ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 27, 1997 TAG: 9701280001
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
If you plan to buy a bass boat this year, chances are you are knee-deep in boat and motor catalogs, and you've probably visited a boat dealer or two.
Buyers of pontoon boats, runabouts and personal watercraft don't get the fever as early. Not with January temperatures often hovering near zero.
But a bass boater will want to be rigged and on the water the first decent day in March. In mid-March, the region's tournament season begins in earnest. By then, serious bass anglers will be riding the watery range in an effort to herd bass into their livewells.
That's been one of the problems with the Southwest Virginia Boat Show. It traditionally is moored at the Roanoke Civic Center the last weekend in February or the first weekend in March - Feb.28-March 2 this year. If you have to order a bass boat at the show, the post-spawn flurry may occur before launching time.
A group of five boat dealers has decided to set the hook on the bass boat business earlier this year. The dealers, from Roanoke, Smith Mountain Lake and Claytor Lake, will display their newest bass boats Thursday through Sunday at Tanglewood Mall during what is being billed as the Roanoke Bass Boat & Tackle Show. The dealers will be joined by eight tackle shops and bait businesses, a fishing guide service and a bank eager to lend the ton of money it can take to get a bass boat in the water.
Tanglewood Mall ``is not the easiest place to display boats,'' said George Welch, owner of Bay Roc Marina and chairman of the bass show. Neither the Roanoke nor the Salem civic centers was available for the dates needed, he said. On the positive side, boat viewers at Tanglewood won't be bothered with parking or entrance fees.
The participating dealers, Advantage Marine, Bay Roc Marina, Conrad Brothers, Valley Marine Center and Webster Marine Center, are expected to display about 45 fishing craft. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. Sunday.
The craft will range from entry-level aluminum fishing boats to top-of-the-line performance bass boats. There also will be fish-and-ski boats, pontoon boats rigged for fishing and center-console rigs that are popular with anglers pursuing striped bass.
While fiberglass bass boats in the 16- and 17-foot range will be featured, manufacturers have been focusing on boats that have broken the 20-foot barrier. They are coveted by serious bass fishermen because they handle rough water better and can be equipped with a huge outboard designed to beat the competition to a hot spot where the bass are biting.
Cajun, one of the lines Bay Roc handles, has a 201/2-foot bass boat with a 92-inch beam.
Size and horsepower aren't the only thing big about these rigs, Welch said. So is the price.
``The $20,000 mark is pretty well a thing of the past for that big of a boat,'' he said. ``Typically, a 20-footer with 200 horsepower and a lot of goodies on it, you are looking at $25,000. I can remember when your house didn't cost that much.''
Nitro, to be displayed by Conrad Brothers, is out with its biggest bass boat ever, the Nitro Savage 912, which measures 201/2 feet and will handle a 225-horsepower engine. The list price for the top edition is $26,290.
Interest in dual consoles on bass boats is strong, said Willie Morris, a new owner of Advantage Marine. Advantage will be showing them in its ProCraft line.
For the angler who can't quite justify spending big bucks for a boat designed solely for fishing, there is the fish-and-ski model, which marries a bass boat with a family runabout.
``Normally speaking, it is for the person who wants to satisfy all of his family needs, as well as his fishing needs,'' said Ed Graves of Valley Marine Center. ``Probably the wife won't be particularly interested in the fishing part, but the man has to sell the idea of a fishing boat some way.''
Valley will display fish-and-ski in the HydraSports line, and Webster will have it in the Glastron line.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: This ProCraft reflects the trend in bass boats that isby CNBputting increasingly bigger and more powerful rigs on the water.
ProCraft will be one of a dozen brands of fishing boats scheduled
for the Roanoke Bass Boat & Tackle Show, which runs Thursday through
Sunday at Tanglewood Mall. color.