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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1981)
Outdoors By John Humbert hoto by Greg Gamm oint, 78-77, wk neback in ti TCU tonighlal in the first n nament. ns; 7-2 ywd wastheworstl 30 years of being zed tennis,” saii n Cannon, ke matters worst, d for about an br ; for the police in the rough treat etained their cot ndly whipped tk aliana Fernandn ser 6-4, 6-1; Par ’aeon 6-7,6-4,2-t n lost to Rhoni ; Amy Gloss beal 6-1, 6-1; Sonji efeated Melissa and Laura Hamfi / 6-3, 7-5. Hutcherson-Hl -Tacon 5-7,7-5, {■ beat Lewis-Hallfi- 'ernandez-Hootoa -Riley 1-6, 7-5,7- iatch was a little s the Lamar tear standing with w y the theft caused :re so delayed get- ston, I called tk 1 asked if we could h,” said Cannon irday: Fernandez ttos 7-5, 5-7,3-fi; Holm 6-1, 6-3; Christina Ortega loss beat Monifl Hutcherson dele- son 6-0, 6-2 and ina Moriera 34 Its: Hutcherson- lel-Mattos6-2,0-t inna beat Holffl- ■2 and Hooton- feated Ericson- e the Ags season Fhe team’s neit at the Brighafl ity Invitational ’rovo, Utah. The ament has seven I opponents with lone exception Time is ripe for fishing This is the first in a series of outdoor articles by John Humbert which will appear in The Battalion sports pages once a week. Humbert is a sophomore bioengineering major at Texas A&M University. Spring is in the air and so should be your spinnerbaits, all you bass fisherman. With the past few days of warm weather, the water temperature in ponds and smaller lakes in the area has risen enough to trigger the bass into their spawning urges. So put away your Remingtons and Brownings and dig deep into your closets for your Ambassadeurs, Fenwicks and other fishing tackle. My fishing buddy, Dale Kornegay, and I decided to check out some local lakes and ponds to see if the action has started. I like fishing with Dale even though his driving down county roads resembles the pilot for Dukes of Hazzard. However, as soon as someone prys my hands off the dashboard and door, I’m usually ready to do some serious fishing. We chose a small lake between Brenham and College Sta tion to start our latest adventure. The lake’s real name is Lake Langly, but after closer inspection it could be more aptly named Lake Weedy Scum. Literally hundreds of ponds can be found within 20 minutes of the Bryan-College Station area. In fact, most anybody can recall passing a few the last time they drove one of the many county roads that lead off the highways. The best way to find your own secret pond is to invest a tank of gas and go driving. This can be done with your wife or girlfriend under the pre tense of a Sunday afternoon drive. When you pass a promising-looking pond, jot down its location and find out who the landowner is. Next, pay a visit to the landowner to secure his permission to fish. One may have to “hunker” with the farmer or rancher awhile. By “hunker” I mean offer to help around his place in exchange for fishing privileges. Most landowners are good-natured and will wel come help and friendship if you respect them, their fences and their livestock. You might want to bring along an extra rod for him and offer some cleaned fish afterward. By observing this protocol, you not only discover a year-round fishing hole but a new friend as well. Meanwhile, back at Lake Weedy Scum, we started throwing small spinnerbaits and topwaters. Not only are these baits excellent for small bodies of water this time of year, but they are great for working the water around heavy weed patches. The first cast of the day produced a small bass from the edge of a large weedbed. It is an unwritten rule with Dale that if you catch a fish on the first cast of the day, fishing will be lousy the rest of the day. Thus, he was ready to call it quits and move on to the next pond. I disagreed, partly because I thought he was being a bit hasty, and partly because my knuckles and nerves were still raw from our drive down Washington County Road No. 29. As the morning progressed, however, Dale’s Fishin’ Rule No. 1 was holding true. We caught about a dozen more small bass and drew several more missed strikes before deciding that the big bass had not yet moved into the shallows in this lake. This brings up an important concept in pond fishing. While atone pond the fish may not cooperate, often at the next pond a few acres away, the fish may be waiting in line to strike your bait. After our conclusions about Lake Weedy Scum were reached, I loaded the rods in the trunk, donned my cash helmet and away we went, bouncing off fence posts and mail boxes. Our next stop was a little-known cove on Lake Somerville; in fact, it is so little known that it is not even on the map. I had caught some nice largemouths last March (yes, Virginia, there are big bass in Somerville), and was hoping they had already moved into the shadows. There are many coves at Somerville that are 4-5 feet deep with a lot of standing timber in them. These coves produce a good number of big bass in the four to six pound range, mostly in late February through March. Most of these fish fall to weedless spoons, white spinnerbaits and plastic worms. The best way to fish these coves is by wading, throwing your lure far hack between log jams and brushpiles. You won’t catch the numbers but your stringer will be heavy all the same with large fish. I would like to say we hit those big bass that day, but we didn’t. Actually, the only excitement we had happened when we disturbed a sleeping snake on a floating log. From the way Dale was laughing, you’d think he had never seen a four-foot water moccasin chase a wade fisherman, hip deep in water, around a cove. Owls tie with Lamar United Press International HOUSTON — Frank Dishongh belted three doubles and drove in two runs Sunday to lead Rice to a 115-2 win over Mary Hardin- Baylor and give the Owls a tie with Lamar for the championship of the Cameron ment. Foundation tourna- Both Rice and Lamar ended the round-robin tournament with 2-1 records. Lamar lost to Rice, 2-0, Saturday. box 77) — Drexlerl 1 2 3-5 7, Brown 1 1 7-829, Young! 