THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 29, 1995 TAG: 9503290569
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB HUTCHINSON, OUTDOORS EDITOR
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
Virginia anglers would be allowed to fish 107 days for striped bass on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in 1995, up from the 32-day season of 1994, under a plan approved for public scrutiny Tuesday.
That was the most significant part of a complex rod-and-reel striper season given preliminary endorsement by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
The commission has called for a public hearing on the entire plan, to be held April 25 at its headquarters at 2600 Washington Ave.
The commission also proposed a 240-day recreational season for stripers in Virginia's coastal waters, plus a 15-day ``trophy fish'' season.
The proposed regulations would be the first liberalization since the rockfish was declared ``fully recovered'' by the Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission. Striper fishing on the East Coast has been severely limited since 1983, when fishery managers warned that the popular game and food fish had almost been wiped out, with excessive fishing the prime culprit.
Under the proposal, Virginia fishermen would have a split Chesapeake Bay season, May 16 through June 15 and Oct. 17 through Dec. 31. The bag limit would be two fish a day, with an 18-inch minimum. The maximum legal size during the first segment would be 28 inches.
The coastal season would also have a two-fish bag limit but a 28-inch minimum. It would run from May 6 through Dec. 31.
During the trophy-fish season, proposed for May 1-15, the bag limit for all waters would be one fish a day, with a 32-inch minimum.
In other action Tuesday, the commission rewrote its rules for gray trout. The 1994 bag limit of 10 fish, with a minimum size of 14 inches, was lowered to a four-fish limit and a 12-inch minimum. The change was in response to headboat and charter boat skippers, who said they had been unable to catch many fish measuring 14 inches or more.
Meanwhile, VMRC commissioner William A. Pruitt announced that Gov. George Allen had approved three new members for the nine-person board that recommends expenditures from the state's saltwater fishing license fund.
Dr. James C. Wright of Virginia Beach was picked to replace Alice Ferguson, also from Virginia Beach; Grayson Rogers of Nassawadox replaces William Hall Jr. of Bloxom; and George M. Hudgins Jr. of James City County replaces Jay Matthews of Williamsburg. The appointments are effective immediately. by CNB