Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 1, 1995 TAG: 9501240065
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A move in the General Assembly to expand the mandatory blaze orange requirement so it will embrace the muzzleloading season. That effort will come as a result of a rash of accidents that occurred during last fall's early muzzleloading season. Should black-powder hunters be required to wear blaze orange, so will fall turkey hunters during much of their season, because the two seasons overlap.
A feistier Sierra Club, as this environmental organization, and others, attempts to reverse falling membership. Some members believe the club is losing ground because it has become too timid, to compromising. The overhaul could lead to off-the-wall activism in the eyes of mainstream outdoorsmen.
While a survey showed that 73 percent of the trout anglers in Virginia want a year-round season, multitudes of fishermen will be disappointed when it finally sinks in that March 18 will be the last opening day - ever.
Anglers will languish as bluefish continue to decline in the Outer Banks surf, although many will tell you the fishing couldn't get much worse than it was the fall of '94. Some of the disappointment will be tempered by the fact that the surf is beginning to attract a new generation of striped bass. But stripers require more skill and they don't create the kind of blitz-type fishing that can make bluefish so laudable.
Outstanding trophy deer hunting, thanks to a major mast crop during the fall of '94 and the mild winter that followed, along with better deer management. Never mind we predicted the same thing for the current season. This time the record book will be rewritten.
A major increase in snowboarding at Southeaster ski resorts, as swelling numbers of kids and adults show up with new boards. No longer will they be snubbed by resort operators. The red carpet is out because most resorts have discovered that $20 from a snowboarder rings the cash registers as loudly as the same amount from a skier.
Striped bass fishing at Smith Mountain Lake will be so tough that some fishing guides will spend an increased amount of time taking their clients to other spots, especially lakes in Tennessee.
After being ignored by Gov. Doug Wilder for four years, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries will find little relief from Gov. George Allen. Allen will offer nothing in the way of new money needed by the agency. That means many outdoor programs will continue to limp along underfunded, and sportsmen who supported the Allen campaign will grow restless.
Skiing this season in the Southeast never will quite get over its slow start, so the 1994-95 season will be a lackluster one. By this time last year, West Virginia's Snowshoe already had recorded 60 inches of natural snowfall as it headed toward a season total of 223 inches.
Hunters and game officials will spend considerable time debating game regulations early in the year; even so, seasons and bag limits next fall will see modest change from the past two years.
As interest in fly fishing grows, many anglers will began casting for species in addition to trout. Smallmouth bass in the James and New rivers and striped bass in the Chesapeake Bay will become targets for many fly fishermen.
Hikers will be forced to discover some off-the-beaten-path trails when VDOT widens Virginia 311 atop Catawba Mountain, disrupting the parking lot used by hundreds of McAfee Knob worshipers. The work will make for a safer trail crossing and, in time, additional parking space. All this likely will attract even more people to the scenic landmark.
by CNB