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| FishTails |
Smarr and Burgess Capture First Buddy Trail Win
[April 10, 2002] - By Chris Lawrence
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| Bob Burgess (left) and Russ Smarr show off their winning catch at the
opening tournament of the 2002 WVBF Buddy Trail on Sutton Lake April 6, 2002. The team won with three keepers weighing
10lbs 5ozs and had the lunker 5lbs 13ozs. |
There are many things that can be controlled by tournament organizers, however, for another year the West Virginia
Bass Federation's Board of Directors has proven weather is not one of them. For many years the Sutton Lake opener
of the Buddy Trail season has been "snakebit" by Mother Nature. The 2001 Sutton tournament was put off
a week with snow in the forecast-a snow that came a week later on the rescheduled date. Therefore, the 2002 tournament
was delayed until April with the promise of better weather. Anglers left their homes April 6th wondering why they
were bothering to get out of bed at all.
"I figured we wouldn't even have a tournament." Said victorious angler Russ Smarr, "There was three-inches
at the house and we almost couldn't get up here it was snowing so hard."
Other anglers from both the north and south had to travel through near whiteout conditions to get to the geographical
center of West Virginia. Flatwoods, however, was spared the greatest accumulation, but gray clouds gave an ominous
warning that anglers in the field needed to wear every stitch they could find in the boat or truck. A biting 30-degree
temperature greeted everyone at the ramp and on the back end of a cold front, few held out great hope for a big
bag.
Despite the bitter temperatures and snowfall, cabin fever must have been raging, 91 boats turned out to set a new
Buddy Trail tournament record. Adding insult to injury, the week prior to the tournament-and the day after-saw
temperatures nearing the 70-degree mark. Most anglers who'd spent several days on the water tossed patterns out
the window and started from scratch.
"We ran all the way up to Holly River, where we had some fish located." Says Smarr, "But they just
weren't on like we'd figured them up there. We stayed until 11:00 without a keeper."
With little else to do Smarr and partner Bob Burgess did what most everyone else did, started looking for fish.
The longtime partners began piecing together a run and gun approach on their long trip back to the ramp from areas
that had produced before. Years of experience paid off as the team put three fish in the boat on the afternoon
bite. One of the bass weighed in at 5lbs-13oz and another estimated at just over 3lbs.
"Two years ago we got second up here and we caught those about the same place as that day." Says Smarr
who'd had quite a run on Sutton in recent days. "I had two book-end 5-4's up here in a club tournament the
other day."
The luck continued to shine on Smarr and Burgess on a frosty day at Sutton with a total winning weight of 10lbs-3oz
and the 5-13 lunker all caught on tubes in 10 to 15 feet of water. Despite their reputation as incredible anglers
and numerous top five finishes, it was the first Buddy Trail win for the pair after years of fishing.
The weather had little effect on the pattern worked out by Randy Dodd and Kenny Thaxton. Both put together a winning
pattern in pre-fishing slowly paralleling the banks of the main lake with crankbaits. The effort was good enough
for 7lbs-1ounce and second place.
Brothers Kevin and Mike Goff scored third with a stringer just over six pounds.
Asked about what to do for Sutton next year, West Virginia Bass Federation President John Burdette said maybe it
could be held on the 4th of July. Such a move would likely lead to the first Independence Day snow in history. |
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