Friday, August 29, 2008
Optimists add fall tourney
Mark Taylor
Mark Taylor's Outdoors column and notebook appears regularly in The Roanoke Times.
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The annual Optimists' tournament has been a springtime tradition at Smith Mountain Lake for four decades
Now the hosts want to start a new tradition.
The Optimist Club of Cave Spring is planning to host its first fall tournament in early October.
The club plans to spice up the Oct. 3-5 tournament by offering a special $10,000 prize for the biggest muskellunge over 25 pounds.
Club president Carol Landrum said she's been pushing her fellow members to try a fall tournament.
"I've been nagging them for several years," said Landrum, whose Foxport Marina has long been the tournament headquarters.
At recent spring tournaments Landrum has been asking anglers if they would like a fall tournament. She said the feedback has been positive.
Other club leaders have been cautious, worrying about the consequences of the fall tournament being a bust.
"But I've been saying, 'What if it turns out to be even better than the spring tournament?' " Landrum said.
Landrum said nice fall weather and good fishing should be good draws for the fall tournament, and she hopes the $10,000 muskie prize also lures in some contestants.
Posters for the tournament are focusing on what the club has deemed the "muskie bounty."
The fish must be turned in alive. Anyone tempted to bring in a muskie from another water should think twice.
"If anyone brings in a qualifying muskie, they will automatically be taking the lie detector test," club member Ike Harris said of the deterrent method the club instituted some years ago.
The spring tournament, which draws about 400 anglers a year, hasn't produced a muskie meeting the minimum entry weight of 15 pounds since 1988.
Landrum said the club looked into obtaining a special insurance policy just in case someone caught an eligible muskie. But insurance companies wouldn't write a policy unless it was for a pre-tagged fish.
Then Valley Logistics Services stepped in and offered to put up the money.
Just like with recent spring tournaments, the other fish included in the tournament are largemouth, smallmouth and striped bass; catfish; and crappies. A youth tournament will be held Oct. 4 for children 12 and under who are accompanied by an adult who has purchased a ticket to the main tournament.
The club uses profits from the spring tournament to help fund youth programs in the Roanoke Valley. But the majority of the money raised in the fall tournament will go to a national fund established for childhood cancer research, said Landrum.
The entry fee for the tournament is $40. Tickets for the contest are available at a number of lake-area outdoor stores and marinas, the Minnow Pond 2 in southeast Roanoke, or by mail. More information about the tournament, including ticket outlet locations, is available by calling Foxport Marina at 721-2451.
