name, but have some fresh information to share.

Muskie fishing has been hot on the New recently. Some anglers stopping at the Big Z’s Tackle Shop in Radford have been reporting as many as three muskie a day.

The top-producing lures, according to John Zenis of Big Z’s are in-line spinners, such as the new Mepps Puff Tail and Suicks Jerk Bait. The Grim Reaper is another lure that is stimulating strikes.

July is an excellent month to catch a muskie on the New. For many years, this fishery was considered a cold-weather affair, but no longer. When the weather gets hot, so does the muskie fishing.

BASS COURTING WOMEN ANGLERS

For many years, Ray Scott, founder of BASS, tried to block women from fishing in his tournaments. Now the new owner of BASS, ESPN, not only wants women to compete with men in its tournaments, but also has announced a Women’s Bassmaster Tour. Open only to women, it will consist of a five-event series debuting in 2006 and culminating in the Women’s Bassmaster Championship in February of 2007. A trial event is planned for October of this year, but even before that BASS said that excitement among professional women anglers has “created unprecedented excitement.”

There are 34.1 million anglers in America and approximately 26 percent are women, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. ESPN is a major supporter of women’s sports, so it was a given that it would attempt to grow fishing through the participation of women. The new emphasis should also spike interest in TV fishing programs.

The new women’s tour will coincide with the dates and locations of five of next year's CITGO Bassmaster Tour events. The two tours will fish separate but nearby waters. Final round weigh-ins on the woman’s tour will be held on the same stage as Bassmaster Tour events.

Like the Bassmaster Tour, the women’s tour will feature a pro-am format. Anglers will be randomly paired and boaters will compete against boaters while non-boaters will compete against non-boaters. The events will span three days--Thursdays through Saturdays. The full field will fish during the first two rounds of competition. After Day Two, the field will be cut to the top six anglers. BASS did not mention the amount of money being offered winners.

FISHING REPORT

* Little Creek Reservoir suddenly has become Virginia ’s most spectacular producer of striped bass catches. Willy Weber of New Kent used live herring to catch 19 stripers that measured up to 31 inches. Mike Fowler of Williamsburg got 17 up to 11.5 pounds. Paul Robertson of Mechanicsville landed one of the heaviest on a bucktail, a 16-pounder.

* Those jumbo size largemouth bass from Briery Creek Lake generally are a springtime catch, but this season action has lasted into July. During the July 4 Holiday, anglers weighed bass at Worsham’s Store that were 11 pounds, 4 ounces, 9 pounds, 14 ounces and 7 pounds, 12 ounces. Small bass also are active. Some anglers are catching and releasing as many as 50 per outing.

* Bass fishing in the Potomac River is reported to be outstanding by Andy Andrzejewski of Reel Bass Adventures. The pattern is to use poppers around grass beds early in the morning then switch to a stick worm rigged wacky style.

* Ryan Monroe, 16, of Charlottesville landed two huge cobia on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The weights were 81.5 and 90.5 pounds.

* Some of the best smallmouth bass fishing of the season is reported in the Piedmont section (Scottsville) of the James River where one angler landed 18 that measured 15 to 18 inches.

Farther down the James, in the Richmond area, the catfish are taking off following a spawning lull. Guide Mike Ostrander of the James River Fishing School recently took out two parties with excellent success. A couple from Charlottesville landed 11 flatheads to 27 pounds. His second party landed 10 flatheads to 23.

Mike laughs about a 7-year-old boy reeling in a 20-pound flathead. When the fish neared the boat it splashed, scaring the daylight out of the boy. He dropped the rod in 8 feet of water. Mike saw the rod on the bottom and, diving in, retrieved the outfit and the catfish.

OPERATION OAK

In our bottomland is a fine young oak tree that is growing like crazy. It produced its first, modest crop of acorns last year, not bad considering that I planted it less than 10 years ago.

Fact is, I planted several sawtooth oaks at the same time, but this is the only survivor. The rest didn’t make it because of poor site selection and maintenance. Since that initial effort I have planted other oaks and many are doing well.

I purchased the seedlings from the National Wild Turkey Federation as part of its Operation Oak program. The idea is to get as many of these wildlife-food-producing trees into the ground as possible.

This year the federation distributed a recorded 45,700 select oak tree seedlings to public and private landowners throughout the Southeast. Information on Operation Oak can be found on www.nwtf.org.

OUTDOOR BRIEFS

* Hooked For Life, a Christian ministry based in Roanoke , has been invited as an exhibitor at the 2005 Wal-Mart FLW Bass Fishing Championship at Hot Springs , Ark. July 12-17.  Trevor Ruble is executive director of the organization. For more information see www.hookedforlive.org.

* The NRA is urging its Virginia members to appeal to Sen. John Warner to support legislation (S. 397) that would protect gun manufacturers from predatory lawsuits that involve misuse of their products. Warner’s support is necessary for the legislation to pass the Senate, said the NRA. Chris Cox, NRA-ILA executive director said, “There is no reason for Sen. Warner to stand idly by in this urgent situation and ignore the voices of hundreds of thousands of gun owners in Virginia .” 

* Dan Dillon of Herndon landed a record 873-pound bluefin tuna 40 miles off the southern Delaware coast. The fish exceeded Delaware ’s previous record tuna by more than 500 pounds. The catch was made during the Delaware Open Tuna Trolling Tournament, but the boat captain, Dave Collins, of the Captain Ike II, was not registered in the tournament. The contest winning fish weighed just over 120 pounds.

