Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 29, 1994 TAG: 9407290080
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BILL COCHRAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: GREENSBORO LENGTH: Medium
David Fritts attracted the crowds Thursday, opening day of the BASS Masters Classic, while Claude ``Fish'' Fishburne drew the attention of the bass.
That put Fishburne, from Canton, Ga., in first place with a five-bass limit that weighed 14 pounds, 10 ounces. Fritts, the tournament's home-grown favorite from nearby Lexington, N.C., languished 28th in a field of 40.
Virginia's Woo Daves snatched four bass from the muddy water of High Rock Lake, giving him a respectable first-day catch of nine pounds, 12 ounces. That was worth a tie for seventh place, just four pounds, 14 ounces - one nice bass - out of the lead.
``I'm just tickled to death I got that,'' said Daves, who lives on the James River near Richmond. ``It's more than I got any day in pre-practice.''
Fishburne, who has had the nickname ``Fish'' since grade school, is a regular on the B.A.S.S. tournament trail but is better known for his odd-ball antics than his fishing ability.
``The first time we met him, he jumped flat-footed from the dock into a bass boat,'' said Bob Cobb, executive editor of BASS Master Magazine.
``I want to thank David Fritts,'' Fishburne said at the weigh-in in the Greensboro Coliseum. ``He had 64 boats following him, and they all left me alone.''
Coming to the weigh-in platform with a worried look etched across his round, boyish face, Fritts admitted that the armada of local boats tracing his moves was a bit unnerving.
``It sounded like a tournament blast-off every time I moved,'' he said. ``The guys done a good job [of keeping out of my way]. I'm not complaining.''
It was the water, not the crowds, that limited Fritts' catch to just two bass, weighing five pounds, six ounces.
``The water was rising and falling, and the bass didn't know what to do,'' said Fritts. ``I still have confidence. I think I had my strategy figured a little wrong, so I think I'm going to have to adjust it.''
Fritts is known as a skillful, deep water crankbait fisherman, but that pattern was disrupted when heavy rains muddied the lake, and caused the dam operators to rapidly lower the level. Veteran tournament angler Guido Hibdon of Gravois Mills, Mo., estimated only about 7,000 of the lakes 15,750 acres were fishable by the end of the day.
``I used a variety of lures,'' said Fishburne, naming worms, jigs and crankbaits. ``And two or three other things that can't be mentioned until Saturday.''
The Classic continues today through Saturday, when the angler weighing the heaviest three-day total of bass will be awarded $50,000.
``That's just a down-payment,'' said Ray Scott, founder and president of B.A.S.S. ``Endorsements can make a Classic winner a millionaire.''
Dion Hibdon, of Stover, Mo., weighed the biggest bass of the day, a five-pound, eight-ounce largemouth. That helped boost his five-fish total to 12 pounds, eight ounces, enough for second place. His father, Guido, was fifth with 10 pounds, seven ounces.
Behind Mickey Bruce of Buford, Ga., who is third, is Bryan Kerchal, a B.A.S.S Federation amateur from Newton, Conn. Despite the tough fishing conditions, the first day produced 12 limits, while only two contenders failed to catch a keeper.
Daves said he fished a variety of patterns, catching two bass 14 feet deep on a Woo Worm and two more five feet deep on a jig.
``I'm worried to death whether I'll be able to catch just one tomorrow,'' he said. ``People would see me catch one or two bass, and I would come back 15 minutes later, and two or three people would be sitting on the fish. Not tournament fishermen, but other fishermen.''
by CNB