THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 20, 1994 TAG: 9411200177
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB HUTCHINSON
LENGTH: Long : 119 lines
A recent boating accident at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel underlines the unwritten rules-of-the-road for fishing along the structure at night: He who has the biggest boat, rules.
Unfortunately, the legal rules for operating a vessel at night, at the bridge-tunnel or anywhere else, are a bit different. But far too few people follow the legal rules, according to Chris Bradshaw, who says that sooner or later, someone is going to be killed there.
Fortunately, there were no injuries in the recent mishap.
Bradshaw has more than a passing interest. He is marine patrol officer for the city of Virginia Beach, a seagoing cop, if you will, who regularly patrols bridge-tunnel waters.
``Fishermen need to study and understand the rules-of-the-road,'' said Bradshaw, himself an enthusiastic striper fishermen. ``The situation has really gotten out of hand. You see people anchored with their running lights on, which is against the law, and you see people running around with only an anchor light on, which is against the law.
``The other important thing that boaters need to understand and practice, regardless of the size of their boat, is that at night you are supposed to pass port-side to port-side, which means on the side with the red running light.
``The way it is now, at least with a lot of fishermen, is a game of chicken. Two boaters are trolling along the bridge in opposite directions and the one with the most guts will force the other to turn away, regardless of the rules.''
Problems heighten during the striped bass season, Bradshaw said, when more than 250 boats may be strung out along the crossing.
``But we're stepping up our enforcement,'' he said. ``We hope to have someone out there every night, from sunset until sunrise, during the rest of the season.'' That season runs from midnight each Wednesday until midnight each Sunday, through Dec. 18.
TAR HEEL STRIPERS: The recreational season for keeping striped bass in North Carolina's Albemarle Sound Management Area will open at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday and run through midnight, Dec. 21.
The area includes the Albemarle, Croatan, Roanoke and Currituck sounds and most of their tributaries, except the Roanoke, Eastmost, Middle and Cashie rivers.
Fishing will be allowed only on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, and could be closed earlier if the Division of Marine Fisheries determines that the state's striper quota has been reached. The bag limit will be three fish daily, with a minimum size of 18 inches.
Recreational fishing for stripers will be allowed in the Atlantic Ocean from sunrise Dec. 1 through midnight March 31, with a 28-inch minimum and a one-fish daily bag. Again, the season could be closed if the quota is met.
PIER PROMOTER: Bill Satterfield of Virginia Beach has launched a campaign to have the city open the Little Island Fishing Pier at Sandbridge for the ocean season on striped bass.
The pier, operated by the city, is open only mid-spring through mid-autumn. Ocean stripers will be legal in Virginia from Dec. 19 through March 31.
``I'm going to do anything I can, from going before City Council to talking with the Department of Parks and Recreation, to get it open,'' Satterfield said.
``The city doesn't have to staff the pier, just open it. Put up a sign which says use it at your own risk, that the city will not be responsible for accidents. It could be a great place to catch stripers, especially if you don't have a boat.''
A GOOD MAN: Given a choice, Ben Babb almost certainly would have preferred to die a week after the deer season closed, not a week before it opened.
The choice wasn't his. The huntmaster of the Manry Hunt Club of Courtland, in Southampton County, died Monday at 69.
Although the club has a tightly controlled membership, guests were always made to feel welcome.
``If you're going to have a guest, either in you home or at your hunting club, you should offer them the best you have,'' Babb always said. He practiced it.
Ben Babb was a great deer hunter. He was large, powerful, dynamic man who didn't much tolerate fools and he tolerated liars not at all. ``If a man's word isn't good,'' he would say, ``what good is the man?''
As evidenced by Thursday's tremendously large funeral, Ben Babb will be missed greatly. He was more than a man's man. He was a good man.
RUNNER-UP: Rick Morris, the bass-fishing professional from Virginia Beach, has scored again, finishing second in the Red Man Classic on Lake Seminole at Bainbridge, Ga.
Morris picked up $3,500 for the finish and another $300 by having the biggest largemouth at 6 pounds, 4 ounces. His total catch weighed 16-8.
First place went to Andy Cannon of Conyers, Ga., at 21-9.
Morris, 32, has won more than $30,000 in bass-fishing tournaments this year.
TURKEY TALK: With interest in hunting turkeys at an all-time high, efforts are under way to resurrect the Tidewater Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation.
To that end, a group of avid turkey hunters has tentatively scheduled a fund-raising dinner for April 7, just a few days before the opening of the 1995 spring gobbler season.
The turkey soiree will cost $40 for individuals and $60 for couples. One membership in the National Wild Turkey Federation is included.
The fund-raiser will be at the Holiday Inn Executive Center on Greenwich Road in Virginia Beach.
Corporate sponsors, at $500 a table, also are being sought, according to Pete Costenbader of Virginia Beach, chairman of the banquet. For details, call Costenbader at 340-2006 or from Dan Arris at 554-0477.
SHORT CASTS: Chad Carnahan, a young fisherman from Virginia Beach, has pulled off something a lot of serious speckled trout fishermen never accomplish: He caught two citation-winning trout the same day. One weighed 8-4, the other 6-6. Both came from waters at the First Island of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. . . . Anthony Revelle, 14, of Norfolk, used a bow to bag a five-point whitetail on his first bow-hunting trip. He was in Campbell County, Va. . . . Eighteen new patrol boats have been added to the fleet of law-enforcement craft used by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The boats range from 17 to 21 feet and will be scattered across the state. The average cost, according to department spokesman Joe Cooke, was $20,000. The agency has prime responsibility for enforcing the Boating Safety Act of 1958. . . . The Virginia Marine Resources Commission also has a new vessel, a 42-foot workboat named the J.B. Baylor. It will be used in the state's oyster-replenishment program. Baylor was a U.S. Coast Survey officer who supervised work which delineated the state's public oyster grounds. That famed Baylor Survey was completed 100 years ago. by CNB