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Bassmaster Elite Stop at Smith Mountain Marks
a Special Anniversary for Virginia Tech Bass Fishing Team

Smith Mountain Lake, VA -(FishNLand.com)-

In June 2007, four college students attended the Bassmaster Elite Series event together on Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. They were the sole members of the fledgling Virginia Tech Bass Fishing Team.

It was about two months after the horrors of the well-documented shooting at the university, and BASS rolled out the red carpet for the students: Charlie Machek, Brett Thompson, Scott Wiley and Chase Grinnel. They made guest appearances on Hooked Up, the Bassmaster.com show that previews the final day’s weigh-in, were asked to write blogs for ESPNOutdoors.com and were introduced to a number of Elite Series pros.

Meeting Elite pro Chris Lane of Lakeland, Fla., turned out to be opportune.

“He’s a friend of a cousin of mine in Florida,” Machek said. “A month or so later, Chris called me and offered to sponsor us. He jump-started our club with funding. He’s a big part of the reason we’ve been so successful because he’s given us the means to make it to a lot of events.”

For two years, Lane has contributed a percentage of his Elite Series winnings to the team. He said he plans to continue his support.

“I feel like I’m giving something back to the sport,” Lane said. “I think there’s a huge future for the sport through college competitions.”

Since the team got going in 2007, it has earned the support of other sponsors and has grown to 25 team members, 15 of them actively fishing in tournaments. Their competition schedule is heavy (see www.bassfishingteamatvt.com). Virginia Tech has collected several trophies, including the top prize at the 2007 Under Armour College Bass National Championship on the Arkansas River.

And, just like professional anglers, the team makes appearances at consumer shows and expos, including the 2009 Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo in Shreveport-Bossier City, La.

April 23-26, when the Elite Series returns to Smith Mountain Lake for the Advance Auto Parts Blue Ridge Brawl, Machek and Wiley will take part. Each is signed up to serve as an Elite Series Marshal, an official observer in a pro’s boat. Being a Marshal means a front-row seat in bass fishing’s school of higher learning, and the guys can’t wait.

“Chris invited us to stay with him at his rental house, so that will give us an even more in-depth understanding of what the pros do to prepare for a tournament,” Machek said.

Machek, Thompson and Wiley are on track to graduate in May, but Machek said they’ll still be around to offer help to the team if needed. The founders are likely to be busy pursuing careers in their fields: Machek and Thompson will each have a degree in building construction, and Wiley will graduate with a degree in landscape architecture.

“We’re passing the club on to the younger members,” he said. “We’re pretty proud of it.”

About BASS

For more than 40 years, BASS has served as the authority on bass fishing. With its considerable multimedia platforms and expansive tournament trail, BASS is guided by its mission to serve all fishing fans. Through its industry-leading publications Bassmaster Magazine, BASS Times and Fishing Tackle Retailer and comprehensive Web properties in ESPN360.com, ESPN’s broadband sports network, Bassmaster.com, BASSInsider.com and ESPNOutdoors.com, the organization is committed to delivering content true to the lifestyle. Additionally, television programming on ESPN2 continues to provide relevant content – from tips and techniques to in-depth tournament coverage – to passionate audiences.

The organization oversees the prestigious Bassmaster tournament trail, which includes the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bassmaster Opens, Academy Sports + Outdoors Women’s Bassmaster Tour and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the Bassmaster Classic. Through its grassroots network, the BASS Federation Nation, BASS annually sanctions more than 20,000 events.

BASS also offers an array of services to its more than 500,000 members while spearheading progressive, positive change on issues related to conservation and water access. The organization is headquartered in Celebration, Fla.

Filed under: Fishing Events, Fishing Media by FishNLand 1 Comment »

Expect Shallow Bite and Finesse Fishing on Virginia’s Smith Mountain Lake for Bassmaster Elite Series’ Fourth Stop of Season

Moneta, Va. -(FishNLand.com)-
When the Bassmaster Elite Series pros arrive at Smith Mountain Lake for the April 23-26 Advance Auto Parts Blue Ridge Brawl out of Moneta, Va., they will find markedly different conditions than those presented to them in 2007, when the Elite Series first visited. The anglers can expect pre-spawn and possibly spawning conditions on the crystal clear waters of the scenic 20,600-acre lake nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Smith Mountain, with more than 500 miles of shoreline, has been featured in four previous BASS events, the last of which was the 2007 Bassmaster Elite Series event won by then-rookie Casey Ashley of Donalds, S.C. Ashley made history as the youngest pro – he was 23 at the time – to win an Elite Series event. With less than an hour remaining in the final day of competition, Ashley boated two keepers on back-to-back casts. The weight of those two fish was enough to bring him victory with a four-day total of 57 pounds, 3 ounces, beating veteran Elite pro Terry Scroggins of San Mateo, Fla., by 2 pounds.

Fishing fans can catch all of the on-the-water action from the Blue Ridge Brawl on The Bassmasters, which airs Saturday, May 9, at 9 a.m. ET on ESPN2. The daily weigh-ins for all regular-season Elite events and the two postseason events will air live on ESPN360.com, ESPN’s broadband sports network, while a wealth of unique content will also be available at Bassmaster.com.

