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I was driving out to hunt for shed antlers a couple weeks ago when a gang of turkeys eased across the road ahead of me.

It was a group of about a half-dozen hens, with one jake and one gobbler. The gobbler basically got out from in front of my truck (in no hurry) and then broke into a strut. I got out as the birds eased up into the woods. I yelped at him a few times and he answered every time.

Man, I wish I could do that during the actual season!

It's hard to believe the season is almost here. Youth day is Saturday; the general season opens April 11.

 I haven't been out since that day a couple weeks ago. So, who's been scouting? And what's going on out there? Anyone plan to hunt on youth day?

I'm working on my pre-season preview for The Roanoke Times so anyone who wants to give me some assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Trevor Ruble, the founder and director of the Hooked for Life ministry, sent me these shots from a great day on the lower James River with Ruble's good friend, catfish guru Mike Ostrander of the James River Fishing School.

Ruble was fishing with friends from their church, Colonial Avenue Baptist, including Darren Bridgers (top) and Jim Rhodes. Bridgers' fish was about 39 inches long and was a fat 40 pounds. Rhodes' fish was 38 inches long and weighed 25 pounds.

Of the group of four's 20 fish, three were citations by either length or weight.

With my wife out of town on business and babysitter plans having fallen through, I had to drag my kids out to Glenvar Middle School last night for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries public meeting on proposed changes to hunting regulations.

It wasn't the ideal place for a pair of tired 7-year-olds, but they did OK. At one point, one of the speakers got one of the girls' attention.

"They just said your name!" she whispered to me.

My good friend Bill Cochran also got mentioned.

Fortunately, my daughter didn't understand that these were not exactly words of praise.

The speaker was criticizing our "biased" coverage of the proposed bear hound license, blaming us (in part) for the backlash against the proposal.

No doubt, Bill and I have both written about the criticism some sportsmen have had regarding the license proposal. But we've also written about the reasons supporters of the proposal think it's a good idea.  

As I've written here previously, while I haven't shied from offering some personal insight into this issue, I certainly haven't taken a strong position. In fact, another attendee last night personally told me he felt my writing on the topic has been "fair."

I tend to agree with him. But, hey, that's just my opinion!

I wasn't offended by the comments from those who took exception to how I have covered this issue. (I think three individuals specifically mentioned biased writing, but I missed the last couple of speakers.) What's great about public meetings is people get to speak and everyone else gets to decide what they think about the speakers.

I don't want to give the impression, either, that anyone went too far in their remarks. I've been to some meetings where speakers and the crowd become unruly, mean and rude. There was nothing close to that last night.

The speakers passionately defended their positions, but were absolutely curteous in so doing. Good for them.

I am certain this topic will draw quite a few speakers to the meeting at DGIF headquarters on June 2, when the agency's board will vote on the proposals. I hope that meeting goes as well as last night's.

I'll have a little more on last night's meeting in my column Sunday in The Roanoke Times.

File this one in the "Even a blind hog..." category.

This is my biggest Smith Mountain Lake striper, caught during a great day I wrote about in a recent column in The Roanoke Times. We didn't weigh the 32-incher, a protected slot fish that was released right after this shot. But it was pretty fat so I estimate it was close to 15 pounds.

But I really can't take any credit. We were trolling, so the boat's captain, my friend Frank Skillman, deserves the kudos. All my buddy Pat Baker and I did was reel in the fish when the rods started bouncing. (Although I think I lost more fish than Pat, so maybe there was some skill necessary.)

The great day was all Frank's doing. He found the fish and he knew what was going to catch them (umbrella rigs). I estimate we caught at least 15 stripers, releasing all but a few under-slot-sized fish.

Frank is the tournament director for the Smith Mountain Striper Club. They are holding a member guest tournament on April 4. It would be some nice karmic justice if Frank does well. But I talked to him a couple days ago and he said it's been tough. I hope he gets on them soon.

If you want to fish the tourney but aren't a member, just call Frank at 721-1220 and he'll get the info on how to sign up. (It's cheap.)

Guide Tom Maynard sent me this shot of client Steve Schachtshneider of Charlotte, who fished with Maynard two days last week on the New River.

They were two good days.

Maynard, who isn't prone to exaggeration, said that they had 59 smallmouths, with seven topping 4 pounds. The biggest was 4 pounds, 12 ounces. They also had two muskies.

