Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 28, 1991 TAG: 9102280059
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: bill cochran
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Baltimore?
The city hardly is known as a bass fishing hotbed, but Helen Sevier, chief executive officer of B.A.S.S. Inc., has promised "`the fishing will be great."
Competition will be on the upper Chesapeake Bay and 12 rivers that flow into it north of the U.S. 301 bridge.
Not only will the 21st annual world championship of bass angling be out of Virginia after three years on the James River at Richmond, there is the likelihood that all Virginians will be out of the Classic.
Woo Daves, Virginia's top pro, has been doing poorly in qualifying events and will have to score well in the remaining two pro-ams or two invitationals leading to the Classic. From Chester, Daves has competed in eight Classics, finishing second in 1988, fifth in 1989 and fourth last year, all on the James.
Thirty-five professional fishermen - the top 15 from the pro-am standings and the top 20 from the invitational rankings - will earn their way into the Classic. Another five will come from the Wrangler/B.A.S.S. National Championship on Smith Mountain Lake April 18-20. Last year's defending champion, Rick Clunn, gets an automatic invitation.
Daves ranks 44th in the pro-am standings, and his name is nowhere to be seen in the top 50 invitational rankings after last week's Florida Bassmaster Invitational, won by Guido Hibdon.
The Classic daily weigh-ins will be in the 11,800-seat Baltimore Arena.
After three years of casting to the remote James River and its tributaries, the Chickahominy and Appomattox, the Classic contenders are expected to find a marked difference in the upper Chesapeake Bay and its rivers.
For one thing, the water is shallow.
"A great blue heron could stalk it without wetting more than its tail feathers," writes Tom Horton in his Bay Country Reflections on the Chesapeake. "Its bottom is very near its top."
Also different, the anglers will be fishing in areas of heavy commercial and residential development. Docks, piers and old pilings will be abundant.
As for fishing success, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources has promised that the bass population has been resurrected from the low numbers of the past. Improved water quality has brought new growth of milfoil, celery grass and hydrilla. Swelling numbers of fish are holding to this as well as other structures.
The area lacks both fishing prestige and pressure because when you mention bass fishing or tournaments in the region, most people head to the Potomac River, Maryland fish officials said.
The Potomac in Washington, D.C., and Lake Wylie near Charlotte, N.C., often were mentioned as top contenders for this year's Classic.
\ FISHING: Striped bass anglers at Smith Mountain Lake have been reeling in impressive numbers of 20-pound-plus fish. Bucktail appear to be taking the majority of them, although some fishermen continue to rely on shad. Striper angler Larry Davis of Tazewell caught a 7-pound, 4-ounce largemouth on a shad. One of the best stripers, 28 pounds, 10 ounces, was hooked with a Bomber Long A plug by Lewis Crouch of Princeton, W.Va.
The Briery Creek Lake largemouth bass continue to get larger. A 7 3/4-pounder was caught by Larry Brummett of Victoria. Like most Briery fishermen, Brummett was using minnows.
Trout are striking blue wing olive and Hendricks patterns for fly casters on the special-regulations section of Smith River.
The first Boston mackerel of the season have arrived along Virginia's coast. Going after them are party boats from D&M Marina at Lynnhaven Inlet (804-481-7211) and the Virginia Beach Fishing Center at Rudee Inlet (804-422-5700). The fee is $25.
by CNB