Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.

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The Coastal Conservation Association of Virginia is getting back on its feet. That is the assessment of David Hickman, who was named the organization’s executive director in November. CCA, which watches out for the interests of saltwater anglers, has been quiet the past year, and that has brought the organization criticism. It operated most of 2005 without a director.

“CCA in Virginia is still strong; however, we do need to improve our numbers and get the message out,” said Hickman. “I have been charged with several tasks, first and foremost improving our communications.”

During the lean time, the group continued its advocacy programs through the efforts of volunteers, and most chapter and state events occurred, he said. The group was unsuccessful in persuading the 2006 General Assembly to place a cap on the menhaden harvest in the Chesapeake Bay, one of the organization’s top goals.

Hickman said he is working to reinstate the newsletter that goes out to members.

CCA is a non-profit organization compromised of 15 state chapters spanning the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Seaboard. It has a reported national membership of 90,000.

Hickman has a background in business, and most recently was director of sales and marketing for Julian’s Restaurants based in Richmond. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and did post-graduate work at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is described as a lifelong saltwater sport fisherman.

Information on CCA can be found at joincca.org.

A VINTAGE CRAPPIE SEASON

Anglers have been enjoying excellent crappie fishing in a number of impoundments across Virginia. Many of the fish have spawned and are easing toward deeper water, but catches continue to be brisk.

Bill Pyles and Glen Owen of the Roanoke area landed more than 100 during a recent outing at Kerr Lake, which is Virginia king of crappie water. The fish were found along bridge pilings, brush piles and the bank at depths of 2 to 10 feet, said Pyles.

The crappie fishing is reported to be excellent at Lake Anna, especially from the mid-lake upstream.

Some of the biggest crappie in recent memory have come from Lake Moomaw. The Bait Place, a nearby tackle shop, weighed a couple that went 2.13 and 2.31 pounds apiece.

Good crappie fishing also is reported at Smith Mountain Lake and Little Creek Reservoir.

JOHN CREWS AT FRONT OF THE LINE

John Crews has been honing his fishing skills, finishing well in tournaments and making a name for himself in the CITGO Bassmasters Elite Series. No longer is he standing at the back of the line.

“In fact, the quiet Virginian is definitely starting to make some noise.” That’s what the ESPN Outdoors Mediasite had to say about the 27-year-old Salem angler this week.

Through the first three events of the inaugural season of the Bassmaster Elite Series, Crews has made the cut to 50 anglers all three times and posted two consecutive top 10 finishes. He has risen from 45th to eighth place in the Bassmaster Elite Series Power Index, averaging 31 pounds, 7 ounces per tournament. He ranks third in the BASS Angler of the Year standings.

Crews sponsors include the Roanoke-based Advanced Auto Parts. He is one of the youngest anglers on the Elite trail.

“Finally, things are starting to go like they are supposed to go,” Crews told ESPN. He said he is improving his craft by better preparing for changes in weather and water conditions as well as gaining experience with each tournament. He said he has had a plan going into each tournament.

The feeling is, Crews in moving in on his first tournament win. His best finish was third in the 2000 Florida Invitational at Lake Okeechobee. He has finished in the money in 25 of his 42 appearances. He considers his strength is the use of shallow-running crank baits.

FRESHWATER FISHING

>Briery Creek Lake is Virginia’s undisputed best producer of trophy largemouth bass, but some anglers are wise enough not to overlook nearby Sandy River Reservoir. Smaller and less know than Briery, Sandy River has been producing trophy bass catches, including a 11-pound, 7-ounce giant for Scott Sims of Farmville. That bass was reported to be the fourth of the season from the reservoir that has weighed more than 8 pounds.

>Smith Mountain Lake is producing some excellent striper fishing, but it is coming in short spurts at dawn and dusk. Bobby Fowler said the evening bite, for example, starts about 7:45 p.m. and is over by 8:20 p.m. Most of the action occurs just under the surface, and the stripers are running about 7 to 14 pounds.

>Ten-year old Austin Martin of Varina landed a 47-pound, 5-ounce blue catfish from the tidal James River. Randy Lynch got one that weighed 50 pounds. Stripers and shad also are in the river.

>Largemouth bass and in the spawning mode and often can be found shallow along the shoreline of lakes and ponds. Lake Chesdin and Lake Anna are a couple of places that are producing big bass. So are a multitude of farm ponds.

>A wave of herring and hickory shad has hit the Rappahannock River. Anglers in the Fredericksburg area are using a rig called the Sabiki. Striped bass are following the shad.

