Virginia Fishing News

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA - James Cassaday of Wirtz, Virginia, won the Walmart Bass Fishing League® Shenandoah Division tournament on the James River Saturday with a five-bass catch weighing 15 pounds, 15 ounces. The victory earned Cassaday $4,037 and placed him one step closer to qualifying for the Potomac River Regional Championship in Marbury, Md., Oct. 8-10, where he could ultimately win a new Ranger boat and a Chevy truck.

Oak Hill, Virginia-As the beginning of summer draws near the Future Fisherman Foundation is busier than ever. On the heels of a recent organizational transition, the Foundation has exciting fishing and conservation activities happening all across the country!

Richmond, Virginia- Twelve innovative environmental projects in Virginia and the District of Columbia have received a total of $6.1 million in grants from the Chesapeake Bay Program and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to reduce pollution to the local streams, creeks and rivers that flow to the Chesapeake Bay.

NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA. - You may fish without a license during the first weekend in June. Take advantage of the free fishing days, June 5-7, 2009, and spend quality time outdoors with your family and friends for free!

Alexandria, Virginia- The FishAmerica Foundation, the conservation and research foundation of the American Sportfishing Association, announces that grant monies for marine and anadromous sportfish habitat restoration are available for projects in the coastal United States, the Great Lakes region and the U.S. Caribbean territories. These grants will be awarded to community-based, on-the-ground projects to restore marine, estuarine and riparian habitats, including salt marshes, mangrove forests and freshwater habitats important to anadromous fish species such as salmon and striped bass that spawn in freshwater and migrate to the sea. Projects in the Great Lakes must restore habitat for diadromous sportfish such as lake sturgeon, walleye and brook trout in the Great Lakes and applicable tributaries.

MONETA, VIRGINIA - The Shenandoah Division of the $8 million Walmart Bass Fishing League® will visit Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta, Virginia, May 16 for the second of five regular-season events. As many as 200 boaters and 200 co-anglers are expected to compete in the tournament, which will award as much as $45,000 in cash, including a top award of $6,000 in the Boater Division.

Alexandria, VA - The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission has approved Amendment 2 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Shad and River Herring (River Herring Management). The Amendment prohibits state waters ommercial and recreational fisheries beginning January 1, 2012, unless a state or jurisdiction develops and submits for approval a sustainable management plan by January 1, 2010.

MONETA, VIRGINIA - Harkening back to his Michigan roots, four-time Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year Kevin VanDam picked apart a clear, deep fishery - just like he used to do years ago as a kid in Kalamazoo - on Smith Mountain Lake, to the tune of 61 pounds, 13 ounces, enough to hold off Matt Herren of Trussville, Alabama, for a victory by more than 2 pounds Sunday at the Advance Auto Parts Blue Ridge Brawl.

Richmond, Virginia - The Fisheries Administrators Section of the American Fisheries Society (AFS) presented the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) with the 2008 Sport Fish Restoration Outstanding Project Award, in the category of "Research and Surveys," at the Board of Game and Inland Fisheries meeting in Richmond today. The project, entitled "Restoration and Enhancement of the New River Walleye Fishery" has been a multi-year partnership between fisheries biologists with VDGIF and researchers from Virginia Tech. The Annual Sport Fish Restoration Outstanding Project Awards are intended to both highlight the importance and effectiveness of the Sport Fish Restoration Program and to recognize excellence in fisheries management. Only three of these awards are given nationally every year.

MONETA, VIRGINIA - The Shenandoah Division of the $8 million Walmart Bass Fishing League® will visit Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta, Virginia, April 18 for the first of five regular-season events. As many as 200 boaters and 200 co-anglers are expected to compete in the tournament, which will award as much as $45,000 in cash, including a top award of $6,000 in the Boater Division.