THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 11, 1994 TAG: 9412110180
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB HUTCHINSON
LENGTH: Long : 126 lines
Virginia anglers just might have four days added to their Chesapeake Bay striped bass season, which is scheduled to close at midnight next Sunday.
Del. Glenn R. Croshaw, D-Virginia Beach, has made a formal request for the extension to William A. Pruitt, head of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
The commission is expected to consider the proposal when it meets at its Newport News office Dec. 20. Croshaw plans to attend.
While Croshaw did not specify dates for the four days, the period most likely would be from midnight Dec. 21 through midnight Christmas Day.
Croshaw said he made the request on behalf of several voters in the 81st District, which he represents.
``Recreational fishermen didn't have but 32 days for fishing for striped bass on the Bay,'' he said, ``and I think my request is appropriate since they lost several of those to bad weather, including Hurricane Gordon.''
Such an extension would not be unprecedented. Just last month, the agency adopted an emergency regulation extending the gill-net season for gray trout seven days, through Dec. 15, along the Eastern Shore seaside. The decision was based on the loss of seven days of fishing because of Gordon. The initial request came from Del. Robert S. Bloxom, R-Accomack.
Nor is Croshaw the only one who wants the striped bass season extended, according to Rob O'Reilly, a commission spokesman.
``We've probably received about 30 telephone calls from recreational fishermen who want extra days,'' O'Reilly said. ``I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that the commission added those days to the gray trout gill-net season for those two counties (Accomack and Northampton).''
The matter will not automatically be added to the commission's published agenda for Dec. 20, O'Reilly said, ``but I feel confident that the commissioners will consider the matter if anyone shows up to support it.''
Striped bass and gray trout are regulated by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission under a multi-state agreement. A year-old federal law makes that agreement binding on member states. The law also gives the federal government the right to close all fishing for a managed species in any state found to be in ``non-compliance'' with the plan.
The Atlantic States agency is expected to discuss both Virginia extensions, among other changes, when it meets Tuesday in Norfolk. However, it is unlikely that it will reach a final decision on either matter then.
Should Virginia be found out of compliance, several options could be waiting down the road, including deducting overages, either in fishing days or catch restrictions, from 1995 plans.
Meanwhile, Del. W. Tayloe Murphy, D-Warsaw, will submit a bill in the upcoming General Assembly to cancel Virginia membership in the Atlantic States coalition.
Murphy also is considering a suit to test the constitutionality of the federal law that makes coalition agreements binding on member states.
Stay tuned.
COYOTE KILLS? Some Virginia hunters and wildlife officials are wondering just how big a dent the burgeoning coyote population is having on whitetail deer.
If there is a problem, and indications to that effect are strong, it apparently is worst in the mountains of Western Virginia, where the coyote population is considered greatest.
This could explain in part the scarcity of whitetails encountered in the area during the past two hunting seasons. While figures for the 1994 kill have not been compiled, the mountain kill was down about 34 percent in 1993.
Howard Hood of Virginia Beach is one of many hunters who believe that it will be down again. Hood hunts in Highland County, on the West Virginia border 50 miles west of Staunton.
``We just didn't see any deer this year,'' he said. ``Last year we blamed it on the big snowfall in March of 1993, which killed a lot of deer.
``But the population should be up this fall, at least a little, and we just didn't see many indications, although we did find a couple of deer carcasses in the woods.''
Virginia is just starting to take a serious look at how the growing coyote population is impacting other wildlife, according to Jerry Sims of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
``It could be a real problem, but we don't want to say much more than that until we know more about the situation,'' Sims said.
``But we do know that the coyote population is increasing, especially in counties with a lot of sheep ranches.''
Highland is one of the largest wool-producing counties in Virginia, with many more sheep than people, since the human population is only about 2,600.
Coyotes have a known preference for lambs. But they will also kill and eat calves and fawns. Most adult whitetails are too fast for coyotes to chase down.
TOP RODS: Denny Dobbins of Chesapeake and C.L. Marshall III of Pocomoke, Md., are practically assured of taking the three top awards in the annual Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament, which ends at midnight Dec. 31.
Dobbins leads both the angler-of-the-year and release-angler-of-the-year categories. Marshall is trying to become the second Pocomoke angler in a row to be named non-resident angler of the year.
Dobbins has earned citation awards for 12 species, including eight releases. They are amberjack, black drum, blue marlin, white marlin, sailfish, cobia, red drum, shark, dolphin, sea bass, tautog and wahoo.
Marshall has awards in five categories: Amberjack, black drum, dolphin, flounder and tautog. Jack Redinger of Pocomoke won the 1993 title with awards in three categories.
Craig Paige of Virginia Beach is the defending angler of the year. He had 12 awards, while Jimmy Kolb of Virginia Beach won release-angler-of-the-year honors in 1993 with eight.
ANOTHER MORRIS: Remember Rick Morris, the Virginia Beach professional bass fisherman who has won more than $30,000 on the Bassmaster circuit this year?
He's not the only money-winning angler in his family. Brother Ivan, owner of the Glass Baron glass-blowing shop on Diamond Springs Road, won $1,500 with his 41st-place finish in the recent Bassmaster Georgia Eastern Invitational on Lake Lanier, near Atlanta.
He was the only Virginian in the money - the top 54 anglers in the 305-person field. Finishing out of the money were Woo Daves of Spring Grove (82nd), Chris Daves of Spring Grove (86th), Les Ore of Virginia Beach (114th), Rick Morris (117th), Ron Stallings of Franklin (205th) and Jim Sumrell of Virginia Beach (288th).
The $35,000 top prize went to Mickey Bruce of Buford, Ga., with a three-day catch weighing 30 pounds, 1 ounce. Ivan Morris' catch weighed 15-0.
SHORT CASTS: Marvin Patrick of Virginia Beach has taken the lead in the speckled trout category of the annual Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament with an 11-pound, 9-ounce catch. Patrick said he caught the lunker off Willoughby Spit in Norfolk. . . . Changes in federal laws regulating the bluefish catch will be the topic of a Norfolk meeting the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. The council regulates resources between 3 and 200 miles off the Mid-Atlantic coast. The meeting, open to the public, will be at 7 p.m. Jan. 10 at Quality Inn Lake Wright on Northampton Boulevard. . . . The board of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries will hold its monthly meeting Thursday and Friday at its Richmond headquarters, at 4010 West Broad St., starting at 10 a.m. each day. by CNB