Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9505020059
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: SOUTH HILL LENGTH: Medium
The Kerr Lake bass were lethargic, thinking more about bedding than biting, but that didn't keep David Dudley from turning the Virginia BASSMASTERS Invitational into a Classic affair.
With his electric motor on high, Dudley, from Lynchburg, cruised the shoreline looking for spawning fish and caught a three-day total of 41 pounds, 4 ounces. That was good for a third-place finish, but best of all, it was a ticket to the prestigious BASS Masters Classic for Dudley, 19.
Finishing ahead of Dudley were Tom Burns of Carbondale, Ill., who had a 44-pound, 1-ounce total, and Mark Hardin of Canton, Ga., who landed 43 pounds, 8 ounces.
Burns, who had been tied for 12th place, docked Saturday with the biggest single-day catch of the tournament - 19 pounds, 3 ounces.
``I was saving a couple of spots for today and went to them and caught fish,'' he said.
Those spots were 40 miles up the lake in the muddy water of Hico Creek, where Burns, 37, found bass spawning in the brush.
``I was fishing in three to six inches of water,'' said Burns, who won $35,000 in cash and prizes.
He caught most of his bass on a Rat-L Back jig and a six-inch flip-tail lizard.
But the good showing wasn't enough to qualify Burns for the Classic, set for Greensboro, N.C., in August. In addition to Dudley, the qualifiers out of the Eastern Invitational were Mickey Bruce of Buford, Ga., Hardin, Jay Yelas of Jasper, Texas, and Rick Lillegard of Atkinson, N.H.
For Hardin, making the Classic was more important than winning at Kerr.
``The Classic is every fisherman's dream,'' he said.
The home-lake advantage failed to work magic for Spring Grove's Woo Daves, Virginia's best-known bass angler. His three-day total of 18 pounds, 11 ounces wasn't enough to earn him a berth in the Classic via the Eastern Invitational route.
``I will make it,'' he said, then paused to add, ``I hope I make it.''
He will need a good catch May 17-20 on the Mississippi River in Illinois, site of the final Top 100 tournament of the season. Daves ranks 43rd in the Top 100 standings. That circuit sends 25 competitors to the Classic.
Dudley is the youngest angler to make the Classic, something he said he'd dreamed of doing since he was 11. While watching the weigh-in Saturday, his mother recalled that David would answer the phone as a pre-teenager by saying, ``Future BASS Classic champion.''
``I hope it will open some doors for me,'' he said. ``If I'm going to make a career out of fishing, I need sponsorships.''
He won $19,000 at Kerr and was seen chatting with representatives of major boat and outboard engine companies before the weigh-in was completed.
``He could be the next superstar,'' said Dewey Kendrick, BASS tournament director.
You don't get an argument about that from Dudley's father, James, who is confident that his son will do well in the Classic.
``It just seems like pressure doesn't bother him a bit,'' said James Dudley, who missed making the Classic by one position two weeks ago at the Wrangler/B.A.S.S National Championships in Illinois.
By 6:42 a.m. Saturday, David Dudley had landed a limit of five bass while casting a while spinnerbait.
``While other fishermen were still blasting off, I was culling fish,'' he said. ``That took a lot of pressure off of me.''
Two Virginians in addition to Dudley finished in the money. Rick Morris of Virginia Beach was 46th and earned $1,400, and Robert Blankenship of Richmond was 51st and earned $1,000.
This was the sixth year in a row, and the toughest for fisherman, that Kerr has hosted a B.A.S.S. tournament. The 1995-96 season will see competition in Virginia move to the lower James River at Richmond, where a Top 100 tournament has been scheduled for October.
by CNB