Saturday, May 02, 2009
Record catfish boated
Mark Taylor is outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times.
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Mark Taylor
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A record-setting catfish highlighted a good opening day at the Optimist Club of Cave Spring's fishing tournament at Smith Mountain Lake.
Jerry Horn of Roanoke was at the tournament scales with the 35.38-pound catfish at 10:30 a.m., just three hours after the three-day tournament opened.
Ricky Cowden registered a 35.12-pound catfish last year.
In the largemouth bass category, Jackie Ball of Rowe took the lead with a 6.46-pounder.
The top smallmouth bass was a 4.12-pounder registered by Ronnie Anderson of Catawba.
Bill Hayes of Roanoke set a tough early standard in the striped bass category by putting a 29.12-pounder on the board.
In the crappie division, Clarence Sisson of Salem was the early leader with a 1.7-pound fish.
The tournament, which organizers say drew just short of 500 contestants, runs until noon on Sunday.
--Mark Taylor
