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

DATE: SUNDAY, February 19, 1995                   TAG: 9502200068
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

STRIPED BASS CATCH MAY BE RECORD

A 45-pound, 10-ounce potential state-record striped bass was caught at Smith Mountain Lake on Saturday by Michael Rogers of Thomasville, N.C.

Rogers, 28, hooked the fish about 5 :30 p.m. while using live bait near ``The Cliffs'' on the upper end of the Blackwater River arm of the lake. The area is about 11/2-miles downstream from Magnum Point Marina, said Fulton Jones, owner of the marina where the catch was weighed.

``I have been waiting nine years for this to happen,'' said Jones, who described himself as being more excited than Rogers.

The weight of the 45-inch striper was verified by game warden Tim Hayes. The fish is scheduled to be examined by a state fish biologist today as part of the procedure required to establish a record. It takes about three weeks for a record to be certified by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

The current striped bass record is a 44-pound, 14-ounce Smith Mountain fish landed by Gary Tomlin of Buena Vista on July7, 1992.

by CNB