DATE: Sunday, July 13, 1997                 TAG: 9707130180

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C12  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Bob Hutchinson 

                                            LENGTH:  102 lines

FISHERIES SERVICE BOOSTS BLUEFIN TUNA BAG LIMIT TO 5 PER BOAT PER DAY

Tuna fishermen from Virginia and other East Coast states have been given a major bluefin break by the National Marine Fisheries Service, which regulates fishing in the nation's offshore waters.

Effective immediately, the bag limit for bluefin tuna essentially has been increased from one to five a day, a move that should bring smiles to the faces of the area's anglers, charter skippers and marina operators.

Here are the latest details in the seemingly endless tuna saga:

Through July 20, the daily bag limit per boat will be four bluefins between 27 and 47 inches, plus one between 47 and 73 inches, with the length measured from the tip of the nose down the curved side to the fork of the tail.

Between July 21 and Aug. 7, the bag limit per boat will be four fish between 27 and 47 inches. After Aug. 7, the limit per boat will revert to one bluefin between 27 and 73 inches.

In addition, the one-fish-per-year limit remains in effect for bluefins of 73 inches or more, with boats required to have permits from the fisheries agency.

The change, according to the agency's Rebecca Lent, was granted after June bluefin catches were below projections, apparently because anglers were turned away by the one-fish limit.

The increase is welcome news to a lot of folks, according to John Crowling, manager of the Virginia Beach Fishing Center at Rudee Inlet, where several charter boats are berthed.

``This is going to make a lot of folks feel better about going tuna fishing,'' Crowling said. ``It's going to help our charter skippers. These guys have been taking a beating. People just didn't want to pay to go fishing when the entire boat couldn't keep but one fish.''

Crowling also had praise for Ron Rinaldo, a fisheries agency representative who met last week with him and Virginia Beach charter guides.

``He listened to us, he took our message to Washington and we got results,'' Crowling said. ``That deserves a big `thank you.' ''

RECORD SPRING: Virginia hunters racked up another record kill for the spring turkey gobbler season, bagging 13,247 birds. That's a 3 percent increase over the record of 12,895 set just a year earlier. The biggest increase was east of the Blue Ridge, up 4 percent. The western kill increased only 1 percent.

Once again, Bedford County, with 484 recorded kills, and Franklin County, with 376, were the best areas in the state for getting your bird. Other top counties included: 3. Botetourt, 332; 4. Scott, 291; 5. Grayson, 275; 6. Rockbridge, 262; 7. Pittsylvania, 256; 8. Buchanan, 250; 9. Augusta, 243; and 10. Allegheny. 236.

The record reflects two factors, according to Bob Duncan, head of the wildlife division of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries:

``First, we have a good supply of birds and they're doing very well under our present management plan. We also have a lot of turkey hunters.

``We estimate that the number of hunters going for spring turkeys has increased 58 percent in the past five years. We believe we now have 68,000 active spring turkey hunters in the state.

``There's a growing demand for quality turkey hunting in Virginia and we're doing everything within our reach to provide it.''

SHOW TIME: If you're a deer hunter having trouble getting through summer and into the fall season, mark your calendar for Aug. 8-10.

That's when the Virginia Deer Classic will be held at the Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show at the Show Place, 3000 Mechanicsville Turnpike, Richmond.

More than 200 mounted deer heads were displayed at the 1996 event, and show sponsors expect at least that many this time.

Competition will be in both typical and non-typical categories, with classes for various arms, including bow and muzzleloader.

For details, contact Hugh Crittenden, show manager, at 1-804-748-7529.

KIDS DAY: About 70 young anglers from across Hampton Roads will be treated to a free day of fishing July 23 at the Lynnhaven Inlet pier in Virginia Beach.

The outing, known as the Sunshine Program, will be compliments of pier owner Charlie Cashman, with assistance from the Salvation Army and the Portsmouth Anglers Club. Many of the participants have never fished before.

For details, contact Thomas M. Scott of the Portsmouth Anglers at 487-1161.

NO CUTS: Two officials of Trout Unlimited have written to Gov. George Allen, asking him to restore funding for the Virginia Trout Stream Sensitivity Study.

The letters were written by Charles Gauvin, Trout Unlimited national president, and Robert Belton, president of the Virginia Trout Unlimited council.

Gauvin wrote: ``About a third of Virginia's native brook trout streams already have become too acid-sensitive to support healthy populations and another third are threatened with the same fate. This is a vital ongoing monitoring program.''

The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has proposed eliminating the program's $64,000 annual budget.

SHORT CASTS: Bill Hall of Bloxom, Va., released a tarpon estimated at 110 pounds on a recent trip to Sarasota, Fla. . . . Bill Shepherd of Virginia Beach released several permit, caught on fly tackle, on a recent trip to Belize, in Central America. . . . Using fly tackle, Bob Bois of Seaview on the Eastern Shore released a 12-pound Atlantic salmon and several rainbow trout up to 5 pounds on a recent trip to Nova Scotia, Canada. . . . The annual Grady White Owners Tournament will be held July 26-27 out of Bay Point Marina in Norfolk. For details, contact Norfolk Marine at 461-3361. . . . Did you know: Of the 19 16-pounds-and-up largemouth bass caught in Texas, 14 came from Lake Fork?

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu