Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 17, 1990 TAG: 9004170291
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The result was overexposure for a well-known Smith Mountain Lake fishing guide, whose promotional photograph published in a sporting magazine led state game officials to file charges against him.
M.R. "Spike" Franceschini was cited Sunday for possession over the daily limit of two striped bass.
State game officials say the alleged violation would have gone unnoticed if Franceschini had not submitted a photograph to Woods & Waters magazine. Published in this month's issue, the photo depicts a grinning Franceschini posed beside two customers and their catch of nearly two dozen striped bass.
The caption reads: "Thanks to the expertise of Spike's Prime Time Fishin', they were able to bring in 22 stripers totaling 146 lbs. by 11 a.m."
The photograph generated a rash of complaints to the state Game and Inland Fisheries Department office in Vinton. "We had a lot of concern among our local sportsmen," said Marty Plasters, the game warden assigned to the case.
Plasters declined to discuss the investigation, saying charges also could be filed against the two customers shown in the photograph.
Franceschini was charged with a class 2 misdemeanor. If convicted in Bedford County General District Court, he faces a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $500 fine.
Franceschini did not return several messages left Monday on the answering machine at his Smith Mountain Lake home.
Known as "Spike," Franceschini made headlines two years ago when he helped a North Carolina man catch the Virginia state record striper, weighing 42 pounds, 6 ounces.
The record catch was a boon to his guide service, which he operates during the peak season for striped bass, which runs from March through June and mid-September through mid-December.
The rest of the year he runs Horsefeathers, a popular restaurant in the Virginia horse country town of Orange.
by CNB