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| FishTails |
WV Bass Festival
Bass fisherman strive to have plenty of good spots to fall back on when their best spots don't pan out. But, what
if you only have a few? Ohio anglers Pat Shipley and Russ Sims proved that doesn't make any difference if they're
working. Shipley of Lockborne, Ohio and Sims from Black Lick, Ohio put together an amazing stringer of more than
14-pounds on the second day to win the 18th Annual West Virginia Bass Festival at Saint Mary's.
"We had about ten-spots right here in this pool." Said Sims; "We'd fish each for about 30-minutes
and then run to the next one. That's how we did it all day."
"Here and there we'd pick one up." Said Shipley following the unbelievable day.
Although they only brought seven-fish to the scales, they were quality bass-all but one of them smallmouth. The
feat was even more eyepopping when one considers that some competitors ran 100-miles down river in search of clearer
water. Sims and Shipley stayed only a few miles from Middle Island Creek on the main river channel.
"In practice we fished a lot of spots on this pool," said Sims, "We narrowed down those spots to
the ones we considered the best for the kind of fishing we like. We fished mostly in shallow water with tubes and
caught those bass, as they'd come up. I think there were a lot of stumps in there. We never could see anything,
but we kept getting hung on stuff."
Water clarity may have thrown some anglers off for the two-day event. The water had the consistency of coffee with
a rich cream.
"The water got better as the day went along," noted Shipley, "We caught most of our fish later in
the day as conditions improved."
Shipley and Sims pulled their late hour heroics to collect the $10,000 first prize-their choice over a fully rigged
Triton 176 rigged with a 125 Mercury outboard. Their 14-pound stringer, added to two fish from day one, gave them
just enough for the win with 20lbs. -8ozs.
The most shocked in the field of 142 teams had to be fellow Buckeye fishermen Dan Vandine and Dick Ray. Vandine
and Ray appeared to be untouchable after a second good day on the water and a total weight of 18-pounds-10 ounces.
The tandem opted to make a long run up the Muskingum River, nearly 30-miles, where they keyed on creekmouths. The
plan worked better on the first day when the team collected just over 11-pounds to secure the first-day lead. The
stringer included the weekend lunker, a gigantic 5lb-11oz smallmouth.
"When I first saw it, I thought it was a sheep's head!" laughed Vandine, "Then we saw its sides
and things really got interesting."
"I said 'GET THE NET ON HIM!'" added Ray.
The Muskingum was a little stingier on day two when the current started to slow. Vandine says the first fish didn't
hit until around 11am.
"I was getting a little nervous, but then another boat came blasting right up beside us and chopped up the
water. That was all it took, then it was boom, boom, boom.
"We caught four-fish in about 50-minutes." Said Ray; "It was unreal."
Ray and Vandine also worked tubes for most of their winning pattern along with jigs and worms around extremely
thick cover of vines and log laydowns at the water's edge.
"That sun coming out really helped," said Vandine, "It pulled 'em tighter into the shady areas and
made them easier to find."
West Virginia anglers Ryan Harmon and Jim Merical made the Mountain State's best showing with a solid third place
with 12lbs-8ozs. The Ripley duo headed south looking for more stable water conditions.
"We locked through twice to the Ravenswood Pool." Noted Harmon, "We figured they were pulling so
much water up here that if we went down there it wouldn't have messed things up as much."
Unlike most anglers, Harmon and Merical tried a different technique by keying on submerged structure-with fair
success.
"We used a lot of tubes and crankbaits." Merical said, "We found most of them on the drops."
The 142-team field was just short of the maximum 150-boat limit. West Virginia Bass Federation officials took great
care to protect this year's catch. The effort yielded results after 225-bass were caught and 222-were released
alive back into the Ohio River. The Ohio Bass Federation aided generously to the effort with their live release
boat on sight. The entire exercise was conducted under the watchful eye of West Virginia DNR Biologist Chris O'Bara.
The distance between third and fourth showed the difficulty the muddy waters cast on the rest of the field. Tim
Bennett and Mike Bunner secured fourth with 8lbs-9ozs.
Rounding out the top five were Jim Davis and Jim Davis Senior with 8lbs-3ozs.
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| The top three teams pose for a photo after the 2001 West Virginia Bass
Festival at St. Mary's. First place was $10,000. |
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| The top 20 teams shown here all took home checks for their efforts
at the 2001 West Virginia Bass Festival at St. Mary's. |
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| Here are the top women finishers from the 2001 West Virginia Bass Festival
at St. Mary's. |
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| The top youth finishers from the 2001 West Virginia Bass Festival at
St. Mary's. |
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| Members of the West Virginia BASS Federation volunteered their time
and talents to keep the 2001 West Virginia Bass Festival at St. Mary's running smoothly. |
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| Mountain State Bassmasters Pat Shipley and Russ Sims share the experience
of their day on the weigh-in stage with West Virginia BASS Federation President John Burdette during the final
day weigh-in at the 18th Annual West Virginia Bass Festival on the Ohio River at Saint Mary's. |
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| Morgantown, West Virginia anglers Dave Hamilton (left) and Jim Montague
(right) arrive at the weigh-in during the final day at the 18th Annual West Virginia Bass Festival on the Ohio
River at Saint Mary's. The pair finished 7th with three fish weighing 7-12. |
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| Mountain State Bassmasters Jim Montague (center) and Dave Hamilton
(right) share the experience of their day on the weigh-in stage with West Virginia BASS Federation President John
Burdette during the final day weigh-in at the 18th Annual West Virginia Bass Festival on the Ohio River at Saint
Mary's. |
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