Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.

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Bill Cochran's Outdoors

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• Hunters and anglers still in the conservation business
• Drum fishing on Virginia’s Coast comes in two colors
• Elk advocate finally gets his day
• Turkeys are plentiful, so why are hunting regulations so tight fisted?
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Just when you thought they would end, fish kills continue to be a problem in several of Virginia’s best-know streams. Kills have reoccurred this spring for the third consecutive year in the Shenandoah River, one of the state’s top smallmouth bass streams.

On Sunday, an estimated 7,000 to 8,000 dead fish washed ashore along several miles of the tidal Potomac River. They included perch, striped bass and croakers. The kill is being investigated by Virginia and Maryland officials who earlier had predicted water-quality problems in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries because of pollution.

On the Shenandoah, the current kills do not appear to be as extensive as those that wiped out large numbers of smallmouth bass and redbreast sunfish last year, but they have involved new species, namely suckers.

From March through May, many smallmouth and sunfish in the North Fork of the Shenandoah have been found with lesions and some of these have died, according to Julia Dixon, a Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries spokesperson. The cause of the lesions is unknown, but they can expose fish to fatal infections from otherwise harmless bacterial.

No deaths have been observed in the South Fork, but collections of fish in late May showed that about 20 percent of the bass and sunfish had lesions. Also in late May a large number of northern hogsuckers died in the main stem of the Shenandoah in Clarke County, Dixon reported. The fish are being studied in a U.S. Geological Survey laboratory in Leetown, W.Va.

STATE RECORD SIZE SPADEFISH CAUGHT

Not many anglers form the western side of the state make the leader board of the prestigious Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament, but Michael Hanhart recently did, and more.

Hanhart, who lives in Huddleston, near Smith Mountain Lake, caught a 13-pound, 5-ounce spadefish which is the contest’s biggest and a pending state record. That fish was moving in on the International Game Fish Association world record, which is 14 pounds.

The Hanhart catch is expected to be certified shortly by tournament officials, said Claude Bain, tournament director. The current record, a 13-pounder, has been around since Sept. 19, 1988. It was caught at the Cell in the Chesapeake Bay by Otis Tribble of Topping.

Hanhart reported that he was fishing with a small piece of clam under a float when his fish hit at the Wolf Trap Light on the western side of the Chesapeake Bay. Spadefish are just beginning to move onto the Virginia fishing grounds. Early season generally produces the larger catches.

Fishing for spadefish has become widely popular during recent seasons. With more anglers becoming proficient at catching them, records are going to tumble more frequently, Bain predicted.

HUNTING SQUIRRELS IN JUNE

Next year at this time, you will be able to hunt squirrels. Yes, hunt squirrels in June. The idea quietly was given approval by the board of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries last fall.

The hunting will be limited to a select number of Wildlife Management Areas, which will be publicized in the next DGIF hunting regulations digest.

“We do expect some interest and will try to promote this opportunity next spring,” said Bob Duncan, chief of the DGIF wildlife division.

June hunting can provide recreation at no real cost to the resource, wildlife officials say. There are very few pregnant or lactating female squirrels in June, official report.

Squirrels are one of the most underutilized game species in the state, Duncan said. The season could be expanded if it is accepted by hunters. Seven states currently have a spring season. None reports negative impacts on other game species, such as turkey and grouse.

The Virginia season is set for the first through the third Saturday in June beginning next year. It will cover gray, fox and red squirrels.

PROGRESS ON SMITH RIVER

Federal officials appear to be giving serious consideration to tempering summer weekend discharges from Philpott Dam into the Smith River in an effort to improve trout habitat in the river. A recent meeting on the issue showed promise, said Al Kittredge, a fishing guide on the river and vice chairman of the Smith River Trout Unlimited.

The summer weekend discharges under consideration would level out temperature spikes and their potential to cause fish kills, Kittredge said.

“I am optimistic that we will see short periods of weekend generation to level out the dangerous temperature spikes before we get into the critical period during August and early September,” said Kittredge.

A couple of obstacles: Who will pay for the generation changes and what, if any, impact would they have on the endangered Roanoke Log Perch?

Smith River anglers made progress last year when the Corps agreed to announce weekly power generation schedules so anglers can better plan their outings, and a new water release system was initiated to reduce downstream surges that are believed to be harmful to trout habitat.

BEATING THE DRUMS

You get an idea of how good saltwater fishing has been when you consider that citations in the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament are running about 200 ahead of last year at the same time. Last year accounted for the seventh highest number of citations in the nearly 50-year history of the tournament.

The citation count has received a major boost from an exceptional red drum fishery this spring that has produced about 175 citations. One charter boat reported landing 20 red drum on a Saturday and another 10 the following Monday.

Much of the action has occurred on the southern tip of the Eastern Shore, around Fisherman and Smith Islands and Nautilus Shoal. Big red drum also have been taken on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Warm-weather species, including cobia, spadefish and sheepshead, have moved in to Virginia’s inshore water. Offshore there are bluefin and yellowfin tuna. The first tarpon of the year was reported taken in a pound net off Virginia Beach.

OUTDOOR BRIEFS

>Membership in the BASS Federation Nation is growing had has reached 20,000, said Don Rucks, vice president and general manager of BASS. The Federation recently saw a split in members, many of them departing to join a bass club federation organized by FLW Outdoors. Rucks said leadership now is in place in every state where the BASS Federation has been active in the past and new states have joined. Virginia is under new leadership.

>Ducks Unlimited and its foundation, the Wetlands American Trust, has launched a 5-year effort to raise $1.7 billion for North American wetlands. It is reported to be the largest campaign of its kind in history.

>The time for commenting on the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Virginia Deer Plan is growing short. Public input will be received through June 16. You can find a draft of the plan and opportunity to comment on www.dgif.virgina.gov/drafdeerplan.

>John Crews of Salem has been cursing along with amazing success in the Bassmaster Elite Series, but hit a rough spot at Grand Lake in Oklahoma finishing 42, his lowest in the series. That dropped him from third to fifth in the Angler of the Year standings. With five of 11 tournaments left, Crews still is very much in the race. Next stop is Kentucky Lake.

>Wayne LaPierre, NRA executive vice president and Roanoke native, has a new book titled “The Global War on Your Guns.” The NRA says it is "about the U.N’s conspiracy to ban all firearms, including guns used for hunting and sport shooting."

>The Kansas Department of Wildlife is gathering public input on the idea of requiring a “Tournament Bass Pass” of participants in bass contests. The system would open more lakes to tournaments and ease some of the size and limit restrictions for contest fishermen.

>The Virginia Institute of Marine Science is offering $500 for bluefin tuna that have an archival tag that was implanted in them last year. Anglers catching tagged tuna that are not legal keeper size will be allowed to retain the catch if it is turned in for research.

>Jeff Hopkins of Clayton, Del. won the Archery Shooters Association tournament Open Pro class the past weekend at Smith Mountain Lake. He scored 501. The top finisher from Virginia was Charles Custer of Callaway, who was ninth. Richard Lefwich of Salem was 19th.

>Virginia dog owners have their eyes on Albuquerque, N.M. where the city passed 60 pages of revised animal ordinances that include an order to have pets sterilized or the owner pay a $150 fee. Numerous restrictive dog ordinances have popped up in the Virginia General Assembly the past two sessions, many of them defeated.

>More than 600 shooters, including some to the top sporting clays competitors in the country, will compete for $100,000 in cash and prizes during the 13th annual National Wild Turkey Federation Turkey Shoot Aug. 18-20 at The Meadows National Gun Club in Forsyth, Ga.

>The National Shooting Sports Foundation reports that new research shows that firearms and ammunition sales are on the rise, coinciding with steady downward trends in gun crime, suicides and accidents in the U.S.

>The Quality Deer Management Association secured a $50,000 grant to fund research by Penn State University and the Pennsylvania Game Commission to look for ways to model deer populations beyond the current system that is based on the number of deer reported killed by hunters.

>Teens from across North America will gather in South Caroline June 22-25 to learn outdoor skills and hear the story of the restoration of the wild turkey during the annual National Wild Turkey Federation Porter Wagoner National Xtreme Jake event.

SALTWATER FISHING TOURNAMENT

The Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament has registered its first tuna, spadefish, gray triggerfish and kingfish entries of the season and has new leaders in the gray trout and sheepshead categories. Here are the standings for non-release catches:

BLACK DRUM: 83 pounds, 13 ounces, Charles Porter, Birdsnest, caught at Oyster Bay.

CROAKER: 3 pounds, 12 ounce, Earnest Hobbs, Virginia Beach, lower-western Chesapeake Bay.

FLOUNDER: 11 pounds, Scott Gordon, Virginia Beach, lower-western Chesapeake Bay.

GRAY TRIGGERFISH: 4 pounds, 8 ounces, Wayne Seymour, Virginia Beach, off Eastern Shore.

GRAY TROUT: 12 pounds, 4 ounces, Marvin Williams III, Virginia Beach off Virginia Beach.

KINGFISH: 2 pounds, 2 ounces, Any Backowski, Chesapeake, off Virginia Beach.

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

SHEEPSHEAD: 16 pounds, Walter Scott, Smithfield, lower western Chesapeake Bay.

SPADEFISH: 13 pound, 5 ounce pending state record, Michael Hanhart, Huddleston, lower-western Chesapeake Bay.

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, 1 ounce, Paul Hurtubise, McGaheysville, off Virginia Beach.

TUNA: 107 pounds, Alan Shapiro, Virginia Beach, off Virginia Beach.

MEETINGS/EVENTS/SEASONS

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.

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.

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