Hunters reported killing 15,684 turkeys during the recent spring gobbler season. That is an increase of 3.3 percent or 495 birds over the previous season.

Turkey experts with the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries are delighted with the increase, even through it is modest. They had predicted a 5 percent up or down variance.

The state’s turkey kill, spring and fall, has been making little headway during recent years; in fact, the fall kill has experienced an alarming decline of four-percent annually the past decade.

Biologists who once credited the decline to poor nesting success now tend to place more of the blame on declining interest in fall hunting. The result is a resource that has become underutilized.

For the upcoming fall season, DGIF officials have expanded hunting opportunities by adding a new January hunting segment that will begin the second Saturday in January and continues for 12 hunting days.

Hunters have expressed mixed opinions about this addition. Some see it as a welcomed new hunting opportunity, which is how the DGIF wants it to be viewed.

“Hopefully it will create new fall turkey hunters,” said Bob Ellis, chief of the wildlife division of the DGIF. Ellis believes many fall turkey hunters have been lost to deer hunting. Others, doubtlessly, have been impacted by the slow economy.

There was opposition to the January season from sportsmen who say hunting conditions are harsh in January; therefore, the season will do little toward drawing hunters to an underutilized resource. The same harsh conditions can be tough on turkeys, thus the added pressure of hunting should not be applied to them, critics say.

DGIF officials aren’t expecting a sudden landslide of interest in turkey hunting when the January season shows up.

“The initial harvest is expected to be low, but eventually will grow,” said Ellis.

DISQUALIFICATIONS DISRUPTIVE TO FISHING TOURNAMENTS

Write-ups of fishing tournaments at Smith Mountain Lake recently have been more about failed polygraph tests and disqualifications than they have about successful fishing techniques and the joy of winning.

That is a shame and can be a poor reflection on the sport of tournament fishing.

A lie-detector test purged the frontrunner in Sunday’s Oakley Blue Ridge Big Bass Classic at Smith Mountain Lake. Earlier this month two contestants with leading entries in the catfish category of the Cave Spring Optimist Club tournament were disqualified when they failed polygraph tests. A year earlier, a fisherman leading two categories of the Optimist tournament was disqualified.

The biggest bass of the Oakley event was weighed by Tony Padgett of Vinton, but his catch was disqualified when he admitted during a polygraph test that he had broken a tournament rule by failing to wear a lifejacket and kill switch lanyard when motoring between fishing spots. The fish he caught, which weighed more than 6 pounds, was a legitimate catch, he insisted.

When Padgett’s catch was disqualified, that moved a 5.54-pound bass landed by J.D. Perdue of Moneta into first spot which earned him a $25,000 bass boat rig. He made the catch mid-day, the second day of the tournament.

The top five fish in the tournament looked as if they were out of the same mold:

1. J.D. Perdue, 5.54 pounds

2. Terry Rucker, 5.51

3. Charley Workman, 5.13

4. Jonathan martin, 5.06

5. Greg Reed, 5.04

The tournament drew 270 anglers. Mark Jones, the director, called it “wildly successful” even with the disqualification. He told outdoor writer Mark Taylor of The Roanoke Times that the event would return to Smith Mountain.

CAPT. DALE WILSON’S JUNE SMITH MOUNTAIN FISHING REPORT

Come June, anglers have to deal with heavy boat traffic and bright sunshine on Smith Mountain Lake. So to catch fish, Capt. Dale Wilson recommends fishing at night or very early in the morning and late in the day.

On the positive side, fish will be feeding aggressively after they spawn during the early part of June, then they will move into their summer patterns.

Wilson predicts June largemouth bass and striped bass fishing will be good while smallmouth bass and crappie fishing will be fair.

Look for largemouths around deep docks, humps, main channel points and rocky shorelines. Go after them with large plastic worms, jig-and-pigs, Thundersticks, top-water lures and drop shots. Some bass will chase schools of bait early and late in the day, and night fishing will be productive.

The best areas for striped bass will be the lower and mid-sections of both rivers and the areas around the dam. Try top-water lures, Red Fins, swimbaits, bucktails and Zoom Flukes fished on 3/8 to ½ ounce lead heads.

Live bait, trolling and night fishing also will yield catches. It is the time of year when fish can be anywhere from breaking on the surface to depths of 35 feet, Wilson said.

HERE’S WHAT WAS HAPPENING 40 YEARS AGO

A new organization, called Float Fishermen of Virginia, is drawing attention to the importance of Virginia’s streams by paddling as many of them as possible. Members mainly are from the Tidewater, well away from many of the streams being highlighted.

The group hopes to organize fishermen from across the state, something spokesman Reb Stewart, calls “angling power.”

Get enough people interested in a stream and those who would dam, pollute or bulldoze it will think twice, he said.

“You don’t mess with another man’s fishing hole,” Steward said.

