ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 26, 1997 TAG: 9701280005
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-6 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
The Jackson River has taken yet another quirky turn in its uncertain odyssey from Gathright Dam to Covington. This time, it is landowners and bait fishermen protesting the single-hook, artificials-only regulation that became law Jan.1.
In a 5-0 vote, the Alleghany County Board of Supervisors this past week passed a resolution asking that the artificials-only law be repealed. The supervisors also have requested that their representatives in the General Assembly investigate how the regulation came about in the first place.
Once described as potentially ``the best trout fishing water in the East,'' the Jackson has become a stream muddied by confusion and conflict. First, it was landowners vs. anglers in the courts and on the stream banks. Now, it is fisherman vs. fisherman. You've got to wonder how a natural resource with so much promise can produce as many problems as it does trout, as much recrimination as it does recreation.
There had been the general belief that someday - probably after the issue of public fishing vs. property rights had been resolved in court - the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries would recommend regulations that would set aside some sections of the river for artificials-only fishing and others for bait fishing.
But in August, Trout Unlimited asked that the river, from Gathright Dam to Westvaco Dam - a stretch of about 16 miles - be designated only for fishing with artificial lures bearing a single hook. In a catch-and-release stream such as the Jackson, artificial lures are less damaging to trout than bait, TU representatives said.
Biologists for the game and fish department went along with the artificials-only idea on a three-quarter-mile section of the river immediately below Gathright Dam, where natural reproduction and fishing pressure is the highest and where the stream bank is public property. They said the remainder of the river really didn't need the regulation.
In a 5-3 vote, the game department's board sided with TU
Opponents in the river valley and beyond have labeled TU a small, self-centered group of elitists. Bob Belton, who has been chairman of the Virginia Council of Trout Unlimited, said that's not the case.
``This has nothing to do with elitism,'' he said. ``This is an issue of sound science and fisheries management.''
Following the Alleghany County supervisors' meeting this past week, Bill Whitlock, who heads a group called Headwaters Watch Committee, said people in the area ``have a real problem with people from outside the area taking away the rights of local people. We don't believe special-interest groups like Trout Unlimited should be able to call the shots and limit our indigenous way of life up here. Fishing with bait is indigenous to this area.''
It isn't just a local issue, TU officials have argued. The Jackson is a major cold-water fishery that is too important to be classified as a local stream. It is of immense value to fishermen in Richmond, Tidewater Virginia, the Roanoke Valley, the New River Valley and beyond. ``We need to take extra-special care of special rivers,'' Belton has said.
The most recent round of controversy on the Jackson could mean a new crop of posted signs, one landowner said. Some streamside property owners who have permitted fishing in the past could protest the no-bait regulation with ``No Trespassing'' signs, he said.
Like most family squabbles, this one is harmfully divisive. It also is ill-timed, coming at a juncture when fishermen - bait, fly, whatever - need to join forces against common foes who would destroy fishing opportunities for everyone. But that's been said before, and the bickering continues.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 linesby CNB