Sure sign of the season: Loch Raven center opens
Tomorrow is the big day. Loch Raven Fishing Center opens for the season at 6 a.m. with 40 boats available for hire, and hungry crappies and bluegills are evident. Daily hours will be 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., possibly later in the day in the future.
Manager Kevin McComas said boat rentals will be $7.25 for one angler, $8.75 for two, and $10 for three. Boats with electric motors can be rented from $18.75 to $21.25 a day. A senior citizen plan offers a motor at half price; launching for private boats is $4.50.
Loch Raven regular Bob Shepperd, now retired as a Baltimore County Police Department maintenance man, fished the shoreline at Hampton Cove to take 12 yellow perch and some bluegills. And his wife, Anne, caught and released a 2-pound smallmouth with the first cast with a blown up nightcrawler.
Calendar ...
* Saturday: Delaware trout season opens with 28,000 rainbows and browns stocked in the six New Castle County (northern sector of the state) streams of White Clay, Wilson Run, Christina, Mill Creek, Beaver Run and Pike Creek. Call 1-302-739-4506.
* Saturday: Appalachian Trail Shelter Workshop: help repair and maintain shelters in nearby Pennsylvania. Call Mountain Club of Maryland, 335-2146.
* Saturday: Championship pheasant shooting contest, all day, Hopewell Pheasantry, Bowers Road, Felton, Pa. Call 1-717-993-6393.
* Saturday: Charity celebrity tent-pitching contest at Sunny's Surplus open house, 7 West Chesapeake Ave., Towson. Also at that time, camp cooking demonstrations by the Coleman Co. The program will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Call 825-8050.
* Saturday/Sunday: Gun and Knife Show, 9 to 5 Saturday and 9 to 4 Sunday, Tall Cedars, 2501 Putty Hill Ave. Call Camrod Rod and Gun Club, 391-8883.
* Saturday/Sunday: Solomons Charter Captains Association Chesapeake Sportfishing Seminar & Show, Holiday Inn, Solomons. $5. Call 1-301-326-2670.
* Saturday/Sunday: Chesapeake Bay Trap Shoot, 10 a.m. both days, Anne Arundel Fish and Game Club, Annapolis. Call John Stevens, 679-4199.
* Wednesday: Eight-mile MCM hike at Loch Raven Reservoir. Call 484-3961.
Planning ahead ...
* April 13-14: Thirty-seventh annual Antique Gun Show of Maryland Arms Collectors Association, Baltimore Convention Center. Call 877-2912.
* April 13-14: Turkey Hunting Field Days, including gun patterning and hunting tips, Green Ridge State Forest. Call John Mash, 1-301-777-2198.
* April 16: Something new. A DNR Home Firearms Safety Seminar, 7-10 p.m., Howard County Fairgrounds. This is a course geared to help those with little or no firearms experience who just want to know how to use them. Call Phil Wagenbrenner, 461-3007.
* April 20: Native tree and shrub sale, Irvine Natural Science Center, St. Timothy's School, Stevenson. Call 484-2413.
* April 20: First tournament of American Bass Association of Maryland, to be held on the Potomac out of Smallwood State Park. Other competition: June 16, Conowingo Lake; July 13 Nanticoke River, and Aug. 11, Dundee Creek. Payback is 95 percent of entry fees. Call Jim Burkhart, 544-5091, or Ed Lohr, 1-301-989-2507.
* April 26-28: Ward World Championship Wildfowl Carving Competition, Ocean City Convention Center, preceded on the 24th and 25th by wildfowl carving seminar. Call 1-800-742-4988.
* May 11-12: First basic fly casting course, Fenwick Fly Fishing School, Frederick, conducted by Jim Gilford, one of the best to cast a fly. Other basic courses June 15-16; July 20-21 and Aug. 10-11. Advanced fly fishing courses, July 13-14 and Aug. 17-18. Call 1-301-663-3966, or write Jim Gilford, 7003 Glen Court, Frederick, Md. 21702.
Ongoing ...
* Those planning on a camping or RV vacation can get a Go Camping America Committee planning kit that includes schedules of outdoor events and a 16-page vacation planner. Call toll-free 1-800-47-SUNNY.
* Free wildlife plot seed plantings available statewide; each packet sufficient to seed 1/16 acre. For information on pickup sites, call 974-3195.
Names and places ...
* Baltimorean Bob Dobart remains one notch above the cut for an invitation to the BASS Masters Classic to be held in Baltimore in August as he practices for the Alabama Invitational at Lake Guntersville, Ala., which opens Wednesday. Roland Martin appears to have clinched a berth, but popular Virginian Woo Daves could miss.
* Anne Arundel countians Larry Rose and Edward Tarr are spearheading a drive to dredge Cattail Creek, the headwaters of which are now impassable even by canoe. A tributary of the Magothy, this badly silted stream was once popular among yellow perch fishermen.
* Another new headboat for Ocean City is the 75-foot Lydia-built Judith M that sails daily now for mackerel out of Bahia Marina, 22nd Street and the bay. Skippered by Capt. Linwood Martin, she carries 75 fishermen, cruises 150 passengers, and will go on a half-day schedule -- 7 a.m. to noon and 1 to 6 p.m. -- when wreck fishing starts. Call 1-301-289-7438. And coming later this month will be the 90-foot Ocean City Princess at Ocean City Fishing Center.
* The Horrible Human Award is in order for the person or persons who stole 500 feet of rope used as a guard rail for visually impaired and wheelchair visitors at popular Bear Swamp Tower Trail of Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge.
* Humane extremists take note: Maryland will receive $1,734,583 for federal aid in wildlife projects and hunter education thanks to excise taxes on sporting arms and accessories. Also, excise taxes on marine fuel and fishing gear will add $1,965,100 in fishery restoration funds.
* Outside Magazine lists Salisbury to Assateague Island as one of the top 10 trips for touring and mountain biking.
* Yamaha has worked out a deal for its outboard owners who served in the Persian Gulf. When they return, their warranties will be extended for the time they spent over there. Dealers have all the information.
* Paul Brouha has succeeded retiring Carl Sullivan as executive director of Bethesda-based American Fisheries Society. Call 1-301-897-8616.
Question box ...
* Robert Souder is a sucker fisherman who objects to the post-stocking closures of trout streams, especially the Patuxent below Rocky Gorge, and wants to know if it's legal, and what is involved.
Our answer: We turned to Bob Bachman, DNR's freshwater fisheries chief, who said put-and-take trout streams are closed by regulation to protect newly stocked fish. "It must be done to ensure these fish aren't disturbed and taken," he said.
However, other than in put-and-take waters that are listed for closures, fishermen are allowed to fish for other species, but unless they have a trout stamp cannot keep trout. They can also fish put-and-take waters at any time other than during the closures listed in the Anglers Guide.
* NOTE: To have an item or question included in the Outdoor Journal, write Bill Burton, The Evening Sun Sports Dept., 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, Md. 21278-0001.