Optimist tournament at Smith Mountain Lake nets big catfish, bass

A whopper of a catfish and hefty largemouth bass were the highlights of the first day of the Optimist Club of Cave Spring's annual fishing tournament at Smith Mountain Lake.

Christy Ayers of Union Hall brought in the big cat, a 35.32-pounder. No other cats close to 20 pounds had been registered as of late Friday night.

The early largemouth lead went to Billy Martin of Moneta for a 7.32-pounder. Second in that category was held by Roanoke's Steve Austin with a 5.98-pound bass.

The top two crappies both weighed 1.74 pounds, but Daniel Orange of Christiansburg weighed his first so he held the top spot. David Slusser of Vinton had the other 1.74-pounder.

The tournament's first eligible smallmouth bass didn't hit the scales until just before 10 p.m. Friday night, when Tony Padgett of Vinton registered a 3.6-pounder.

No striped bass or muskellunge were registered during the first 15 hours of the event, which runs through noon Sunday.

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