Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 29, 1990 TAG: 9006290733
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bill Cochran/outdoor editor
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Nearly half of the competitors from across the country failed to catch a fish large enough to qualify. None of the anglers reached the five-fish limit, and only a dozen fisherman caught more than one keeper.
Lee Byrd of Stone Mountain, Ga., was the leader, with a four-fish catch that weighed 9 pounds, 1 ounce. Second was Maine fishing guide David Barnes, with 6 pounds, 12 ounces.
The home-lake favorite, Jerry Elder of Lynchburg, was third with a catch of 5 pounds, 9 ounces.
The problem wasn't the lack of bass in the lake.
"The most disgusting thing, I had 14 fish in the boat and didn't but two measure," said Cameron Copp of Woodstock. Most of the fish landed were 11 to 13 inches, just under the 14-inch tournament minimum.
Byrd, a 25-year-old construction worker, had found nothing in practice.
"I just decided I was going to do something I hadn't done yet," he said. "I completely changed tactics. I fished about half the day in an area I'd never fished."
Byrd's father, William, was one of the 17 fishermen who failed to catch a keeper.
"My kid's leading! That's the only thing that would make zero all right," he said.
Fisherman after fisherman without a fish climbed up to the elevated scales in the LancerLot to face Ray Scott, The Nashville Network television cameras and about 400 spectators.
"Look at all the zeroes," said Scott, the president of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, which has a half-million members.
The local anglers in the audience were silent, almost embarrassed - and sympathetic. Most had been there; not under the glare of camera lights, but they knew what it was like to spend a summer day fishing on Smith Mountain Lake without anything tangible to show for it.
"The fish I had been on in pre-practice and practice, they just went," Elder said. "I had to scout around and scratch up three just by fishing spots. Every time you think you have them figured, they turn around and do something opposite."
Barnes said he expects the fishing to get tougher.
"The boat traffic is going to start picking up the closer we get to the Fourth of July weekend," he said.
The three bass Barnes weighed included the heaviest of the first day, a 3-pounder.
"I was fishing mostly small cuts with some isolated docks in them. I had all three fish before 9 o'clock," he said.
The contestant with the heaviest three-day catch will be named the nation's best amateur bass fisherman after a final weighing 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the LancerLot.
The first-day standings by weight, with finish, name, hometown, fish caught and weight:
1, Lee Byrd, Stone Mountain, Ga., 4 fish, 9 pounds, 1 ounce. 2, David W. Barnes Sr., Weeks Mill, Maine, 3, 6-12. 3, Jerry Elder, Lynchburg, 3, 5-9. 4, Burl Triplett, Woodbridge, 2, 4-15. 5, Mike Holt, Lexington, Tenn., 3, 4-11. 6, David Truax, Austin, Texas, 2, 4-1. 7, Carlos Sellers, Fort Belvoir, 2, 3-13. 8 (tie), Kerry Schlipp, Chisago City, Minn., and Bert Thompson, Shreveport, La., 2, 3-8.
10, Art Ferguson, Rochester, Minn., 2, 3-7. 11, Cameron G. Copp, Woodstock, 2, 3-3. 12, Rick Allred, Pryor, Okla., 1, 2-12. 13, Stephen Hicks, Riverdale, Ga., 2, 2-11. 14 (tie), Roy Harrelson, Morgan City, La., and Donald Grenseman, Walla Walla, Wash., 1, 2-4. 16, Jeff Boyer, Kent, Wash., 1, 2-3. 17, Bob Spreigl, St. Paul, Minn., 1, 2-0. 18, Charles Johansen, St. Paul, Minn., 1, 1-15. 19, Dean Matts, Yukon, Okla., 1, 1-13. 20, Terry G. Howell, Helper, Utah, 1, 1-12. 21 (tie), Harry J. Dalton, Farmington, N.M., and Bill Mason, Aurora, Colo., 1, 1-7. 23, Donald Holcomb, Lutz, Fla., 1, 1-5.
by CNB