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

DATE: MONDAY, May 9, 1994                   TAG: 9405100030
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BASS ANGLER WINS WITH A CRAPPIE

Buster McRoy is best known as a competitive bass fisherman, but when the annual Cave Spring Optimist Club fishing tournament on Smith Mountain Lake rolls around, he grabs a bucket of minnows and heads for a crappie hole.

It was a strategy that paid off when McRoy, of Vinton, reeled in the tournament's winning crappie, a 1.96-pound catch he hooked about 9 a.m. Sunday in a brush pile on the Blackwater River arm of the lake.

It also worked for McRoy in 1987 and 1990, other years he entered the top crappie. And he came close in 1982, when he finished second.

``The reason I go for crappie, the bass are bedding. I know they are hard to catch, and I know my chances are better to use live bait and fish for crappie.''

Tommy Smith of Roanoke entered the biggest largemouth bass, caught on an artificial lure. That earned him the most lucrative prize, a set of ITT Night Mariner goggles valued at $2,400.

``I set my goal to come over here and go for the goggles,'' said Smith.

The winners:

LARGEMOUTH BASS

1, Gene Arthur, Roanoke, 6.82 pounds; 2, Tommy Smith, Roanoke, 6.46; 3, Mike Toney, Wirtz, 5.45; 4, Bobby Amos, Moneta, 5.30.

SMALLMOUTH BASS

1, Thomas Dolan, Richmond, 4.60; 2, Carl Power, Vinton, 4.05; 3, Teddy Wolford, Troutville, 4.00; 4, Sandy Scott, Salem, 3.70.

CRAPPIE

1, Buster McRoy, Vinton, 1.96; 2, Dee Schaem, Shawsville, 1.78; 3, Leon Dudley, Boones Mill, 1.56; 4, Robert Smith, Glade Hill, 1.54.

CATFISH

1, Jamey Arthur, Roanoke, 14.16; 2, Elwood Dooley, Roanoke, 10.42; 3, Lenn Morris, Bedford, 7.12; 4. Larry Wickline, Wirtz, 6.92.

WALLEYE

1, Matt Terry, Moneta, 5.49; 2, Glenn McCormick, Roanoke, 4.43.

MUSKIE

No entries.

by CNB