Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, August 9, 1993                   TAG: 9309090317
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TURNING BASS INTO BUCKS IS A CLASSIC ACT

Forty-one of the top bass fishermen in the country will be casting for fishing's top prize, the BASS Masters Classic title, Thursday through Saturday at Lake Logan Martin near Birmingham, Ala. One Virginian, Woo Daves, from Spring Grove, will be in the field of 36 pros and five Wrangler amaterus. Top prize is $50,000 , but past winners have said a win is worth a million dollars in endorsements and public appearances.

THE PLAYING FIELD

Lake Logan Martin and Birmingham is hosting the Classic for the second season in a row. The lake is 17,000 acres (3,000 smaller than Smith Mountain Lake) and contains impressive numbers of largemouth and spotted bass. The weigh-ins will be at the Birmingham-Jefferson County Coliseum, where an estimated 17,000 specators showed up for the final-day ceremonies last year.

WHO TO WATCH

GARY KLEIN strung together an impressive qualifying season that included five top-10 finishes and a victory at the Alabama Inviationlal. That earned him the 1993 B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year tital, his second in four years. The 35-year old California native wants to be the first to win Classic and angler-of-the-year titles the same season.

DENNY BRAUER finished second in the 1992 Classic and has followed that with a strong 93 season, including wins at the Virgnia BASSMASTER Invitation on Kerr Lake and the B.A.S.S. MegaBucks at Lake Guntersville, Ala. Brauer, from Camdenton, Mo., was a scant 3 -pounds, 1-ounce behind Klein in the 93 B.A.S.S Angler-of-the-Year race.

RICK CLUNN doesnt' need much of an edge to win a Classic. The Texan has been in 20 straight, winning four of them, more than any other anglers. Last year the first day of the Classic he located an underwater rockpile and caught 21 bass, 19 of them in a frantic 45 -minute span. The next day, a local angler was on his spot. Clunn finished fourth.

WOO! WOO! WOO!

Virginia's Woo Daves will be fishing in his 12th Classic, an event that brings out the best in this likable Spring Grove angler. He has finished in the top five during the past six Classics.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

The 1994 tournament season begins next month with the Virginia BASSMASTER Invitational at Kerr Lake (Sept. 15-17 North Bend Park). A week later the pros move to the Potomac River in Charles County, Md. for the BASSMASTER BP top 100.

THE 1994 CLASSIC?

If the City of Greensboro, N.C. has its way, it will be at High Rock Lake and the Greensboro Coliseum next August, the nearest it ever has been to the Roanoke Valley. Look for an announcment the final day of the tournament. If it goes elsewhere else, Greensboro is going to be keenly disappointed. Dates already have been blocked off at the coliseum.