THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 14, 1996 TAG: 9601140216
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB HUTCHINSON
LENGTH: Long : 132 lines
For thousands of outdoors enthusiasts in Hampton Roads and Northeastern North Carolina, it's time to thump hulls and kick tires. The show season is about to begin.
Not the kind of shows with masked opera singers, and certainly not with rock 'n' roll or heavy drama. Not even light drama or comedy.
Instead, it's time for boat shows, camping shows and fishing shows:
The 15th annual Tidewater Recreational Vehicle and Sports Show kicks off the season Friday with a three-day stand at the Virginia Beach Pavilion.
About 200 units will be displayed, according to Bruce Moore of Camp-A-Rama in Chesapeake. They'll range from fold-down camping trailers to exquisite motor homes.
The show will also feature conventional travel trailers, fifth-wheel travel trailers, conversion vans and even four-wheel-drive off-road vehicles. In addition, numerous campgrounds and camping-accessory dealers will have exhibits.
Hours will be 1 to 9 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday; and noon to 6 p.m. next Sunday. Admission will be $4 for adults, $2 for kids age 12 and under.
The Salt Water Sportsman magazine National Seminar Series on fishing will also be at the Pavilion on Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The camping show will be in the Pavilion's vast convention center, the fishing show in the adjoining auditorium. The seminar costs $35, with reservations available by calling 1-800-448-7360.
Bassarama '96 will make a three-day stand at the State Fairgrounds in Richmond Jan. 26-28. It will feature bass-fishing professionals, boats, motors, trailers and state finals of the Casting Kids competition.
Hours will be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission will be $7; those under age 16 accompanied by a paying adult will get in free.
Closer to home, some salt has been added to the fourth annual Bass Expo, Feb. 2-4 at Hampton Coliseum. It now is the Bass 'N' Saltwater Expo.
Show director Tim Jones of Suffolk said he was expanding the event at a time when the Coastal Conservation Association of Virginia had decided to discontinue its Virginia Beach show.
``We're expanding because we're in the heart of the saltwater capital of the East Coast and it makes great sense to include it,'' Jones said.
Bass-fishing pros in attendance will include Larry Nixon of Texas, the all-time leading money winner. Also on hand will be up-and-coming pros Rick Morris of Virginia Beach and Randy Howell of Littleton, N.C.
Saltwater seminars will be conducted by Dr. Jim Wright of Virginia Beach, with freshwater striper seminars by Tom Richards of Tennessee.
Kids will be able to compete for $750 in savings bonds in a trout-fishing contest and also in a youth casting contest.
The heart of the show, however, will be the display of a wide range of boats, motors, trailers, trucks and fishing gear.
Hours will be noon to 9 p.m. Feb. 2; 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Feb. 3; and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 4. Admission will be $5 for adults; $2 for those age 10-16; and free to those under age 10.
Finally, the granddaddy of them all, the 43rd annual Mid-Atlantic Sports and Boat Show, will set up in the Virginia Beach Pavilion Feb. 17-25, a two-weekend run.
More than 200 boats of just about every size, shape and configuration will be exhibited in the Pavilion and on adjacent grounds. Displays also will feature inboard and outboard motors, trailers, marine hardware, electronics and gear.
Numerous local fishing and boating groups will be represented, along with boating-safety organizations and some government agencies, including the Federal Communications Commission, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
The annual Virginia Sport Fishing Forum, held in conjunction with the boat show for several years, will not be a part this year. We'll give you more details on the boat show a little later.
AN ERA ENDS: Billfishing lost one of its real pioneers and true gentlemen with the death of Ernal Foster of Hatteras a few days ago. He was 85.
Foster founded the Albatross Fleet of charter boats in 1937, when getting to the island, the heartland of the Outer Banks, was a long and difficult trip.
In 1951 he hooked, fought and landed the first blue marlin ever taken out of Hatteras. The island since has become world-famous for its marlin fishing.
Foster turned his boat over to his son Ernie a few years ago but continued to fill in on half-day trips to Hatteras Inlet.
``This is really the end of an era,'' said Raymond Basnett of Hatteras Island, a lifelong friend. ``He was the last of his breed.''
N.C. LICENSE: You probably will need a license to go saltwater fishing in North Carolina starting in 1997.
This seems to be the overwhelming opinion of a wide-ranging citizens group looking into the future of North Carolina's marine fisheries and those who participate in them.
Additionally, a great many Tar Heel anglers also approve of the plan, provided that the money is used exclusively to improve fisheries.
The group, known as the Moratorium Study Committee, apparently is ready to endorse a saltwater license, with the understanding that the funds would go into a special fund dedicated only to resource management.
Bob Lucas, chairman of the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission and head of the study group, said it looks as though the final report will be issued in May.
The study, which covers both commercial and recreational fishing, has been ongoing for almost two years. There has been a moratorium on issuing new commercial licenses for that time.
BOATING CLASS: A free class in piloting, seamanship and small-boat handling will begin Wednesday under the auspices of the Nansemond River Power Squadron.
The class will meet at 7 p.m. each Wednesday in Nansemond River High School, on Nansemond Parkway in Suffolk. The only charge will be for materials. For details or registration, contact Shep Trant at 483-8168.
WORKSHOPS: Eric Burnley of Virginia Beach has scheduled two saltwater fishing workshops.
The first will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feb. 3 at the Marina at Marina Shores off Great Neck Road in Virginia Beach; the other Feb. 10 at the Salt Ponds Marina in Hampton.
Sessions will cover fishing for striped bass, cobia, gray trout, speckled trout, bluefish, king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, red drum and flounder. Demonstrations on the use of various tackle also will be presented.
The cost will be $25, $20 for those under age 16 and for women. For details, call Burnley at 430-1903.
SHORT CASTS: Robert E. Rose of Chesapeake bagged one of the biggest deer reported in Eastern Virginia this year. It was a 12-pointer with a 23 1/2-inch spread, killed in Prince Edward County. . . . John Kavanaugh of Chesapeake earned one of the last Virginia saltwater citation awards for 1995 when he boated a 6-pound speckled trout Dec. 31. He was aboard the Reel Deal. . . . The last day of the hunting season produced Wil Pickering's first unassisted buck, a spike killed in Suffolk. Wil recently turned 12. . . . Five Hampton Roads skippers are entered in the Mount Gay Rum/Yachting Magazine Race Week at Key West, Fla. They are Nicholas Worth and F. Gray Kiger of Norfolk, Larry Bryant of Portsmouth, Frank Glawson of Hampton and Griffin Anderson of Yorktown. Competition begins Monday. . . . Christopher Bradshaw, 13, of Virginia Beach, released a sailfish, and his dad, Chris, boated a 62-pound cobia during a recent trip on the charter boat Relentless out of Bud-N-Mary's Marina at Islamorada in the Florida Keys. by CNB