Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 19, 1992 TAG: 9203190028
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
During the group's first tournament this week, Nelson, from Fincastle, headed his boat up the twisting Roanoke River arm of Smith Mountain Lake and caught a string of four largemouths that weighed 16 pounds, 9 ounces.
That is an excellent one-man catch, but what made it unforgetable for club members was the fact that more than half the weight came from a single, beer-keg shaped largemouth. It tipped the scales to 9 pounds, 1 ounce.
Nine-pound largemouths come out of Smith Mountain only slightly more frequently than balanced budgets out of Washington.
"I just threw a long cast out into the lake and was carking it fast as I could and it stopped," said Nelson. "I thought it was hung."
But when Nelson pulled on his line something pulled back. Stumps don't do that.
"What a bass!" shouted Ronnie Blevins of Shawsville when he netted the 22 1/2-inch fish for Nelson.
Blevins and Nelson had headed upstream from contest headquarters at Camper's Paradise. They were searching for muddy water, knowing it would hold the most warmth. That should soothe the soul of even a wily and voracious bass on a cold, windswept day, they figured.
"The farther I went the warmer the water got, so I kept on going," said Nelson.
The first stop was where Nelson had caught nine bass a week earlier. Those fish were taken along a rock bluff where several trees had tumbled into the water, their tops providing cover for baitfish. The spot had everything a bass could want - food, cover, warmth - but it didn't produce a single strike this time.
The two anglers spent the day fishing main-channel points. Nelson caught two bass on a jig and another on a spinnerbait.
With less than an hour left to turn the bow of the boat downstream and head for the 5 p.m. weigh-in, Nelson wanted to visit the rocky bluff for just one more cast.
"That was the last place we were going to fish," he said.
He had tied on a chrome-colored Speed Shad and was cranking it hard when the 9-pound, 1-ounce bass took a swipe at it. Nelson didn't realize how perilous the hook-up was until Blevins netted the bass and the lure immediately fell from its lip.
\ Claytor Lake never has had the reputation of producing trophy-size striped bass, not like Smith Mountain Lake, for example. But weights appear to be edging up, an example being the 17-pound, 9-ounce striper recently landed by Nathan Shrader of Pulaski.
Claytor also yielded a fine catch of smallmouth bass for Rick Hurst and Gary Lorton of Pulaski, including four fish that weighed 3 to 4 pounds apiece.
A North Carolina couple, Abe and Linda Abernathy, won the Pro-Am tournament on Kerr Lake with a 29.13-pound catch. The hefty total didn't reflect how tough the fishing was. Only 107 bass were weighed by 150 boats.
At Smith Mountain, Ryan Parnell of Moneta caught a trophy 6-pound smallmouth on a grub. Marshall Dooley of Salem landed a 4.96-pound smallmouth. Sam Hancock of Lynchburg got a 16-pound muskie.
Striped bass fishermen at Smith Mountain are locating cooperative schools of fish, but only occasionally are the the fish large enough to meet the 20-pound minimum for a citation.
\ The Blackwater River arm of Smith Mountain Lake is a popular early-season bass and striper fishing area, but it is going to be a little tougher to get to this season.
The road to the Foxsport XIV ramp is under construction as the marina switches from campsites to condos. The latest access information is available from a recording - 703-721-2451.
by CNB