THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 5, 1995 TAG: 9503050158
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB HUTCHINSON
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
Recreational fishermen will get a double treat March 17 to 19 when the sixth annual Sportfishing Show and the popular Sportfishing Forum are held concurrently.
The events will be at Rockwell Hall on the U.S. Navy Amphibious Base at Little Creek. Entrance will be through any base gate. The most direct access is from Gate 4, off Shore Drive in Virginia Beach.
The fishing show will feature most of the elements of the sport, including conservation, fishery management, how to catch and release, tackle and how to use it, fishing rigs and boating equipment.
In addition to numerous commercial displays and booths, this year's schedule of speakers will include how-to sessions on surf fishing, red drum, speckled trout, flounder, amberjack, tautog, fishing with kits, ``spooning for tuna,'' freshwater fishing, bluefish, Spanish mackerel and saltwater fly fishing.
This will be the first two-day session for the Sportfishing Forum and the event's initial Rockwell Hall appearance. Previous forums have been held in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Sports and Boat Show at the Virginia Beach Pavilion.
Forum topics will include: The management crisis of yellowfin and bluefin tuna; the Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament awards program; gray trout management crisis; striped bass recovery options for 1995; and the ongoing controversy over menhaden fishing.
The forum will run from 9 a.m. to noon March 18 and 19.
The sportfishing show will be open 4 to 9 p.m. March 17, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 18 and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 19. Admission will be $4 for adults, $3 for military and seniors, and free for those under age 12.
The three-day program is the work of the Atlantic Coast Conservation Association, Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.
STRIPER IDEAS: More than 120 people with ideas on what Virginia's 1995 striped bass season should be turned out for three recent scoping meetings held by the Marine Resources Commission.
The agency's staff will take all suggestions into consideration in drafting plans for that season, to be offered to the commission when it meets March 28.
Season dates and other regulations will not be adopted before late April, possibly as late as the last of May.
Virginia's recreational striper season is being expanded from 32 days to somewhere between 107 and 120 days. The increase has been approved because of a tremendous turnaround by the once-scarce rockfish.
Most anglers want a long fall season, plus a short spring season, according to Travelstead, who said he was impressed both with attendance at the meetings and the variety of ideas.
About 53 attended the meeting in Norfolk, while the Gloucester Point meeting drew 48, and the meeting in Eastville on the Eastern Shore was attended by 20.
LAST OPENING: For years, opening day of the mountain trout season in Virginia has been a major event.
This year's opening, March 18, will be even more special. It will be the last. From now on, trout fishing will be a year-round thing in the state.
The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, which runs the program, is bowing to anglers' wishes in expanding the season.
The agency annually raises hundreds of thousands of trout for stocking.
Most go into cold-water mountain streams. But thousands are also stocked at Northwest River Park in Chesapeake, part of the agency's Urban Trout program.
Incidentally, one of opening day's major attractions will be the 15th edition of the children's fishing program on the Rose River in Madison County.
Landowner Jimmy Graves of Graves Mountain Lodge reserves three-quarters of a mile along the river for kids only. There is no charge and no license is needed. The state gives the area an extra helping of fish.
The site, with ample parking, is on State Route 670 between Criglersville and Syria.
BOAT SHOW: Hampton Coliseum will host its annual Spirit of Hampton Roads Boat Show March 17 to 19, featuring powerboats up to 32 feet.
Included will be bass boats, family cruisers, performance boats, open fishing boats and jet-powered personal watercraft. About 30 Hampton Roads dealers are expected to exhibit their wares.
Show hours will be 5 to 10 p.m. March 17, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. March 18 and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 19. Admission will be $4 for adults and $1 for those under age 11. Details: Henry Waller, 1-804-977-3716.
SHORT CASTS: Dr. Marshall Waters will explain the federal government's new ``900'' telephone number for obtaining a facsimile (fax) of ocean water temperatures at the March 15 meeting of the Virginia Bluewater Gamefish Association. The reports can pinpoint areas of fish concentrations. Waters is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Open to anyone, the meeting will start at 7:30 p.m. at Henry's Seafood Restaurant on Shore Drive near the Lynnhaven Inlet Bridge. ... A 1,741-pound blue marlin has been boated off Portugal. It's the largest billfish of any species ever taken on sporting tackle and is awaiting world-record approval from the International Game Fish Association . ... Harvey Shiflet, skipper of the charter boat Outer Limits, has moved his year-round base of operation to Pirate's Cove Marina near Nags Head. He had been sailing most of the year from Fisherman's Wharf Marina at Virginia Beach. ... Cabins and campgrounds in the Virginia State Parks opened March 1 and will be available through Dec. 4. ... The commercial season on striped bass in North Carolina ocean waters closed Feb. 26, while the season in the Albemarle Sound Management Area opened March 1. It will run through March 31, unless the quota of 49,000 pounds is met first. ... The Eastern Shore of Virginia Anglers Club Saturday night presented its top awards for 1994 to Nina Matthews of Assawoman, C.L. Marshall of Pocomoke, Md., Scott Doughty of Melfa, Bill Hall Jr. of Bloxom, Adam James of Onancock and Beth Smith of Parkeley. ... Don Liverman of Virginia Beach has resigned from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, citing pressing business demands. Gov. George F. Allen has not named his replacement. by CNB