Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 26, 1990 TAG: 9006260221
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For the next five days, an 18-foot 482V-Ranger Comanche, Baltic blue over silver mist, will be the magic carpet they use to chase big fish, to chase each other and to chase an elusive dream across Smith Mountain Lake.
The winner Saturday, after two days of practice and three days of hard-nosed competition, will be honored as B.A.S.S. Federation Angler of the Year.
But there's more - more than the tournament newspaper clippings, the TV exposure, the coverage in BASSMASTER Magazine, the shared spotlight with the world's most famous bass fisherman, Ray Scott.
The biggest prize is a berth in the BASS Masters Classic, which will go to the winner and the four other fishermen who have the heaviest catch among the B.A.S.S. Federation's five geographic divisions.
Even the $7,000 first-place prize pales in comparison to a slot in the Classic. For a competitive bass fisherman, the Classic is the World Series, the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the Indianapolis 500.
The federation championship is no easy shortcut to the Classic, in which 36 pros already are entered. The road to Roanoke and Smith Mountain Lake began a year or so ago for these 40 fishermen. It started with back-home club tournaments and it advanced to state fish-offs and regional competition. Some 35,000 federation members now are down to 40, amateurs in name only.
They come from 21 states and their average age is 39. There is a fishing guide from Maine, a plumbing apprentice from Michigan, a boat salesman from Colorado, a carpenter from Virginia.
A half-hour down the road from the Airport Marriott where they examine one of the contest's 40 identical Ranger boats, Smith Mountain awaits. It is like an arena, a freshly mowed ball park, a race track. A mild, June breeze stirs the surface until it sparkles like a display of giant diamonds.
To these fishermen, the lake is not a mirror but a window, and beginning at 6 a.m. today, they will peer through it. They will zap it with one of the three Hummingbird locator/depth sounders mounted on their boats. They will poke it and probe it with lures cast from one of the five rods they are allowed to carry. They will gaze into it through Polarized glasses.
The bass will be there. Lt. Karl Martin of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries has just told them there are plenty of fish.
But this is June. Smith Mountain bass do cantankerous things in June.
They leave the shoreline early, about the time the contestants will be rolling down I-581 after their 4:15 a.m. breakfast. They follow the baitfish, easing toward deep water where they spend the day suspended.
Suspended bass are tough to catch, especially at Smith Mountain.
The contestants have been told the lake has 20,000 acres. But that is surface acres. There are vertical acres, too. This is a deep lake, more than 100 feet in spots. The water is well oxygenated and a bass can be anywhere it wants to be.
Gathered around the metal-flecked Ranger, the 40 fishermen, some wearing shirts that are a signboard of sponsors, expressed no fear. Everyone was happy just to be there on the eve of the first practice day.
At sunup today, each will head down the lake with 46 gallons of fuel in the tank, a lunch in the dry well and hope in his eyes. This is their crack at the big time.
by CNB