Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 1, 1995 TAG: 9505020023
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
5
Most fishing contests are serious, hard-charging affairs, but for 27 years the Cave Spring Optimist Club tournament on Smith Mountain Lake has remained an attraction for every one - kids, moms, pops, beginners, experts. That may be the reason it is the biggest and oldest tournament in the region.
The format for the 1995 tournament, which opens 7:30 a.m. Friday and ends at noon Sunday, is little changed from recent contests. Participants need to purchase their $20 entry ticket before the start of the event. They are available at 20 tackle shops, stores and marinas in the Roanoke-Smith Mountain Lake area. The contest headquarters is Foxsport Marina.
There are categories for largemouth bass, muskie, crappie, smallmouth bass, catfish and walleye. That means you can win six ways. If you can catch a muskie, victory is almost a sure thing. Only two muskies have been entered the past decade.
The first-place prize in each category is $600; second place, $300; third place, $200; fourth place, $100. The payoffs are for the biggest fish entered. If you make the circle of winners, you participate in a special drawing for $500.
\ On the road to Damascus
12
The Appalachian Trail winds out of the mountains of Southwest Virginia and runs smack down main street Damascus in Washington County. This settlement of a little more than 1,000 souls has the reputation of being the "friendliest town on the AT." Each May, the red carpet is rolled out in an extraordinary way during the annual "Trail Days" festival. The dates are May 12-14.
Trail Days are a weekend of parades, speeches, square dances, crafts, food and fun as hikers, trail lovers and towns people mingle to celebrate. Celebrate what? For one thing, the end-to-end hikers will be celebrating the fact that they are about one-third of the way toward Mount Katahdin in Maine.
For detailed information on Trail Days, contact the Damascus Town Hall, 703-475-3831. Members of the Roanoke A. Club will make the journey to Damascus on May 13. The contacts for that trip are Ed Wallace, 774-0175, or Gary Close, 989-3474.
Trout rodeo hits middle age
13
Martha Roberts is like a kindly grandmother to the kids who fish the annual Ernest Pig Robertson Trout Fishing Rodeos at Lake Spring Park in Salem. The event was started by her late husband and is now 44 years old. That means some of the people who fished it as youngsters now show up with their own kids.
There will be three rodeos for children and one for nursing home patients. The dates are:
May 13 for kids ages 3-8, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
May 15, for handicapped children, 10 a.m. to noon.
May 17, for nursing home patients, 10 a.m. to noon.
May 20 for kids ages 9-12, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Before the rodeo participants begin casting, Robertson is doing some fishing of her own. She needs money to buy fish and prizes to award the participants.
"We want to have the same amount of trout as we had last year, which was 5,200 pounds," she said. But it takes money to buy them. Contributions can be sent to the City of Salem Department of Parks and Recreation (375-3057). Volunteers are needed to assist the handicapped and nursing home anglers.
\ Celebrating boat safety
20
It remains difficult to get boaters to wear a life jacket, or a personal flotation device, as they now are called. So the theme of National Safe Boating Week, May 20-26, is: "It Won't Work If You Don't Wear It! Life Jackets Save Lives."
The week will be observed by the Roanoke Valley Power Squadron and Flotilla 81 of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. The auxiliary will staff a safety information booth and provide courtesy boat examinations at Bridgewater Marina on May 20, said Dal Vailey, vice commander. If you'd like to make certain your craft meets the safety equipment standards required by law, stop by and let the experts take a look.
One of the objectives of the special week will be to alert boaters of a new law concerning PFDs, said John Aldrich Jr. commander of the Roanoke Valley Power Squadron. Beginning May 1, boats under 16 feet in length must carry one wearable life jacket for each person aboard. No longer will the old buoyant cushion qualify for the carriage requirement.
by CNB