THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 17, 1995 TAG: 9512160430
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB HUTCHINSON
LENGTH: Long : 124 lines
Several changes will mark the 1996 edition of the Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament, which awards ``citations'' to anglers with outstanding catches.
Two will be major:
The 39th annual contest will open Jan. 1, compared to the March 1 start this year. It will continue to run through Dec. 31.
Only anglers covered by a Virginia saltwater fishing license will be eligible to win the contest's hand-lettered plaques, popularly known as citations.
More than 100,000 plaques have been awarded since the tournament began in 1958. The plaques contain the angler's name and residence, the species, and its weight or release.
Claude Bain, director of the state-sponsored contest, said extending it to year-round was done at the request of fishermen.
``It's been the most-sought change for the past four years,'' he said.
The license requirement was added by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, which finances the contest as well as its associated promotional work. The money comes from the state's recreational fishing license fund.
``The voting commissioners obviously felt that since licensed anglers were paying for the program, competition should be limited to license holders,'' Bain said.
Entry forms will include a place for listing the appropriate license number. Those failing to complete the information will not receive citations.
He also said the contest would only reward anglers who purchase their licenses before going fishing, not after the fish is caught.
Currently, the license is needed only on waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries. It is not required of those fishing either ocean waters or along the Eastern Shore seaside. However, the General Assembly could decide this winter to expand it to all state waters.
The changes mean that citations will be available only to those who hold personal licenses; are fishing on licensed private boats, charter boats, headboats, rental boats or piers; and those under age 16 and those age 65 or older and those who hold valid Maryland fishing licenses, reciprocal in Virginia.
In other changes, Bain also announced:
Citations will be given only for released billfish, including blue marlin, white marlin, sailfish, spearfish and swordfish.
The minimum qualifying weight for spadefish will be lowered from 9 pounds to 7.
Kingfish or sea mullet will be eligible for citations for the first time since the 1970s, with a minimum weight of 2 pounds.
An angler who earns citations for any six species in one tournament year will be eligible for recognition as an ``Expert Angler.''
Any angler who earns 25 citations for five different species over any number of years, beginning in 1996, can receive ``Master Angler'' designation.
The non-resident angler-of-the-year award will be dropped.
The angler-of-the-year award still will go to the person with catches or releases for the most species, while the release-angler-of-the-year award will go to the one with releases for the most species.
SUPER STRIPER: Brian Houser of Virginia Beach has boated what is believed to be the biggest striped bass landed in Virginia in more than a decade.
It weighed 55 pounds and has taken the species lead in the annual Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament. Houser was aboard the charter boat High Hopes with skipper David Wright. The fish was boated just west of the North Channel (high-level) span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
It is thought to be the heaviest striper landed in Virginia since John T. Lewis of Stevensville, Va., boated the state-record 61-pounder in 1981. That fish came from the Mattaponi River.
SALTWATER SEMINAR: Saltwater Sportman magazine has scheduled a return engagement at Virginia Beach on Jan. 20 for its popular national saltwater sportfishing seminar. More than 900 attended the seminar's first presentation in the resort city four years ago.
Headliners will include Mark Sosin, host of ``Mark Sosin's Saltwater Journal'' on ESPN; Rip Cunningham, editor-in-chief of the popular Boston-based magazine; and George Poverno, the magazine's senior editor.
Other participants will include Bob Eakes of the Red Drum tackle shop in Buxton, N.C.; Skip Smith, a pioneering offshore fishing guide; Claude Bain of the Virginia Salt Water Fishing Tournament; Dr. Mitch Roffer, nationally known authority on ocean water temperature charts; and outstanding anglers Bill Hall of Bloxom, Va., and Keith Nuttall of Gloucester.
Topics will range from bottom fishing for tautog and sea bass to chunking for giant bluefin and yellowfin tuna and the use of ocean temperature charts.
Reservations are required. The fee is $35. You can sign up by calling 1-800-448-7360.
SKIPPER'S CLASS: If you've always wanted to get a professional boat skipper's license, this may be your chance.
Al Paschall will start his popular licensing class Feb. 6 at the Ocean Park Rescue Station in Virginia Beach. It'll meet three nights a week for four weeks.
The veteran instructor will also help students prepare the paper work necessary to qualify for the exam, conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard. The cost is $500. For details, contact Paschall at 481-6117.
A REEL CATCH: Steve Gowens of Virginia Beach may have made the most unusual catch ever at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
Gowens was trolling a Stretch 25 lure for striped bass when he hooked what turned out to be a fishing line. When he cranked it in, a 20-pound striper was on the line's attached lure.
But that's not all. On the other end of the hooked line was a Shimano spinning outfit, complete with rod and reel.
``It looks brand new,'' said Gowens, who works in the tackle department at Virginia Beach Sports.
BASS TRACKING: Virginia anglers have not fared well in the two most recent tournaments staged by the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society.
The best showing was Chris Daves' 26th place in the Georgia Eastern Invitational. The Spring Grove resident won $1,800.
David Dudley of Lynchburg was 43rd, winning $1,400. No other Virginian finished in the money as O.T. Fears of Oklahoma took the $35,000 top prize.
Virginians also failed to finish in the money in the Bassmaster Top 100 tournament, also in Georgia, where the winner, Ray Sedgwick of South Carolina, won $45,000. Dudley was the top Virginian, ending up 37th, while Woo Daves, Chris' dad, was 39th.
SHORT CASTS: Beginning March 1, North Carolina ocean anglers will be limited to keeping eight flounder a day, with a 14-inch minimum. . . . Mark Reynolds of Franklin beached four citation-winning speckled trout in one day on the Outer Banks. The fish ranged from 4 pounds to 4-9. . . . Brian Crawford of Ivor bagged an eight-point buck on private land in Southampton County. E.C. Harper scored with a big eight-pointer in Chesapeake. . . . Wayne Hayes of Virginia Beach has been named angler-of-the-year by the Virginia Beach Bass Busters. Tom McMahan, Jim Geiser, Jim Hansen, Brian Sarson, Keith Allen and Hayes will constitute the club's six-man team. by CNB