Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 29, 1993 TAG: 9307290007
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But if your name happens to be Wright or Beck, it seems that the higher the temperature the heavier the catch, something that goes against the grain of everything said about July bass fishing.
At least, that's how Bobby Colston sees it from his tackle shop on Lake Gaston, where the phone is ringing with inquiries about the big catch: 10 bass that weighed a shade under 50 pounds.
Who caught them? Where were the guys from?
"Wright and Beck," is about all Colston knows. No first names. "Two school teachers." From? "Down about Durham, N.C., I believe."
What Colston can say with certainty, when Wright and Beck show up at Gaston for a summertime bass tournament, everybody else fishes for second place.
"They come up here and tear us up," he said.
You could hear the rip all the way to Roanoke on Saturday when the pair won the Tarheel Teams Tournament with a one-day catch that weighed 48.60 pounds. That's right, nearly a 5-pound-per-bass average, one of them an 8-pounder.
It was a springtime-spawning-season-size catch snatched from that angling vice grip called dog days.
The full names of the two fishermen are David Wright and Gerald Beck, and they live in Lexington, N.C. That information comes from Bucky Bass - no joke - the tournament director.
You don't expect a lot of free information from fishermen who have a lip-lock on dog days' success, but Colston learned that Wright and Beck landed a total of 30 bass and were culling fish by 9 a.m.
"They did make a statement to us that at 2 p.m., they pulled up on a spot and caught three 5-pounders back-to-back," said Bass.
That kind of success wasn't entirely unexpected, Bass said.
"This time of year we see some large catches, especially on the lakes: Gaston, Kerr and High Rock."
But they come from a handful of experts.
"The weekend angler, it would be tough for him to go out and do it," Bass said. "These particular guys who fish with us, a lot of them have done their homework. When it gets this time of the year, they know exactly where the fish are supposed to be and if they are there they will load the boat up."
Wright and Beck reported using two lures, a Carolina-rigged plastic lizard and a deep-running Poe's crankbait. Most of the catches came from 15- to 18-foot depths.
"One of them fished a lizard all day, and the other one threw a crankbait," said Bass.
"You have to know how to fish deep water," said Colston. If there is a single bass-hugging stump in a cove, Wright and Beck will have knowledge of it, he said.
The second-place catch also was an eye-popper at 35.54 pounds.
A couple of Virginia teams placed in the top 10 with hefty catches. Lee Neighbors of Lynchburg and Curtis Talbott of Forest were third with just over 33 pounds. Jerry Elder and Harry Hughes of Lynchburg had 23.92 pounds for ninth spot.
"It took 22 pounds to get a check," said Bass, who paid through 10 places.
\ OTHER CATCHES: Kenneth Rakes of Charlottesville showed the locals at Smith Mountain Lake how to do it with a 28-pound, 15-ounce striped bass, which he weighed at Campers Paradise.
Most of the Smith Mountain stripers are being landed on bait. The dam and the S-curves are a couple of productive areas.
Trophy trout continue to be reeled in at Lake Moomaw, where Roger Downy landed browns that weighed 6 1/2 and 5\ pounds. Charlotte Andrews of the Bait Place has been weighing a steady take of 4-to 5-pound Lake Moomaw trout.
Gary Haynes of Cana caught a 16-pound, 5-ounce muskie at Claytor Lake. Chuck Law of Bluefield, W.Va. landed a 3-pound, 15-ounce smallmouth on a plastic worm.
by CNB