Fishing News - 9/1/00
From BASS
A Wet and Wild Day on the James River at Lowe's W.C.F. Virginia
Richmond, VA -- Despite intermittent showers and threatening skies, the Lowe's World Championship Fishing event on Virginia's James River treated an appreciative crowd to the latest in bass fishing and boat handling competition.
On the fishing side of the ledger, Lake Chesdin was the first of three
waters to host 16 of America's best bass professionals. A 10-mile long fishery that offers water as much as 40 feet deep, Chesdin was the pre-tournament pick to produce the best quality catches.Unfortunately, the swirling storm front that promised a stellar bite,
only delivered on that promise to a handful of anglers, most notably Yamaha Skeeter's Alton Jones of Waco, Texas, who nabbed a 13-pound, two-ounce limit by working a four-inch Riverside Vibra King Tube along a creek channel break that cut across a flat.Catching most of his fish from three to six feet off submerged timber along the break, Jones was able to make precise presentations to garner the 48 points for first place.
Not far off the pace was Flowmaster/BC Powders Champion driver Skeet Reese of Cotati, California, who also managed a 12-pound, 11-ounce, five-fish limit of 15-inch-or-better bass to stay within striking distance of Jones.
"Consistency is the most important game here," noted Reese who gathered
in 45 points for second place. After Brent Chapman (Kuhmo Tires Skeeter) with four-fish for 9-15, Ron Shuffield (Stowaway Batteries Triton) - three-fish, 9-5 and Mark Davis (B.A.S.S. Platimun Visa/First USA Bass Cat) - three fish, 7-15, there was a sharp drop-off in the creels with most anglers struggling for one or two keeper bass.But, since Lowe's W.C.F. is based on a point system, only three points separates one place from the next ( top 12 places) and the potential for a comeback is very real with Chicahominy Lake scheduled for tomorrow and the James River on Sunday.
In power boating, the James River crowd had to wait for the next-to-last competitor, Dustin Wilks of Team Yamaha to see the fastest run of the day, one that broke the 60-second barrier in Lowe's W.C.F. competition. With a smooth-as-silk performance, the 23-year-old pro guided his
Yamaha-powered Skeeter through the James River course - brushing pylons aside with surgical accuracy - to set an event best at 59.96 seconds.Wilks effort stunned spectators who felt that an earlier 1.0.48 second effort by Skeet Reese in the Flowmaster/BC Powders Champion would fend off all comers. Although Reese opted for a smaller 200-horsepower Mercury outboard on a 19-foot boat (most competitors are running 225 horse motors on 20-footers), it certainly did not handicap him in any way.
To his credit, Reese showed his competitive spirit when officials discovered that during his first run (competitors only get one run per day), a buoy had floated away from its mooring. Offered a second run, Reese had to choose whether to keep his first time - a respectable 1.01.7 performance - or take what the second effort would bring. In a moment unprecented in W.C.F. competition, Reese didn't hesitate. His second turn through the course produced a better time and the second-best time of the day at 1.0.48 seconds.
In contrast to Wilks, the youngest competitor on the course, 60-year-old Roland Martin - representing Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse - showed that his competitive fire burns white-hot with a stirring run of 1.0.74, about a quarter second behind Reese.
Lowe's W.C.F. competition continues Saturday and Sunday with one o'clock daily weigh-ins at Shirley Plantation. The performance boating will follow with the first runs set to take off at 2:30 p.m.
B.A.S.S. Web site: http://www.bassmaster.com.
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