* Omega Protein Inc., which owns the East Coast’s largest menhaden-processing plant on Virginia ’s Northern Neck peninsula, was fined $5,500 and ordered to upgrade its waste water system because of high traces of ammonia and cyanide found in discharges to a small creek off the Chesapeake Bay .

* According to the U.S. Forest Service, approximately 1.6-billion board feet or nearly 80 percent of the average annual sale of timber volume from national forest land is currently tied up in litigation. “The result is weakened forest health, weakened rural economies and a great deal of taxpayer money going into appeals and litigation rather than into good stewardship of our forests,” said Greg Walden (R-OR), chairman of the Subcommittee on Forest and Forest Health. 

* Country music star and avid outdoorsman Tracy Byrd is this year’s honorary chairman of National Hunting & Fishing Day set for Sept. 24.

* Forty shooters turned out for the Hunters for the Hungry Sporting Clays Benefit Shoot held at Edmund’s Farms Sporting Clays facility in Halifax . The event raised $3,000 to help fund the Hunters for the Hungry program. First place in Class A went to Brian Craig of Bedford . Class AA winner was Gary Arrington of Lynchburg and Class AAA was won by Jeff Atkins of Farmville.

* BASS won’t be stopping in Virginia for any of its tournaments according to its recently announced 2006 tournament schedule. The nearest it will come to Virginia is the Potomac River in Charles County, Md. when an Aug. 10-13 “Capitol Clash” tournament is scheduled.

* The International Game Fish Association has announced that it will release a special first edition book of its history titled Big Game Fishing Headquarters: A History of the IGFA in August. The book will focus on the IGFA’s event-filled 66-year history and include more than 200 heretofore unpublished photographs and documents from the IGFA’s archives. Information is available from www.igfa.org.

SALTWATER TOURNAMENT

An 88-pound cobia is a new leader in the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament. Here are the standings:

BLACK DRUM: 93 pounds, 9 ounces, Keith Harlan, Virginia Beach , lower-eastern Chesapeake Bay .

COBIA: 88 pounds, 6 ounces, Fern Kuhn, Parkersburg , W. Va., lower-eastern Chesapeake Bay .

CROAKER: 4-pounds, 8 ounces, Elliott Souldourian, Virginia Beach , lower-western Chesapeake Bay .

DOLPHIN: 31 pounds, Jeremy Creason, Buena Vista, off Virginia Beach .

FLOUNDER: 12 pounds, 3 ounces, James Alexander, Virginia Beach , lower-western Chesapeake Bay .

GRAY TROUT: 12 pounds, 14 ounces, William Flipin, Hayes, upper eastern Chesapeake Bay .

KING MACKEREL, 35 pounds, Robert Pillote, Jr., Bethesda , Md. , off Eastern Shore .

KINGFISH: 1 pound, 12 ounces, Damon Moore, Sterling , off Virginia Beach .

SEA BASS: 6 pounds, 14 ounces, Chad Stoker, Chesapeake , caught off Virginia Beach .

SHEEPSHEAD: 14 pounds, 2 ounces, Bryan Noel, Virginia Beach , lower-eastern Chesapeake Bay .

SPADEFISH: 12 pounds, 5 ounces, Todd Hawk, Maidens, lower-western Chesapeake Bay .

SPECKLED TROUT: 11 pounds, 3 ounces, Brain Pomije, Chesapeake , Elizabeth River .

SPOT: 1 pound, 4 ounces, Robert Richardson, Richmond , Elizabeth River .

STRIPED BASS: 63 pounds, 8 ounces, state record, Paul Leckner, Greenbackville, Bradford Bay .

TAUTOG: 18 pounds, 4 ounces, Larry Larue, Virginia Beach , ocean off Virginia Beach .

TUNA: 80 pounds, Jesse Thompkins, Suffolk , off Virginia Beach .

MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS

Dedication and re-opening of Horseshoe Bend Public Boat Landing on the James River in Botetourt County , 11 a.m., July 7.

Public meeting on menhaden, 6 p.m. July 12 at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science in Gloucester Point.

Kanawha Valley Chapter Ruffed Grouse Society Fun Shoot, July 23, White Oak Mountain Sporting Clays, Beckley, W. Va. $90 per shooter, information from Larry Rodgers, 304-206-3303.

Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show/Virginia Deer Classic, Aug. 12-14, Showplace, Mechanicsville, contact Denny Quaiff, 804-743-1290.

Inaugural Highland Drummer Chapter Ruffed Grouse Society banquet, Aug. 27, Brier Inn, Lewisburg, W.Va. $45 pr $65 for couple, ticket information from Todd Spencer, 304-645-7039.

Western Division of Virginia Big Game Contest, Sept. 10 and 11, Rockingham County Fairgrounds near Harrisonburg , see www.vpsa.org for details.

Urban archery season, Sept. 17-30 and Jan. 9-25.

Eastern Division and state finals of Virginia Big Game Contest, Sept. 24 and 25, Southampton County Fairgrounds, Franklin, see www.vpsa.org for details.

Bowhunting season, Oct. 1-Nov. 18 and Dec. 5-Jan. 7.

Fall turkey hunting season, Oct. 31-Nov. 12; Nov. 24 and Dec. 12-Jan. 7.

Muzzleloading season east of Blue Ridge Mountains , Nov. 5-18.

Muzzleloading season west of Blue Ridge Mountains , Nov. 12-18

Deer hunting season west of the Blue Ridge Mountains , Nov. 19-Dec. 3

Deer hunting season east of Blue Ridge Mountains , Nov. 19-Jan. 7

Late muzzleloading season, Dec. 17-Jan. 7.

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