1-2 1, E. Davis 1 )-0 4, BunceH-! . Totals 3017-23 SKIN CARE FOR MEN AND WOMEN 1st Anniversary on Tuesday, March 3 V* off March 2-6 All Moisturizers Eye Shadows Eye Pencils Lipsticks Blushes Drawing Friday, March 6 You may win 5 treatments valued at $100 Be sure to sign up March 2-6 707 Shopping Village 693-5909 iHE BAT FAliGN MONDAY, MARCH 2, 1981 Page 3 McMullen weathers Astro storm United Press International HOUSTON — Houston Astros principal owner John McMullen admits he was battered by critic ism during controversy over his firing of General Manager Tal Smith in October, but as training camp begins he is in control and Smith is looking for a job. McMullen’s determination, which saw him through the storm, appears steadfast. “There’s no question I’ve been battered a little bit,” he said. “But I must say that through it all. I’ve been dedicated to this team. I’m consumed with the idea that I want to make it the best team in baseball.” The Smith controversy finally has died out, but not before it deeply hurt McMullen, 61, his close associates say. He learned from a corporate coup by 20 minority owners in November that he did not run the ballclub in a vacuum, insulated from them and from millions of fens feeling heady due to a taste of high baseball drama in October. Filing of papers transforming the team’s umbrella organization into a corporation, with McMul len as one of three equal directors, was only days away, he said, as he spoke Tuesday by phone from his Manhattan office. “There’s nothing impeding the corporation. It (controversy) lasted longer than I had expected, I must admit. I’m happy to say we are heading into a season in good shape,” he said. “As you know, there are many elements to a championship team. There’s an element of luck in it. There’s an element of team morale. I tried to keep the players away from it, and I succeeded. I take credit for that.” In Cocoa, Fla., where the Astros trained, the gregarious, gravel-voiced executive commit teeman, as he is titled now, happi ly greeted players who almost to a man stayed out of the Smith brouhaha which broke October 27, two weeks after the Astros had lost a fifth and deciding game in the National League Champion ship Series to the Philadelphia Phillies. Almost to a man. Starting pitch er Ken Forsch believed it was un just to fire Smith, a man who brought the team with Manager Bill Virdon from last place to first in five years. Forsch has been on the trading block since, and he did not report to camp when the other pitchers did. “The team is technically super ior to what it was in 1980,” McMullen said. “It’s capabilities are sound. We still have a few more moves to make before the season starts or soon after it starts.” Acquisitions of veteran pitchers Don Sutton from Los Angeles and Bob Knepper from San Francisco indicated McMullen’s willingness to move ahead. The Astros staff could be the best in baseball with the return of stoke-victim J.R. Richard. He gave Richard and Richard’s agent, Tom Reich, full credit for making the comeback and arriving at Cocoa the first day of training camp. Richard still must over come some weakness caused by the stroke before he will play. However, for McMullen and General Manager Al Rosen, the man who McMullen hired to re place Smith, there is no room for a collapse of a pitching staff or bad luck in 1981. Losses — forwhatev- er reason — will resurrect Smith’s ghost and cast dark shadows. For now, though, there’s five opponents in the National League West Division to contemplate. “Los Angeles is always tough on us,” McMullen said. “They’ve been working very hard to im prove. They’ll always be there. Cincinnati still is making moves and has a reasonable amount of trading to do. Atlanta is awesome in their hitting. I don’t know how they will do in their pitching. San Francisco will be better. San Diego has a couple of years to go. ” McMullen is untrusting of the media because of what he consid ers to be their figurative hanging of him following Smith’s firing. To better his communication with re porters, McMullen has hired A.R. Busse as his personal public rela tions consultant. Before the Smith firing, the Astros were run by a partnership with McMullen as general part ner. The limited partners, angered over lack of accountabil ity by McMullen and moved to action by the firing, dissolved the partnership and forced a corpora tion to be formed with a three-man executive committee at the top. DON’T FORGET!! 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