Outdoors
By John Humbert
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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
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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.
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