Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 1, 1990 TAG: 9007010165
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The rock pile, in about 20 feet of water, where a long, sloping point takes a sudden drop, produced five bass for the 25-year-old angler during the Wrangler/B.A.S.S. National Championship that ended Saturday.
Those five fish, plus four others caught on scattered brush piles, gave him a three-day tournament total of 19 pounds, 13 ounces, good enough to win the $7,000 first-place prize and a trip to the BASS Masters Classic in Richmond.
"Every morning I would leave and run down to the point," said Byrd, a construction manager from Stone Mountain, Ga. "I would catch one fish on that point. No matter how long I'd stay, I could just catch that one fish at a time. All of them came on that little rock pile."
When the point bass shut off, Byrd said he would move to brush piles, then return to crawl a plastic, 4-inch Zoom worm over the rock pile in an effort to entice lethargic bass.
At times, it appeared the Smith Mountain bass were locked in watery vaults, and no single fishermen ran away with the correct combination. Byrd was 2 ounces - the weight of a minnow - ahead of Virginia's Carlos Sellers.
A U.S. Army sergeant major from Fort Belvoir, Sellers snatched Saturday's heaviest catch from the lake, totaling 9 pounds, 4 ounces. He traded the wiggling green cargo for $3,500 and a trip to the Classic as top contender from the Eastern Division.
In front of a sweltering weigh-in crowd that filled about one-third of the 3,216-seat LancerLot, Seller described his technique as a two-lure presentation. He would cast one type lure to a brush pile, then follow up with a different lure.
"It really didn't matter which you threw into the brush pile first, a worm or a crankbait; they hit the second lure, regardless," he said. "The first lure excited the fish and the second caught him."
The wind blew hard Saturday morning, chasing away the haze and sucking in putty-colored clouds that softened the bite of the sun. That moved some of the bass that had been holding tight to boat docks, and it disrupted a pattern Art Ferguson had used Friday that put him 2 ounces out of the lead.
"I resorted to fishing outside the docks [Saturday] and caught only undersized fish," said the Rochester, Mich., plumbing apprentice. Ferguson finished third with 17 pounds, 6 ounces. He will advance to the Classic as winner of the Northern Division of the B.A.S.S. Federation.
Also headed for the Classic is Bert Thompson of Shreveport, La., the top man in the Central Division, and Jeff Boyer, a Kent, Wash., fishing guide who was leader in the Western Division.
The Classic is scheduled for Aug. 23-25 on the James River in Richmond.
Jerry Elder of Lynchburg was the only competitor to land a limit of five bass Saturday, and the catch was enough to overcome a poor second-day showing in which he stuck too long to a pattern that wasn't producing.
"You have to do it three days in a row," he said. "I messed up one day and that was one too many."
Elder took a 50-mile run Saturday, racing to some rocky bluffs on the Blackwater River side of the lake. He used a buzzbait to entice 15 bass, six of them keeper-size.
"I caught a fish on the first cast. I think if I'd went the other two days I would have won it," he said.
Instead, he had stayed on the lower end of the lake.
"I did good the first day and didn't have any reason not to go back the second day," Elder said. "You never leave fish. That is one of the golden rules of tournament fishing. But the heat and the lack of wind moved a lot of the fish off cover, and the ones still there were so spooky you couldn't get a hit."
Byrd was the youngest competitor ever to be selected the world's top amateur bass fishermen.
"Have you ever fished the James River," asked Ray Scott, the tournament's master of ceremonies.
Byrd shook his head.
The contestant's 40 fishermen entered 137 fish, which were returned to the lake by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Al Mills, the B.A.S.S. environmental director, said survival was excellent.
"I'm saying we approached 99 percent at this tournament," he said.
The contest's biggest bass, a 3-pound, 14-ounce largemouth, was landed Saturday by Chuck Thilman of Collinsvile, Ill., who was casting a deep-diving Rogue to a boat dock.
Only three limits were caught. Three fishermen failed to catch a bass.
The final standings:i
INDIVIDUAL
1, Lee Byrd, Stone Mountain, Ga., 19 pounds-13 ounces, $7,000. 2, Carlos Sellers, Fort Belvoir, 19-11, $3,500. 3, Art Ferguson, Rochester, Mich., 17-6, $2,000. 4, Jerry Elder, Lynchburg, 14-13, $1,500. 5, David W. Barnes Sr., Weeks Mill, Maine, 13-3, $1,000. 6, William Byrd, Lawrenceville, Ga., 11-6, $700. 7, Joe Lee Hurlbert, Virginia Beach, 10-4, $500. 8, Bert Thompson, Shreveport, La., 8-8, $300. 9, Stephen Hicks, Riverdale, Ga., 8-6, $300. 10, Burl Triplett, Woodbridge, 8-5, $300. 11, Mike Holt, Lexington, Tenn., 8-4, $300. 12, Kerry Schlipp, Chisago City, Minn., 7-7, $300. 13, Hoot Gibson, Philadelphia, Miss., 7-4, $300. 14, Donald Holcomb, Lutz, Fla., 7-3, $300. 15, Gordon Fox, Union City, Tenn., 7-2, $300.i
TEAM
1, Eastern Division, 76 pounds-5 ounces, Carlos Sellers leader, $12,000. 2, Southern Division, 66-11, Lee Byrd, $8,000. 3, Northern Division, 51-2, Art Ferguson, $4,000. 4, Central Division, 39-6, Bert Thompson, $3,000. 5, Western Division, 27-4, Jeff Boyer, $2,000.
by CNB