Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 25, 1994 TAG: 9404270059
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
One contestant in the annual Cave Spring Optimist Club fishing tournament on Smith Mountain Lake May 6-8 might go home with a new name: ``Goggle Eyes.'' For certain, he or she will have much improved night vision. As a new twist for the 26-year-old contest, Optimist Club members are awarding a $2,400 ITT Night Mariner to the contestant who enters the heaviest largemouth bass caught on artificial bait.
The other elements of the tournament remain pretty much the same. Cash prizes will be awarded for the heaviest three fish in categories for largemouth bass, muskie, crappie, smallmouth bass, catfish and walleye. The prizes total $10,700, and that includes a $500 special prize for anyone entering a fish that exceeds the tournament record for the species.
The entry fee is $20. Entry forms and tournament rules are available at most tackle shops and marinas in the lake region and the Roanoke Valley or from the Optimist Club of Cave Spring, P.O. Box 11276, Salem 24153. The contest headquarters is Foxsport Marina, where tickets will be sold until 7:30 a.m. May 6. Other outlets won't sell tickets past 7:30 p.m. May 5.
May 7 - Grouse hunters turn to clay
The past grouse season wasn't the kind that afforded many shots, so members of the Mountains Chapter of the Ruffed Grouse Society will burn up some of their shells and frustration on clay targets May 7. The occasion will be the chapter's second annual Ruffed Grouse Society Sporting Clays and Five Stand Tournament at Buffalo Creek Sporting Club in Bedford County.
The tournament is open to any shooter and the registration deadline is Friday. If you want to shoot but don't have a registration form, send your name, address and phone number to Ron Knuppel, 5608 Penguin Drive, Roanoke. Va. 24018. Indicate if you want to shoot sporting clays only or sporting clays and five stand. Include a check payable to the Ruffed Grouse Society: $55 for sporting clays, $75 for both. Lunch is included. The tournament begins 9 a.m. and is limited to 100 shooters.
May 7 - Reeling in fun at the rodeo
You take 5,200 pounds of trout and 1,500 youngsters and bring them together at Spring Lake Park in Salem and you have the annual Ernest Pig Robertson Trout Fishing Rodeo. The event is 43 years old, which means some of the kids who fished during the early years now bring their own kids to cast for fish and prizes. Kids and their parents aren't the only benefactors. The rodeo also includes an outing for nursing home patients. Here are the dates:
May 7, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for children ages 3 to 8; May 10 (notice this is a change from the original schedule), 10 a.m. to noon, for handicapped children; May 11, 10 a.m. to noon for nursing home patients; May, 14, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for youngsters 9 to 12.
Martha Robertson, the rodeo's coordinator, has been ill and says she needs help in a big way: contributions to pay for the trout; prizes to award children; adults to bait hooks and help participants cast. She can be reached at 389-4654. Checks can be addressed to the City of Salem Department of Parks and Recreation, P.O. Box 869, Salem 24153.
May 13 - Going back to Mount Rogers
Attending the Mount Rogers Naturalist Rally, May 13 and 14 at Konnarock, can be like going back in time. For one thing, the rally is 20 years old this spring. But more than that, anytime you hike the high country trails of the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, south of Marion, it is like going back to another era, another ecosystem, even another part of the country. There is something lovely, and often rare, in every direction.
The rally offers participants the opportunity to be afield with experts who can speak with knowledge about everything from flying squirrels to salamanders; edible plants to insects. Two-dozen field trips are scheduled May 14. Following a dinner May 13 at the Konnarock Community Center, Tom Dierauf, chief of research with the Virginia Department of Forestry will be speak on ``Virginia's Changing Forests.''
For a brochure on times and fees, contact the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area, 703-783-5196.
by CNB