Friday, January 12, 2007
Stripers set citation pace
The number of striper awards in 2006 was nearly three times the number registered in 2005.
Mark Taylor is outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times.
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With 2006 winding to a close Claude Bain made a prediction.
Looking at a stack of unprocessed trophy fish citation applications, the man who runs the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament predicted a record year for striped bass. He said he expected the number of striper awards to hit 900, with at least 60 awards for stripers topping 50 pounds.
He was off.
When the calculator stopped buzzing the number of striper awards had hit 1,098, nearly three times the number registered in 2005.
Of the trophy stripers, a whopping 74 of the awards for fish of at least 50 pounds.
Stripers turned out to be the stars of the program in 2006, when the state-operated tournament awarded 5,296 citations.
The citation total was a 2 percent dip from 2005, but was the eighth highest in the 49-year-old program.
Flounder also helped the bottom line.
Anglers registered 895 of the fish that weighed at least 7 pounds or met the release citation minimum length of 26 inches.
Other key contributors to the total included cobia (322 citations), red drum (578), sheepshead (288), speckled trout (313) and tautog (238).
Two factors helped contribute to the great showing by stripers, which must weigh 40 pounds or be at least 44 inches long to qualify for awards.
One was the relatively good number of big stripers in the population.
More important, Bain said, was the mild weather that made it easier for fishermen to target the species during the winter months, when the large migratory stripers tend to congregate in the lower Chesapeake Bay and in nearshore coastal waters.
Water temperatures were stable so the fish never stopped feeding. And winds were generally so light that boats weren't stuck in port except for a few days.
"Of the 31 days in December, there were probably 26 days when someone in a small boat could fish the bay," Bain said.
The year got off to a fast start last winter with good fishing off Virginia Beach, and more than 300 stripers were on the books within the first two months of the year.
The fishing exploded again during a mild December, when anglers pulled in more than 700 more trophies.
Topping the striper board in 2006 was a 68-pound, 1-ounce behemoth that set a state record in early March. Clay Armstrong of Mechanicsville caught the fish while trolling off the Sandbridge area of Virginia Beach.
Flounder numbers fell slightly from 2005, but still came in as the fifth highest in tournament history. Anglers also had the best year ever for truly huge flounder, with 78 fish of at least 10 pounds.
Red drum citations for released fish at least 46 inches long dropped 25 percent to 578, but that was still the fifth best in history.
Action for trophy cobia was also solid in 2006, with anglers pulling in 322 fish that were at least 55 pounds or 50 inches long.
The biggest of the batch was a 109-pound state record caught by Joseph Berberich II of Hayes. Berberich caught the fish while chunking near the York Spit light. Chunking involves attracting the fish by tossing chunks of cut fish or other chum into the water.
One other state record was set -- twice -- in 2006.
Michael Hanhart of Huddleston got his name in the books May 29 with a 13-pound, 5-ounce spadefish.
Hanhart said he didn't expect the record to stand long. He was right.
On June 17, Austin Edwards of Powhatan boated a 14-pound spadefish in the bay.
Despite the presence of some giant spadefish in the bay, overall trophy fishing for the species was down. Anglers registered only 150 spadefish, a 51 percent decline from 2005.
Sheepshead citation numbers experienced a similar decline, falling from 575 in 2005 to just 288 last year.
The drop was due in part to an increase of the minimum qualifying weight from 9 pounds to 10 pounds, and a 2-inch bump in the release minimum, to 24 inches. Even so, larger fish seemed scarcer, and the species also didn't attract the fishing attention it did in 2005.
Other species that saw a drop in citation numbers included blue marlin, falling from 27 percent from 64 to 47, and white marlin, which dropped 23 percent to 232 from the 2005 total of 299.
Black drum citations also fell, dropping 27 percent to 145.
A couple of minor changes have been made for the program's 50th year.
Blueline tilefish, which are attracting growing interest from recreational anglers, have been added to the program. The minimum qualifying weight will be 10 pounds. No release citations will be offered because the deep-dwelling fish are not well suited for release.
A short-lived increase in the qualifying weight for spot also has been rolled back to 1 pound.
The increase was instituted after the more than 2,000 spot registered in 2004 nearly overwhelmed the program. A release citation for spot at least 13 inches long also was established for 2007.
