Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 18, 1993 TAG: 9309180226
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SOUTH HILL LENGTH: Medium
The Lexington, N.C., angler reeled in first place in the Virginia B.A.S.S. Invitational on Friday, with a three-day Kerr Lake catch that weighed 44 pounds, 14 ounces.
The tournament was the first of the new season, following the BASS Masters Classic, which Fritts won in July in Birmingham, Ala.
While Denny Brauer and Zell Roland, the second- and third-place finishers, fished a Pop-R surface plug, Fritts went deep with a new Poe's 400 Classic lure. Most of his bass were caught 15 to 20 feet deep around stumps and brush piles.
"It is the same bait I won the classic on," Fritts said.
Fritts' hometown fishing buddy, Gerald Beck, was leading the tournament going into the final day, but dropped to seventh on Friday, when his catch fell to three bass weighing 5 pounds, 15 ounces.
Brauer was a scant 11 ounces behind Fritts, and Roland was 13 ounces off the first-place pace. Roland was penalized 2 ounces on Friday for entering a dead fish.
Fritts spent most of the tournament fishing Nutbush Creek, then at noon Friday began to run out of strikes.
"About 2 o'clock I said, `Well, I'm going to go where some big fish live,' " Fritts said.
He moved to Grassy Creek and hooked three hefty largemouths, the last one just 10 minutes before quitting time.
Although it was called the Virginia Invitational, there was no apparent home-field advantage. The top Virginia angler was Jim Sumrell of Virginia Beach. Sumrell finished 23rd with a total of 25 pounds, 6 ounces.
Virginia's best-known bass fisherman, Woo Daves of Spring Grove, finished 80th with an 18-pound, 2-ounce total.
The top 10 finishers Friday after the $195,000 BASSMASTER Virginia Invitational tournament at Kerr Lake, including name, number of fish, number of dead fish and weight in pounds and ounces:
David Fritts 15 0 44-14
Denny Brauer 13 0 44-03
Zell Rowland 14 1 44-01
Rick Clunn 15 0 43-03
Jay Yelas 15 0 39-06
Peter E. Thliveros 13 1 38-10
Gerald Beck 13 0 37-00
Ron Shuffield 14 0 35-11
Shaw E. Grigsby Jr. 14 1 34-15
Mark Russell 13 1 33-09
by CNB