June 10, 2007Blazing across Smith Mountain Lake at the Blue Ridge BrawlI’m sitting here in what has been my home away from home the past four days – the ESPN/BASS media trailer. It ain’t bad. Basically it’s a 21-foot cargo trailer with rows of desks along the side. It’s got high-speed Internet (although I haven’t gotten it to work for me), a fridge, TV and, most importantly, AC. It’s not bad out there today – I’m thinking 85 – but Friday and Saturday it was oppressive, so getting in here was a nice break. I got here this morning at 5:30 a.m. for the launch. I’d hoped to get up in a helo but that didn’t happen. So I got in a camera boat, which wasn’t much slower than a helo. It was a 21-foot Blazer with a 300hp Yamaha. The driver said it will top 80 and I believe it. The lake was smooth so the ride was nice. Unlike yesterday. I spent a couple hours out there and it was rough. My driver was careful but on the way back he didn’t see a rogue wave (neither did I) and when we hit it I launched about 3 feet off the seat. Had I not been holding on I would have been in the water. This morning we got started after all 12 anglers had taken off. Somehow in the next two hours we found five boats, which I thought was pretty fortunate. It helped that a lot of guys have been hammering main lake points. Apparently this is going to be a really close finish. It looks like leader Casey Ashley is struggling while a couple of other contenders, including Skeet Reese and Dean Rojas, are doing well. Weigh-in is about an hour away. You can watch it live at HERE. |
About this blog
While growing up in rural Southern Oregon, Mark Taylor developed a passion for the outdoors while he and his younger brother tagged along with their father on fishing, hunting and camping adventures. Graduating from Northwestern University in 1988, Taylor spent four years as an officer in the U.S. Navy based in Norfolk before moving into journalism. After five years writing about the military for a Norfolk-based publishing company, he became the outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times in 1998. He lives in Roanoke with his wife and twin daughters. .....Advertisement.....
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