OUTDOOR BRIEFS

>Jennette’s Pier, a time-honored fixture at Nags Head, N.C. since 1939, reopened last week after being seriously damaged by Hurricane Isabel in 2003. New are three wind turbines that will provide about half the power needed to operate the pier. For years, Jenette’s has served as a common-man’s yacht, attracting fishermen from Western Virginia and beyond. It is the longest, widest and tallest pier in North Carolina.

>John Mirassou is scheduled to depart from Downtown Norfolk June 3 for a 1,200-mile voyage to Boston Harbor aboard a -- get this -- 19-foot Boston Whaler. Twenty-five years ago, Mirassou completed a 6,100-mile trip in a 17-foot Whaler. That adventure was the subject of a book titled “Only in America: An American Boating Adventure.” On June 1, 6-8 p.m., Mirassou will lead a seminar on big trips for small boats at Lynnhaven Marine Center in Virginia Beach.

>Briery Creek Lake, the 845-acre state-owned lake near Farmville, has been producing excellent top-water fishing. Anglers casting surface lures have been hooking double-digit number of bass, sometimes a couple dozen or more per outing.

VIRGINIA SALTWATER FISHING TOURNAMENT

The citation count in the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament has reached 886, which is about 175 more than for the same time period last year. Here are the standings:

BLUELINE TILEFISH: 13 pounds, 14 ounces, Clifford Shuart, Marietta, Ga., caught at Norfolk Canyon.

CROAKER: 3 pounds, 9 ounces, Jake Didra, Lusby, Md. Rappahannock River.

SPECKED TROUT: 12 pounds, 9 ounces, Michael Whittaker, Chesapeake, Elizabeth River.

STRIPED BASS: 55 pounds, 1 ounce, James Greenwood, Chesapeake, False Cape

TAUTOG: 16 pounds, 1 ounce, Neal Taylor, Virginia Beach, Triangle Wrecks

MEETINGS, SEASONS AND EVENTS

Smith Mountain Striper Club meeting, June 3, 7 p.m., Moneta Community Center, program on striper management by Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Biologist Dan Wilson.

Free fishing days, freshwater and saltwater, June 3-5. You can fish without a license with the exception of designated stocked trout water.

Ruffed Grouse Society Sporting Clays Shoot, June 4, Dublin Clays, 662 Lyons Road, Dublin. Registration 1 p.m., dinner 5:30 p.m., 100 targets $50, 50 targets, $35, 4-man team, $175, information from W.J. Worrell Jr.

North Carolina State University Sport Fishing School, June 5-9, Hatteras, N.C.

Meeting of the Smith Mountain Striper Club, June 10, 7 p.m., Moneta Community Center, program by Department of Game and Inland Fisheries biologist Dan Wilson along with a report on uranium mining.

Franklin County Youth Fun Shoot, Franklin county Gun Club, June 11, for youth ages 11-19, 100 birds, $17, sponsors National Wild Turkey Federation JAKES and Botetourt 4H Shooting Ed Club, RSVP by May 31, Ed McCoy or John Kessler.

Whitetail Outfitters 3D archery tournament, Triangle Bowhunters range, June 26, registration 9 a.m. to noon, $12 single, $25 family, $6 kids, awards 4 p.m., range located at 1250 Burley Lane, Blacksburg, information from Jim Overfelt.

Meeting of Smith Mountain Striper Club, July 15, 7 p.m., Moneta Community Center, program on preparing striped bass for the table.

Meeting of Smith Mountain Striper Club, Aug. 5, 7 p.m. Moneta Community Center, program on reading fish finders.

Whitetail Outfitters 3D archery tournament, Triangle Bowhunters range, Aug. 21, registration 9 a.m. to noon, $12 single, $25 family, $6 kids, awards 4 p.m., range located at 1250 Burley Lane, Blacksburg, information from Jim Overfelt.

Friends of NRA banquet, Aug. 27, Salem Civic Center, information/tickets from Mike Kessler, 540-884-2917 or Al Milton, 540-797-7777.

Hunters for the Hungry banquet, Sept. 10, Roanoke Moose Lodge #284 (foot of Catawba Mountain on Virginia 311), $25 singles; $40 couples, children under 12 free, 5:30 p.m., tickets or information from Ralph and Lois Graybill, 540-427-5125 or Fred and Phyllis Wells, 540-992-3874.

Western Big Game Contest, Sept. 10 and 11, Rockingham County Fairgrounds.

Whitetail Outfitters 3D archery tournament, Triangle Bowhunters range, Sept. 18, registration 9 a.m. to noon, $12 single, $25 family, $6 kids, awards 4 p.m., range located at 1250 Burley Lane, Blacksburg, information from Jim Overfelt.

Eastern and State Big Game Show, Sept. 24 and 35, Southampton County Fairgrounds, Franklin.

Virginia Waterfowling Workshop, Sept 30-Oct. 2, 22 classes, Holiday Lake 4-H Center, $130 includes courses, lodging and meals, information and registration.

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