Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 5, 1995                   TAG: 9508090014
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C.                                LENGTH: Medium

ACE PUPIL SUPPLANTS TEACHER WITH A SCHOOL OF FISH

Maybe Mickey Bruce taught his Georgia fishing buddy, Mark Hardin, just a little too much about cranking in big bass.

Hardin leaped in front of his mentor Friday to take the lead in the BASS Masters Classic with the tournament's biggest single-day catch - a limit of five High Rock Lake bass that weighed 18 pounds, 10 ounces. That gave the 34-year old Classic rookie from Canton, Ga., the lead with a two-day total of 36 pounds going into today's final round.

Fishing in his ninth Classic, Bruce, from Buford, Ga., fell from the first-day lead to the fifth spot.

``As I grew up fishing, I had to fish against Mickey Bruce,'' Hardin said. ``So I had to fish against the best all of my life. By doing that, it helped me. He is a big part of the reason I am fishing the Classic this year.''

But today, when Hardin looks over his shoulder to check the competition, it will be the home-lake favorite, David Fritts, he is worried about, not Bruce.

``Fritts has a lot of places to fish,'' Hardin said. ``I'd say he's still the favorite. But I have one place and it seems like these fish just keep concentrating in this area. Hopefully, some more will be in there in the morning. I am going to have to live and die with it."

Fritts isn't counting himself out.

``Living here - being from Lexington [N.C.], I know where there are a lot of big fish,'' Fritts said.

In fact, he hasn't touched one of his lunker spots this week, leaving it for today.

``I just hope I can get a limit early and when I do I can go concentrate on catching some big fish,'' he said.

Early on Friday, Fritts said he felt bass slapping at his crankbait, but he couldn't hook them. He switched to a Zoom plastic worm.

``It didn't hit the bottom before I had my big fish [4 pounds, 12 ounces]. Then I got a 4-pounder.''

When a gallery of nearly 70 boats moved in to watch the action, the fish shut down, and Fritts had to move with a flotilla of fans in pursuit.

There is another contender that Hardin can't overlook. Kevin VanDam, who at age 27 is one of the bright young stars of tournament fishing, is just 7 ounces off the pace.

``It's all a timing deal on this lake,'' said VanDam. ``You have to be at the right place at the right time and put your lure in the right spot. The strike zone seems to be very small.''

VanDam landed the tournament's biggest bass Friday, a 6-pound, 15-ounce largemouth that he said he hooked on a deep structure.

``I had four bites and didn't land a one of them,'' he said. ``They weren't taking the bait right. So I left the spot and came back an hour later and caught the big one immediately.''

David Dudley of Lynchburg weighed three bass Friday and eased up a few notches in the standings to 31st place with a four-fish total of 6 pounds, 13 ounces.

``What's happening, a lot of these big stringers are being caught real quickly,'' he said. ``If you hit that one little magical spot you can get them real quick, then they will shut off. All I can do is to keep on going, like I am, and hope I will hit one of those little magic spots.''

There has been no magic for two Classic veterans, Ken Cook and Denny Brauer. Neither has landed a keeper bass in two days of fishing. Cook won the Classic in 1991.

``That's just a distant memory now,'' he said.