ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 21, 1996 TAG: 9603210012
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
The calendar may say spring, but the bass finning about in the cold temperatures of Smith Mountain Lake aren't fully convinced.
``The rough winter has slowed their movement,'' said Robert Reynolds of Hurt. ``They are ready to move up, but the water is so cold they haven't done a lot of moving.''
If the bass aren't on the prowl, bass fishermen must burn gas and do the moving themselves.
That worked for Reynolds and his partner, Jerry Rice of Altavista, in the Smith Mountain Ruritan bass tournament this past weekend. The two fishermen won the contest with a 10-bass limit weighing 29.54 pounds.
That weight surprised even Reynolds and Rice. They had little going for them when they arrived at the 16th annual Ruritan contest. During a day of practice they had landed two bass, hardly a reliable pattern.
Fishing conditions were so tough some anglers didn't bother to show up. The field of 55 teams was well short of last year's 72. Less than half of the teams that competed this year weighed fish.
``We did a lot of moving,'' Reynolds said. `` We started eliminating water. We stopped at a lot of places and tried different things.''
Reynolds was guarded about what those things were, because he and Rice, who have been tournament partners for 10 years, will be on the water this weekend for another tournament. They had nine keepers in the livewell by 11 a.m., but it took another three hours to land the 10th. ``We worked hard,'' Reynolds said.
Most of their fish came at 6- to 7-foot depths, Reynolds said. Their victory was worth $1,000.
The big bass of the tournament, a 6.24-pound largemouth, was caught by John Vest of Floyd. Second in the team standings were Emmett Schuyler of Vinton and Tim Roberts of Hardy with 24.22 pounds. Tom Robinson of Vinton and Dale Curd of Salem finished third, with 23.08 pounds.
The average weight of the tournament bass was a respectable 2.24 pounds.
WORLD'S GREATEST: Bob Hutchinson, the outdoor editor of The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, said the winter tuna fishing off Hatteras, N.C., ``just may be the world's greatest fishery.''
He gets no argument from Carl Higginbotham of Goodview, whose party of six recently hooked 15 bluefins aboard Capt.Randy Fagley's ``Chaser'' out of Odems Dock at Hatteras.
``It is like hooking up to a Harley-Davidson that is taking off and burning rubber,'' he said. ``A big blue marlin will give you a run for your money, but I've never seen anything that will about take the rod from you like the tuna do. We had five that literally broke off - fish 600 to 700 pounds.''
On a good day, the fish will attract as many as 200 boats, some of them sleek, million-dollar craft from as far away as Massachusetts and Texas.
But money can't buy smooth water. Rough seas are a major foe of this fishery. The Hatteras region isn't called the ``Graveyard of the Atlantic'' for nothing.
``Some people book five days in order to get one day on the water,'' Higginbotham said.
``Everybody should have a shot at it once in a lifetime.''
ANGLING TALK: The next best thing to fishing may be talking about it, and there is plenty of that most Saturdays at the Roanoke Orvis store. Orvis has a series of 11 a.m. Saturday seminars that cover fly fishing.
This week's talk features regional fly-fishing experts Harry Steeves, Steve Hiner and Robert Bryant. Steeves will cover fly tying; Hiner will talk about the Jackson River; and Bryant, the store manager, will present stream strategy for the Smith River. The seminars are free.
Several sessions will cover the growing interest in saltwater fly fishing. Tom Earnhardt, author of ``Fly Fishing the Tidewater,'' will be featured March 30, and former Ferrum College football coach Hank Norton will discuss Chesapeake Bay fly fishing on April 6.
BRAGGING SIZE: Johnny Shaeffer of Covington landed an 8-pound, 4-ounce brown trout at Lake Moomaw. The New River produced a 40-inch muskie for Mike Butler of Pearisburg. Elmer Dawson of Radford landed a 5-pound, 3-ounce smallmouth bass from Claytor Lake.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 linesby CNB