Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 6, 1990 TAG: 9005070203
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran Outdoor Editor
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Most of the time, he is a bass-fishing competitor, but when the annual Optimist Club of Cave Spring fishing tournament comes to Smith Mountain Lake, the Vinton angler turns his back on brassy bass and goes after cooperative crappie.
The strategy is working again this season. McRoy leads the crappie category in the three-day contest, which ends at noon today. He reeled in a chunky 2.05-pounder from the Blackwater River arm of the lake while using a minnow.
In 1987, McRoy won the crappie division with a 1.96-pound fish.
The 725 tournament fishermen - down from last year's 820 - have had no success with the elusive muskie. None has been entered.
The heaviest fish of the contest is a 10.45-pound catfish caught on a shad by Mike Tuck of Moneta.
Leading the largemouth category is Steve Dalton Sr. of Hurt with a 5.30-pound fish landed on a crankbait in Craddock Creek.
The best smallmouth is Bill Bumgarner's 3.15-pounder, hooked on a minnow in the Gills Creek area, not far from the tournament's headquarters at Foxsport XIV Marine Camp.
Clarence Carder of Radford has the best walleye, a 4.20-pounder taken on a Rebel plug while casting to the Blackwater River section.
Cash awards will be presented at Foxsport beginning 2 p.m.
by CNB