Bass tournament begets violence

The story is told in various ways, but as the Associated Press reported it, a week ago an irate 86-year-old man who didn’t want anyone getting near his fishing lines fired several rounds from a small caliber rifle at two bass tournament anglers. One of the tournament fishermen was struck in the arm.

The shooter was arrested and jailed on a charge of aggravated assault. He later posted bond.

The AP said John Burke Yearwood of Madison, Ga., has been fishing the Oconee River for decades.

Greene County Sheriff Chris Houston said the two men who were competing in the tournament told him that when they approached Yearwood’s lines, Yearwood — who was fishing from the shores of a fishing camp — raised a rifle and fired two shots that sent a spray of water in front of the anglers’ boat. But a third shot hit tournament participant Craig Barnett under the left arm. That’s when the two men phoned 911.

Another story making the rounds is that the two had been running up and down the waterway in front of the octogenarian, being obnoxious and not slowing down the boat, which is what they should have done the moment they saw Yearwood’s fishing lines.

Sheriff Houston, meanwhile, appeared almost apologetic on behalf of Yearwood.

“He was just trying to warn [them] away from the fishing lines,” Houston said.

It is one more sad incident in a lengthy log of complaints against tournament fishermen. Not that I condone the violent reaction from Yearwood. No, there’s no room for gun play on land or water.

However, after my May 20 column about rude Potomac River boaters — many of whom are bass tournament participants — my e-mail basket soon filled up with reader complaints and tales about bass boaters who appear to believe God created the Potomac just for them. Tales of ugly behavior on the water seem to be the norm.

What a pity.

Yet another Virginia fish kill — It’s not only Virginia’s Shenandoah River that has been seeing dead or dying fish caused by an unidentified source. The state’s health and fisheries departments are working hard to find the culprit. Now add the upper James and the Cowpasture rivers to the worrisome list of troubled waters.

Bass, suckers, rock bass and sunfish with red and gray sores covering their bodies were collected in the past week from the James and the Cowpasture, and a special task force is trying to solve the mystery. Not all of the fish that were collected have died. Hopefully they can supply a clue as to the cause of the sores.

Virginia isn’t alone when it comes to unsolved fish kill mysteries. Natural resources scientists in Wisconsin and Michigan are trying to deal with viral hemorrhagic septicemia, a waterborne virus that is threatening great numbers of fish in lakes Michigan and Superior. The virus can spread from fish to fish and can survive in water for more than a week. Fish infected with the virus can shed it into water in their urine and reproductive fluids. Infected fish essentially bleed to death.

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