The Blue Ridge Brawl includes a top prize of $100,000 and awards valuable points in the 2009 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year title race. With 813 points, 2008 Bassmaster Classic champion Alton Jones of Waco, Texas, leads the AOY standings after the April 2-5 Evan Williams Bourbon Dixie Duel on Alabama’s Wheeler Lake. Trailing him are Stephen Browning of Hot Springs, Ark., in second with 774 points, and Diamond Drive winner Mark Menendez of Paducah, Ky., in third with 761 points.

The top 12 pros in the AOY standings at the end of the regular season will advance to the two-event postseason, during which the Angler of the Year will be determined.

In the 2009 Rookie of the Year standings, Matt Herren of Trussville, Ala., is in the lead with 626 points and an overall standing of 22nd in the AOY race. Greg Vinson of Wetumpka, Ala., is second with 565 points. He’s tied for 39th in the AOY standings.

Scroggins, who was successful in the 2007 event – a June competition in spawn and post-spawn conditions – with topwater fishing and shaky head rigs, figures to take a similar approach this time while acknowledging that the conditions will be different.

“There’ll be more sight-fishing, with the fish up shallow,” said Scroggins, who also worked a drop-shot to short structure in 2007. “And last time was the first time for most everyone. Now they’ve seen the lake, they’re more familiar with it. I’m looking forward to it; that lake offers a lot of fish but there’s a lot of pressure as well. I don’t think we’ll see 25-pound stringers.”

Scroggins said he thinks it will take 17 to 20 pounds a day to win the Blue Ridge Brawl. He expects swimbaits to play a big role in the competition, as well as finesse fishing, shaky head rigs and drop-shotting.

“This time we’ll fish closer to the bank, so the topwater deal might still be good,” he added. “It’s kind of a deep, clear lake and that kind of stuff excels, but I think finesse fishing’s going to be the way to go there. I’m sure there’ll be some who try going deep, but the guys who fish shallow I think will have more success.”

Ashley’s winning strategy in 2007 included working a Zoom Finesse worm in watermelon candy color to docks early in the day and later, a jig on rocky points on the main lake. His win and the season-opening victory that year by rookie Derek Remitz of Grant, Ala., marked the only two times in BASS history in which a rookie has won an Elite Series event.

Fans are encouraged to attend the Blue Ridge Brawl’s daily launches (7:15 a.m. ET) and weigh-ins (4 p.m.) Thursday through Sunday at Parkway Marina, 16918 Smith Mountain Lake Parkway, Huddleston, Va. After Day Two’s competition Friday, the field will be cut to the top 50 anglers for Day Three. Only the top 12 will go on to compete in Day Four.

Other activities Saturday and Sunday at the Blue Ridge Brawl will begin at 1 p.m. ET at Parkway Marina, featuring the popular Dog Training & Retriever Demonstrations Brought To You By SportDog. The fun also includes a Saturday performance by local band Jordan Road, from 1:30-3 p.m.; a Bassmaster CastingKids event Saturday, hosted by the Virginia BASS Federation Nation; Skeeter boat demos; cooking demonstrations; and a beer garden from 1-4:15 p.m. both days.

At 1:30 p.m. Saturday, fans are invited to experience Bassmaster University, which includes the “Ask the Experts” session with Elite pros at 3 p.m.

Sunday’s activities include the live taping of Hooked Up, hosted by ESPN Outdoors personalities Mark Zona and Tommy Sanders. The show, which will air live at 3:30 p.m. ET on www.bassmaster.com, will preview Sunday’s final weigh-in.

All events at the Advance Auto Parts Blue Ridge Brawl are free and open to the public. Up next in the Elite Series is the May 7-10 Marine Formula STA-BIL Southern Challenge on Lake Guntersville out of Guntersville, Ala.

For more information, contact BASS Communications at (407) 566-2208 or visit Bassmaster.com. Visit ESPNMediaZone.com for ESPN’s latest releases, schedules and other news, plus photos, video, audio clips and more.

Local sponsors of the Blue Ridge Brawl are Franklin and Bedford counties.

Official sponsors of the Bassmaster Elite Series: Toyota Trucks, Berkley, BOOYAH Baits, Evan Williams Bourbon, Mercury, OPTIMA Batteries, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha Marine

Supporting sponsors of the Bassmaster Elite Series: Bass Pro Shops, Costa Del Mar, Ramada, SpongeTech and Triton Boats.

About BASS

For more than 40 years, BASS has served as the authority on bass fishing. With its considerable multimedia platforms and expansive tournament trail, BASS is guided by its mission to serve all fishing fans. Through its industry-leading publications Bassmaster Magazine, BASS Times and Fishing Tackle Retailer and comprehensive Web properties in ESPN360.com, ESPN’s broadband sports network, Bassmaster.com, BASSInsider.com and ESPNOutdoors.com, the organization is committed to delivering content true to the lifestyle. Additionally, television programming on ESPN2 continues to provide relevant content – from tips and techniques to in-depth tournament coverage – to passionate audiences.

The organization oversees the prestigious Bassmaster tournament trail, which includes the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bassmaster Opens, Academy Sports + Outdoors Women’s Bassmaster Tour and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the Bassmaster Classic. Through its grassroots network, the BASS Federation Nation, BASS annually sanctions more than 20,000 events.

BASS also offers an array of services to its more than 500,000 members while spearheading progressive, positive change on issues related to conservation and water access. The organization is headquartered in Celebration, Fla.

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