Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, November 28, 1993                   TAG: 9311280033
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LANDOWNERS, ANGLERS FIGHTING TO PROTECT THEIR RIGHTS

Docks are places anglers can cast their lures to shadowy structure where a hefty strike often awaits. Docks also are excellent crappie hot spots.

So fishermen rightfully were troubled when the 1993 General Assembly attracted a bill that would prohibit boats from getting within 50 feet of any shoreline, dock, boat or swimmer at Smith Mountain Lake.

Thanks largely to the lobbying efforts of the Virginia State Bass Anglers Sportsman Society Federation, docks and shorelines didn't become off-limits to casters, but fishermen and boaters were left wondering if Smith Mountain Lake was turning into a them-vs.-us issue. Property owners vs. transit outdoorsmen. Private property vs. public water.

That feeling has been given new life recently by discussions in Franklin, Bedford and Pittsylvania counties of an ordinance that would restrict boats of 20-horsepower or larger from traveling faster than planing speed when within 75 feet of the lake's shore or any dock extending from the shoreline.

The proposed ordinance is being promoted by some lake leaders as a safety issue - Smith Mountain has had more than 30 reported boating accidents this season - but some of its foes see it as disguised effort by certain landowners to rid themselves of outsiders.

For certain, the proposal is full of flaws. One of them is the fact that a plowing boat will create a more damaging wake than a planing one. And how would you convince a judge that a boat was within 75 feet of the shoreline, state game wardens wonder.

The issue even has divided landowners.

"As a homeowner on the lake and a bass fisherman, I feel these few residents who want more laws don't represent all the homeowners on the lake," said Howie Davies. "It appears as though these few homeowners want the lake for their own personal use and enjoyment."

Davies, who is a tournament director for the American Bass Association, has been warning fishermen to expect additional bills in the 1994 General Assembly aimed at restricting "our rights to fish."

Like most issues, this one has two sides. The owners of docks and shoreline property rightfully get miffed when a bass boat races into a cove, creating a massive wake when the engine is killed for a couple of quick casts, then causing a second tidal wave when it jets off to the next dock.

Anglers have a right to be there, a right to fish, but they also have an obligation to behave as sportsmen.

"Have respect for other person's property and don't bounce a lure off a dock or boat that is parked at the dock," he said.

Efforts to pass regulations that favor shoreline property owners at the expense of fishermen increase with property values and boating traffic. The property owners who have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars for their niche on the lake may have difficulty sharing the shoreline with a stranger. The same holds true for streams.

"If they can capture public resources for their own enjoyment and economic benefit, they are going to try to do it," said Tom Evans, a longtime environmental director for the Virginia BASS Federation and recently elected president of the Virginia Wildlife Federation.

Evans was featured in a recent issue of BASSMASTER Magazine. The article stated Virginia's problems are a harbinger of things to come for the nation.

Often overlooked by landowners, Evans said, is the fact that the angler casting to a dock is largely responsible for the good fishing through license fees and excise taxes on equipment.