Thursday, July 09, 2009
Bill Cochran's Mailbag: Rare catches
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
BILL: You’ve posted some information in the past on tarpon fishing on the coast of Virginia. When does that start?
A.G.
A.G.: “These leaping, running, gill-rattling packages of muscled mayhem have made their local debut,” according to Bob Hutchinson’s one of Virginia’s handful of tarpon experts.
They currently can be found in the back country between the village of Oyster and the Eastern Shore oceanfront barrier islands.
Virginia is considered the northern boundary of their range, but they aren’t abundant here and catches are so rare one will set you apart from other anglers. There were 13 catch-and-releases last season registered in the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament. An impressive percentage of them came to the boat of Capt. Jack Brady of Oyster (757-331-2111).
Catches have been ranged from 2 in 2000 to 20 in 2003.
“That’s not a plethora but enough to notch up the appetite of folks like me,” said Hutchinson.
As a rule, the hotter the weather the better the results.
BILL
