The four-tournament Old Salt Bassmasters Open Team Winter Series, which will hold the second tournament of the series Sunday on North Carolina’s Belews Lake, is open to all anglers, not just “old salts,” said tournament director Jim Martin.

In fact, anglers don’t don’t have to be Navy men to be members of the Old Salt Bassmasters, said Martin, who explained that the club, a member of the Virginia Bass Federation, was formed by a group of anglers in their 50s and 60s about 15 years ago.

“It didn’t have anything to do with fishing. It had to do with age,” said Martin, who at 73 is the oldest current member of the club who is still fishing regularly. But, even at his age, Martin was not one of the charter members, having been dealing with some physical problems at the time the club was formed.

“This four-tournament trail is a kind of money-making project for us. We send our top six anglers to the State Six-Man Team Tournament and pay their entry fees, motel accommodations and some on their gas expenses. We also send out No. 1 angler in the club as a boater and our No. 2 angler as a non-boater to the state Mr. Bass Tournament and pay their entry fees, motels and other expenses.”

The Winter Trail has been going for about a dozen years, he said, but the club also schedules a nine-tournament club series throughout the year, fishing at Kerr/Buggs Island, Gaston and Philpot in Virginia and High Rock, Mayo and Hyco in North Carolina.

“Through the Virginia Bass Federation we have regional tournaments and another fellow and I fish all of those. For the past four or five years I’ve qualified for the state, so I am still pretty active. I feel really fortunate, although this past year has been a struggle,” Martin said. Rotator Cup problems forced him to have surgery and he has had to fish with one arm, he said.

Belews Lake in Forsyth and Rockingham Counties is an excellent lake to fish in winter, Martin said, because the water is always warm due to the hot water discharge from the coal-fired electric power generating plant on the lake.

“That keeps the water temperature from the low 60s to the low 70s, even in the winter, so fishing is always pretty good,” Martin said. “You can catch fish from 2 to 3 feet deep all the way down to 50 to 60 feet deep.”

Although the water will be warm and some anglers will be fishing shallow, Martin said the majority probably will fish deep, working drop shots and jigging spoons over humps and deep ditches.

Entry fee in the Winter Series is $50 per team with an optional Big Bass Pot of $10. Payback is 80 percent of $50 and Big Bass is paid at 100 percent of participation. One place will be paid for every 7 boats entered. The limit is 5 bass, 14-inch minimum. A North Carolina freshwater fishing license is required.

After Sunday, tournaments are scheduled Jan. 8 and Jan. 22.

 

Old Salt Bassmasters Open Team Tournament Trail

Sun, Dec. 4, 2011

Belews Lake

Pine Hall Boat Ramp

Call Jim Martin at (276) 252-4138

[email protected]