KITTREDGE SMITH RIVER TROUT REPORT

My wife and I spent a good portion of the Easter Weekend at our cabin near Smith River in Bassett. I didn’t dare push my luck by fishing the entire weekend, but was able to devote 2-to 3-hours on the water each day. They were very productive. You have to work at it, but overall the Smith River is fishing very well.

I decided to fish some of the stocked waters on two of my three short outings. Friday afternoon I fished south of the Stanleytown Bridge and caught well into double digits. I knew the river was going to fish well when I caught a fairly nice brown on my first cast and caught his little brother about two casts later. I continued to catch fish in most of the likely looking spots.

Saturday afternoon found me on the river a little closer to the town of Bassett. Once again, I caught a brown on the first cast. After that, the stocked rainbows did themselves proud, with an occasional browns mixed in.

Sunday I fished the lower end of the Special Regulations section. It took me quiet awhile to catch the first fish. I must admit I was disappointed. I fished a section that regularly yields 15 to 30 fish and was barely able to eke out my goal of double digits. I did catch one brown that pushed the 12-inch mark. The rest were smaller browns mixed with rainbows, which were refugees from the stocked area.

One reason for the lack of respectable-size fish might have been a report from a fellow Smith River angler last week who saw a couple of kids walking the railroad tracks carrying stringers of fish in the Special Regulations area. I also observed several forked sticks and an empty corn can. It does not take much of that sort of thing to clean out a section of the river which does not receive replenishment through stockings and is under stress from extreme temperature swings, lack of food and lack of good spawning areas.

Despite ending on a down note, I can safely say that the Smith is fishing pretty well right now. One thing I did observe was lots of Didymo moss, called bubblegum, cotton candy and less endearing names. The moss has spread throughout the river. Nymph fishermen need to forget about ticking the bottom with their offerings to avoid big globs of moss on the end of their line. I was able to get around it by switching to a lighter beadhead and shortening the distance between my strike indicator and the fly.

SALTWATER FISHING

>Croaker fishing is coming on strong in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Some of the best catches are from the lower James, York and Rappahannock rivers.

>The first black drum of the season has been caught along the Virginia coast. Bluefin tuna have been spotted offshore, and good catches of yellowfin tuna are being taken off Hatteras, N.C.

>Flounder continue to produce limit catches and citations along the seaside of Eastern Shore, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and Buoy 36.

>Blitz-like red drum fishing hits Cape Point, N.C. from time to time. One recent day catches numbered near 75.

STRIPERS AS A GAME FISH

Stripers Forever, an internet-based advocacy group, believes wild striped bass along the Atlantic coast should be awarded game fish status. That would make them available for recreation anglers, but would end all commercial harvesting of the species.

The concept is scheduled to be the subject of a symposium in Foxboro, Maine on May 20. The title of the meeting is “Striped Bass Game Fish 2006.” Information is available on stripersforever.org.

Some 3-million-plus anglers annual pursue wild striped bass along the Atlantic Coast, form Maine to North Carolina, creating a $6.63-billion economic activity. But the quality of recreational fishing for stripers has slipped significantly in recent years, according to Stripers Forever.

OUTDOOR BRIEFS

>Johnny Reynolds had four people in his turkey blind, all of them relatives, a couple of them kids. When he made some turkey calls, the reply he got wasn’t a gobble. “It was a screaming-growling noise,” he said. “I’ve never heard a sound in the woods like that in 30 years of hunting,” he said. Then the creature came toward the blind and veered off. Reynolds said he could see its long tail, its 3.5-to 4-foot body. No question, he said. It was a mountain lion. He was hunting Broad Run Mountain near New Castle.

>The Fishing Hole, a sporting goods store in Wakefield, has checked 64 gobblers including one that weighed 22 pounds, 4 ounces.

>A 15-pound, 12-ounce blueline tilefish caught off Virginia Beach by Troy Warren has been submitted for word record recognition. The record was broken a month ago by Pat Hirsch who landed a 15-pound, 4-ounce blueline tilefish. Prior to that, the IGFA world record was 15 pounds.

The Botetourt 4-H Shooting Education Club, organized with funds provided by the Roanoke Valley Friends of the NRA, is featured in the current issue of NRA InSights Magazine.

