Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 8, 1995 TAG: 9505080116
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``My son, Jamey, had the net up and ready,'' said Arthur, who lives in Roanoke and was fishing the upper Blackwater River arm of Smith Mountain Lake. ``I pulled that thing up there and you've never seen such a crappie in your life. I bet it went 4 pounds. It came up twice, and the third time it came up my son had the net ready and the fish just ripped the hook out of its mouth.''
Arthur watched the platter-size fish disappear into the water under his boat.
On the second cast, Arthur hooked and lost another hefty crappie. He put a fresh minnow onto his hook and made a third cast. Still another crappie gobbled it up.
``This one didn't get loose,'' Arthur said.
With the three-day tournament only 10 minutes old, Arthur reeled in the slab-size fish and headed for the shore. He put the silver-flecked crappie into a cooler and drove to the tournament headquarters at Foxsport Marina, where the fish weighed 2.30 pounds. The time was 8:01 a.m. Friday - 31 minutes after the tournament began.
The next 21/2 days, none of the other 727 contestants could top Arthur's catch, although Samuel Brown of Rocky Mount came close with a 2.26-pound crappie.
Meanwhile, Arthur kept on fishing.
``When I went back to the same spot Saturday morning, I flipped out an alewife and my line got tight,'' he said. ``I picked it up and thought I was hung. I jiggled it a couple of times and it started moving back toward deeper water. I reared back on him.''
This time, Arthur landed an 11.16-pound catfish, good for fourth place.
The winner of the catfish category was Union Hall's Malcom Johnson, who weighed in a 14.20-pound catch. A heavier fish that had led the catfish category was disqualified, said Ike Harris, the tournament's director.
For Beverly Bobbitt, persistence paid off in a 5.58-pound smallmouth bass. Bobbitt, from Bedford County, hooked the fish while working a shad in the Indian Creek area less than four hours before the tournament ended Sunday.
``To be honest with you, I was fishing for a catfish,'' Bobbitt said. ``I had fished Friday and Saturday during the day and up into the night until 12 or 1 o'clock. Just before I caught the bass, I said I was going to make one more circle around some rocks, then take the boat out.''
The biggest largemouth bass was entered by Clyde Stepp of Matheny, W.Va.
Stepp registered a largemouth Saturday that was bumped by a bigger fish. Then at 3 a.m. Sunday, he docked with the winning 7.50-pound bass that he hooked on a plastic lizard at the mouth of Bull Run.
The tournament's top walleye was a 6.32-pound fish landed on a spring lizard by Bobby Ratliff of Bedford.
Arthur's crappie was entered so early in the tournament ``that someone turned in a protest on me,'' he said.
``He passed a polygraph test with flying colors,'' said a tournament official.
The winners:
CATFISH: 1, Malcom Johnson, Union Hall, 14.20 pounds; 2, Ronald Hall, Rocky Mount, 13.90; 3, David Reed, Roanoke, 11.50; 4, Fallon Arthur Sr., Roanoke, 11.16.
CRAPPIE: 1, Fallon Arthur Sr., Roanoke, 2.30 pounds; 2, Samuel Brown, Rocky Mount, 2.26; 3, John Price, Burnt Chimney, 1.94; 4, Randy Whittington, King, N.C. 1.86.
LARGEMOUTH: 1, Clyde Stepp, Matheny, W.Va., 7.50 pounds; 2, Harold Malcolm, Pulaski, 6.78; 3, Ronnie Firestone, Troutville, 6.25; 4, Lenn Morris, Bedford, 6.04.
SMALLMOUTH: 1, Beverly Bobbitt, Bedford County, 5.58 pounds; 2, Chris Hutton, Moneta, 4.42; 3, Dale Bishop, Roanoke, 4.30; 4, Woody Humphreys, Vinton, 4.20.
WALLEYE: 1, Bobby Ratliff, Bedford, 6.32 pounds; 2, David Hamilton, Roanoke, 5.78; 3, Jackie Ball, Council, 5.40; 4, David Vernon, Hardy, 5.02.
MUSKIE: No entries.
YOUTH SUNFISH: 1, Amadeus Younger, Bassett, .52 pounds; 2, Brian Bobbitt, Bedford County, .50; 3, Adam McGarrell, Salem, .46.
YOUTH CATFISH: 1, Lee Cook, Hardy, 6.70 pounds; 2, Joshua Cheek, Bedford, 6.28; 3, Bobby Cook, Hardy, 5.90.
by CNB