ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602280011
SECTION: BOAT SHOW PAGE: BS-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
Striped bass are having an impact on the type of boat Southwest Virginia anglers are buying. Many fishermen are choosing a craft they can used to chase stripers on Smith Mountain and Claytor lakes, but they also want to be able to trailer it to the Chesapeake Bay several times a season.
The past four or five years, the saltwater striper population has been prospering to the point that if you want to catch big numbers of big fish, the bay is the place to go.
``I didn't realize how many local people go to the coast until I started doing it,'' said Ed Graves of Valley Marine Center in Roanoke.
The universal choice of fishermen who want the option of using their craft in saltwater, is the center console boat. It is capable of handling the bigger, rougher water of the bay, yet it also works well back home.
Graves uses a 191/2-foot Sunbird. The Sunbird line contains center console boats in lengths of 18-to-22 feet.
Paradise Boating, on Smith Mountain Lake, offers two lines - the Scout and the Pro Sport.
Moser's, a Lynchburg dealer who has returned to the show after several years of absence, handles center console in the Privateer and Carolina Skiff lines. Halesford Marine also is a Carolina Skiff dealer. Halesford features an additional center console in the SeaArk line.
ProCraft makes center consoles in 19- and 20-foot lengths. The regional dealer is Advantage Marine in Roanoke.
A number of boat manufacturers that are better known for runabouts also build center console models. Included are Sea Ray, sold by Smith Mountain Yacht Club, and Wellcraft, sold by Webster Marine Center.
Striped bass fishermen aren't as ``glitter'' conscious as bass boat buyers, said Lee Arnold of Smith Mountain Yacht Club. Rather than plushness, they are looking for roominess and seaworthiness.
LENGTH: Short : 43 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NEPTUNE. This 200 CC Neptune Sunbird center console canby CNBbe used on local lakes or trailered to the coast. color.