ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, April 14, 1997                 TAG: 9704150022
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: B-6  EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR

ANGLER ENTICES BASS OUT OF THEIR BEDS MR. B.A.S.S. WON WITH A 29.85-POUND CATCH

Bedford County fisherman Tim Goff used his milk-route techniques to entice spawning bass at Smith Mountain Lake.

The same stop-and-go techniques that Tim Goff uses every day on his dairy company delivery route paid off with a win in the Mr. Bass tournament on Smith Mountain Lake Sunday.

Goff, from Forest, entered a two-day catch of 29.85 pounds of black bass that he battled to his boat while concentrating on bass holding to spawning beds in the lower end of the lake.

``I went to one fish three different times before I finally caught it,'' said the 38-year old angler. ``You really almost had to make them mad to catch them. They would get so mad at you for bringing the lure through their bed so many times they would run up there and grab it.''

Even though the fishing conditions changed - raining one day, sunny and windy the next - Goff stuck to his pattern, catching eight keepers Saturday and five Sunday. All but two came from the same creek, he said. The lure that enticed the most strikes was a green-pumpkin colored plastic bait by Zoom.

Jimmy Andrews of Brookneal was the first-day leader after weighing the tournament's best single-day catch, 18.60 pounds. But the wind that whistled across the lake Sunday blew away his chances of a win when his second-day take dwindled to 4.73 pounds. He finished third with 23.33 pounds.

Squeaking by him for second was Gary Love of Roanoke Rapids, N.C., with a 23.70 total.

The tournament, sponsored by the Virginia B.A.S.S. Federation, attracted 262 competitors. Goff and Love qualified to represent Virginia in Eastern Region B.A.S.S. competition on Kerr Lake in September.

Goff said he practiced on three occasions last week, locating about 25 bass on beds. During the tournament, he went from bed to bed enticing strikes.

``I fished one fish 35 minutes before I caught it.''

It rained so hard Saturday, Goff found it difficult to target the bass. Sunday, they were easier to see, but they were spooky.

``As soon as you got pretty close to them today with the boat and throw something on them, they would run off the bed,'' he said.

LENGTH: Short :   47 lines