Saturday, May 03, 2008
Stout catches dot 1st day of fishing
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
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The leaderboards were filling up fast on the first day of the Optimist Club of Cave Spring's 40th annual weekend fishing tournament at Smith Mountain Lake.
And while first-day catches in the tournament sometimes are on the light side, a few of Friday's fish were stout enough to stand a chance to stay on the board throughout the weekend.
A pair of solid largemouth bass were registered.
H.D. Ayers of Draper took the lead with a 6.48-pound fish he caught on a Roboworm. Just behind was Robert Mills of Glade Hill with a 6.4-pounder that hit a tube lure.
In the smallmouth division, Barry Hunter's 3.82-pounder was the early leader. The Christiansburg angler caught the fish on live bait. A live shad produced the second-place smallmouth, a 3.56-pounder caught by Wayne Grindstaff of Rocky Mount.
Donald Orange of Roanoke set a solid crappie standard with a 2.02-pounder caught on a minnow.
Gary Hall or Rocky Mount was in second with a 1.64-pound fish.
In the catfish category, James Gray of Thaxton registered a 26.4-pounder caught on live bait. In second was Clarence Sisson of Glade Hill with a 17.74-pounder caught on live bait.
No stripers or muskellunge had been registered by 9 p.m. Friday.
The tournament started at 7:30 a.m. Friday and runs to noon Sunday. About 500 anglers are entered in the event.
