Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 2, 1995 TAG: 9501040018
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Maybe even a camera.
The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has a new trophy fish awards program that replaces the 30-year-old citation system. The Virginia Angler Recognition Program will give anglers an opportunity to earn an award for an outstanding catch without having to kill the fish.
You can take an on-board or on-the-bank measurement of the catch and if it meets a minimum length standard it earns a trophy fish award certificate. Once measured, you can toss the fish back into the water.
"The main reason for the change is to facilitate catch-and-release," said Charles Sledd, chief of the department's public relations and resource education department.
The old method of qualifying a fish by weight still can be used. Fishermen can continue to take their catch to a store that has certified scales and have a clerk weigh it.
"We didn't want to do anything that would upset the apple cart for the person who still wants to use weight," said Sledd. "Because in a lot of folks' eyes, the weight system is steeped in history."
Weighing a fish, however, frequently means killing it, since certified scales often are well away from the water.
"Fishermen who want to put the fish back and want to do it without having gone through the mechanics of getting the fish weighed and certified now have that option," Sledd said.
The measuring system, which began New Year's Day, received its major endorsement from smallmouth bass fishermen, particularly members of the Potomac River Smallmouth Club.
"For a number of years they have encouraged us to come up with a way to be more responsive to the catch-and-release angler," said Sledd.
"If you catch a 12- to 14-pound largemouth bass, you proably are going to want to utilize the weight aspect," Sledd said. "Chances are that fish is going home and be mounted and put on the wall."
Sledd thinks the measurement system will be used most often on catches that are close to the minimum requirement.
"If you are out on the James River and you catch that smallmouth that you think is 5 pounds but you are not sure, you can take the length of it and if it is over 20 inches you will qualify."
In the past, you'd have to tote the fish to a set of scales, and if it turned out to be a few ounces under the minimum requirement you ended up with a dead fish and no citation, he said.
"You still have to catch a large fish," said Sledd. "It certainly doesn't make the catching any easier."
Length catches must be verified in one of two ways. An angler can measure the fish in front of a witness and have the witness sign an application form. Or the angler can photograph his catch next to a measuring rule.
Under the new program, there will be a $4 application fee for a trophy fish award, either weighed or measured. The money will underwrite the cost of an improved certificate, Sledd said.
"It will actually have artwork for each species of fish. It becomes a frameable, nice representative of your angling achievement," he said.
Awards will be presented for 22 species. The length requirements have been set by fish biologists to match weights as nearly as possible.
Sledd believes the new program will increase the number of awards presented by the department, because the measuring system will make it easier to verify a catch.
"The past year, and for several years, we have given in the range of 6,000 to 7,000 awards annually, solely on weight," Sledd said.
"We could be up into the low 20,000s in the number of awards issued. I don't look for the number to drop, even with the $4 fee. I think there are a lot of anglers out there who have not submitted applications in the past, but now that we have a length system that makes it easier for them to catch-and-release, and they will become participants in the program."
The program will offer an Expert Angler Award and Master Angler Award. Fishermen who register 10 trophy fish of the same species can be recognized as an Expert Angler. The Master Angler Award goes to fishermen who register five trophy fish of different species.
The department has a Richmond phone number, 804-367-8916, where additional details are available on the program.
by CNB