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

DATE: MONDAY, August 28, 1995                   TAG: 9508280143
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SCALES ELIMINATE GUESSING

As founder of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, Ray Scott probably has weighed more bass than anybody in the history of sport fishing. He's gotten pretty good at it, too.

Often a competitor will step up to the weigh-in scales with a sack of fish and Scott will say, How much do you think it weighs?

``Oh, about 11 pounds, 8 ounces,'' comes the answer.

``I bet you a dollar it is less than that,'' Scott says.

He usually pockets the dollar.

But Scott lost bets at the BASS Masters Classic. When a fisherman came in with a limit catch and said it weighed 11 pounds, 8 ounces, that's what it weighed - exactly.

Many of the pro fishermen were using a device called the Cul-M-Rite. It is an advanced tournament weighing and culling system that combines a hand-held digital scale with automatic weight storage. It not only tallies the total weight of an angler's catch, but immediately tells the fisherman which of up to seven bass in his livewell that he should cull when he catches a bigger one.

Until recently, the Cul-M-Rite has been available only to the pros, but now anyone can buy it for the retail price of $189.95.

by CNB