>I’ve said that “Salt Tide” by my friend Curtis Badger is one of the finest nature books ever written. Badger lives on Virginia’s Eastern Shore and “Salt Tide” is about that fascinating area of the world. Now I’m in good company. The English Department of Hampden-Sydney College is offering a course entitled “American Nature Writing.” It includes some of the best know names in American literature, Robert Frost, Henry David Thoreau, William Faulkner, James Fennimore Cooper -- and Curtis Badger.

>Willoughby public boat ramp in Norfolk has been restored following damage by Hurricane Isable.

>Brian Smith has been hired as the Virginia/West Virginia region Ducks Unlimited biologist. His previous assignment was with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.

>A Pennsylvania woman, Nancy Lee Lauro, was found guilty of interfering with five hunters during the past deer season. She was ordered to pay a $500 fine under a hunter harassment law.

>The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has contracted to construct a new office building for itself in Wyoming within a narrow corridor used by an already seriously stressed pronghorn migratory route, according the to Wildlife Management Institute.

>A Delaware man was fiend $200 for the unlawful taking of butterflies in the Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia.

>The North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Board has given its Presidents Award to the California Department of Fish and Game’s Wildlife Conservation Board for its efforts to preserve hundreds of thousands of acres of wildlife habitat. Other awards went to Duane Shroufe, director of the Arizona Game and Fish Department and the Mule Deer Working Group.

SALTWATER FISHING TOURNAMENT

The Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament standings:

FLOUNDER: 9 pounds, caught by David Butler, Virginia Beach, off Virginia Beach.

SEA BASS: 7 pounds, 2 ounces, Steve Harding, Norfolk, off Virginia Beach.

SPECKLED TROUT: 12 pounds, 1 ounce, Barclay Shepard, Poquoson, Elizabeth River.

STRIPED BASS: 68 pounds, 1 ounce state record, Clay Armstrong, Mechanicsville, off Virginia Beach.

TAUTOG: 18 pounds, 8 ounces, Paul Hurtubise, McGaheysville, off Virginia Beach.

MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS

Spring gobbler season continues through May. 13.

Virginia Ducks Unlimited State Convention, April 21-22, DoubleTree Hotel, Charlottesville, information from Tom Colligan, TColligan@verizon.net.

Smith Mountain Striper Club Member/Guest Tournament, April 22, Smith Mountain Lake, information from Butch Shaffer, 540-297-0322 or Tom Scott, 540-721-6623.

Sixth annual Virginia Fly Fishing Festival and Wine Tasting, Waynesboro, April 22-23, vaflyfishingfestival.org.

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board meeting, April 25, 4000 W. Broad St., Richmond.

An 18-hour, two-day class in Wilderness First Aid, May 16 & 17, Blacksburg, includes classroom study, hands-on practice, and results in a two-year certification, $160, registration on a first-come, first-served basis, information: 703 836-8905 or wfa.net.

Annual Bluefish Derby, June 9-10, sponsored by Smith Point Sea Rescue, $5,000 prize for the largest bluefish and largest striped bass; $250 for largest croaker, information from Jett Hardware in Reedville, 804-453-5325.

Annual Downing Ruritan Club David H. Horne Memorial Golf Tournament to benefit Hunters for the Hungry, May 10, Richmond, information from Braxton Bell, 804-739-3010.

NRA Whittingon Adventure Camp for youngsters, June 11 for two weeks, teaches shooting and traditional outdoor sports, information from info@nrawc.org.

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board meeting, June 20, 4000 W. Broad St., Richmond.

Hunters for the Hungry Sporting Clays Benefit Shoot, Edmunds Farms Sporting Clays, Halifax, June 24 & 25, information from Clarence Morris, 434-572-6986.

NRA Whittingon Adventure Camp for youngsters, July 25, for two weeks, teaches shooting and traditional outdoor sports, information from info@nrawc.org.

Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show, sponsored by the Virginia Deer Hunters Association, Aug. 11-13, Mechanicsville, information from sportsmanshow.com.

Smith Mountain Lake Classic and Antique Boat Society Show, The Point at Mariners Landing, Aug. 11 & 12, woodenboats.net.

Belvoir Bowhunters 3D Tournament to benefit Hunters for the Hungry, Aug. 13, information from Bob Foster, 703-758-5540.

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board meeting, Aug. 22, 4000 W. Broad St., Richmond.

National Hunting and Fishing Day, Sept. 23.

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board meeting, Oct. 17, 4000 W. Broad St., Richmond.

Bassmaster tour event, Smith Mountain Lake, Oct. 26-28, information on bassmaster.com.

Department of Game and Inland Fisheries board meeting, Dec. 12, 4000 W. Broad St., Richmond.

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