Maynard also said that Schachtschneider is a "superior fisherman," so that no doubt helped. But the bottom line is this is just an ideal time to rope big smallmouths.

When water is clear this time of year I usually fish with a jerkbait, such as a Rapala Husky Jerk or X-rap, or a Smithwick suspending Rattlin' Rouge. If the water has some color, I'll toss a big thumper spinnerbait or maybe a big weedless jig.

By the looks of the rain headed our way, we'll be dealing with stained water this weekend. If rivers get up too high, it could be a complete washout. But if they just rise a modest amount and don't get too muddy, the fishing could be fantastic.

Scott Dishon of Christiansburg sent in this shot of a great rainbow he and his son Nathan teamed up to catch Monday while fishing at Toms Creek.

Dishon said they saw the fish and had to work two hours before it finally hit their PowerBait offering. The fish was 24 inches long and weighed just a touch over 5 pounds.

"Nathan was so excited to see a big fish," Dishon wrote. "I think I've created a fishing buddy for life."

I hope so.

I recently mused that I wouldn't be surprised if Smith Mountain Lake could produce a winning bag in the 65- to 70-pound range at the upcoming four-day Bassmaster Elite Series tournament in late April. Proof that the lake can produce impressive catches came at yesterday's David Fritts Outdoors tournament out of the state park.

Rick Tilley (left) and partner Johnny Martin of Moneta had 25.64 pounds to win. Their kicker fish was an awesome 8.93-pounder.

It's rare to see one 8-pounder in a tournament at Smith Mountain Lake. This tournament had two. Runners up Bo Grosvenor and Jimmy Henderson had an 8.48-pound largemouth in their 20-pound bag.

Having won another tournament the day before at the lake, and with several more tournaments on the horizon, Tilley said he preferred to stay mum on the team's fishing techniques. I can't say I blame him.

Thanks to Rob Bailey at SMLfishingGuide.com for sending me this shot.

Jay Berenzweig of Blacksburg said he and a buddy have been doing well on smallmouths in the lower New River the past couple of weeks. They've boated good numbers of fish in the 15- to 19-inch range.

This one is quite a bit bigger.

Berenzweig said the fish taped out at 22.5 inches. He didn't weigh it before the release because his scale is broken. He said he estimated the fish's weight at 6 to 7 pounds, and he added that he has no regrets about releasing the beautiful bass, which hit a Rapala minnow.

Mike Buchanan, owner of Souvlaki's Restaurant in Blacksburg, pulled this great smallmouth bass from the New River during a March 9 float trip with his friend Doug Goldsmith.

Rivers are up a bit from the recent rain. As they come into shape, they could offer some awesome action for prespawn bass. You probably won't crush them, but the fish you catch will be decent.

My favorite lures for prespawn river smallmouths are suspending jerkbaits such as the Smithwick Rattlin' Rouge, and Rapala Husky Jerk and X-Rap. If the water has some color I like spinnerbaits with big Colorado blades.

Has anybody else hit the James or New for smallmouths yet this year? How'd you do?

Have you ever seen a good bluefish blitz? The kind where a school of big chompers just attacks a school of prey? It's unreal.

I felt like I was in the middle of a blitz on Sunday when, after getting some project supplies at Home Depot, I swung into the soon-to-close Sportsman's Warehouse.

The place was an absolute zoo, with lines at that registers that stretched back toward the middle of the store.

Now, I could understand a buying blitz if everything in the store was 50 percent off. But most of what I saw was discounted 10 percent, although fishing terminal tackle was 20 percent off. The best I saw was 30 percent off hunting clothes, some of which already had previous discounts.

Now, 10 percent is better than nothing, 20 percent is getting somewhere and 30 percent is good. But the 10- and 20 percent discounts have been common at the store. All you had to do was get your hands on the discount cards SW handed out like candy at outdoors events and meetings.

The only thing I can figure is that everybody showed up looking for killer deals. When they saw the huge crowds they figured they better get in on the action, even without killer deals, for fear the items they were after would quickly sell out.

"I've had my eye on this tin of pellets for a while but I just couldn't do it when they were $3.99. But now that they're $3.60, I'm all over it! Yeah, man! I saved 40 cents! Now I excuse me while I go spend the next half hour in line."

Strange.