The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/856300
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, August 2, 2017 B-1 SPORTS Submit sports items: Call: 812-354-8500 Email: sports@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg When the rim of my hat is finally soaked, a large bead of sweat dribbles down the side of my face past a mos- quito that quietly drinks my warm blood. The bead drops off my face and falls into the lush blanket of touch-me- nots below me . The woods along the riv- er bank, which have been pounded by heavy rains all summer, are rank with thick green undergrowth that al- ways seems to be dripping. This summer has been a steady cycle of brutal rain events alternating with equally brutal periods of heat and humidity. When I reach the river bank, I throw my jug lines, fishing poles and tackle box into the canoe and slide it down the steep bank. The sil- ver canoe glides silently in- to the brown water, its bow swinging down-stream in a long arc as it catches in the current. The river, which apparent- ly has taken a strong stance against staying in its banks this summer, is flowing a lit- tle higher than normal. Since we moved into our cabin, this has been a record year for the number of times it's been out of its banks. It seems like ev- ery time things calm down, another heavy rain comes along and the river is back out. It's as if the river got jealous of its big brother, the ocean, and decided to devel- op a tidal regime of its own. Calm down river, I think as I finish loading the ca- noe. Your waters are brown and fresh, not blue and salty like the oceans. And I'm not some rich, saltwater angler in a gleaming 30 -foot center counsel hunting for 15 -foot marlin. I'm a middle-aged river rat clad in faded shorts and a camo hat, launching my dirty aluminum canoe on your dirty brown waters, hoping to catch a few catfish. Yes, it's been a disappoint- ing summer so far for river fishing. But with the river down to almost normal lev- els, I shove my canoe into the current and paddle hard for a snag on the opposite bank that looks like a good place to hang a jug line. Jug fishing, also known as limb-lining, involves ty- ing heavy fishing line onto a limb and dangling a baited hook into the water. Fisher- men often set their lines in the evening and then check them first thing in the morn- ing. In this way, one can fish remotely, letting the lines do all the work while you sleep. Some anglers put a jug on their line to help wear the fish out. This decreases the odds it will get off or become en- tangled in debris. I prefer a short length of shock cord (bungee cord) for my lines. One end of the cord is tied to the limb and the other end is attached to the hook and line. The jug is connected to cord in the middle. In this way, not only do fish have to pull against the jug, but they also have to pull against the shock cord. When I reach the snag, I make sure that the area un- der it is clear so that if I catch a fish, it can't wrap around anything. A fter securing my line, I bait my hook with shrimp. I prefer to use live bait fish since it increases PATOKA VALLEY OUTDOORS By Sam Whiteleather Jug Fishing See FISHING on 2 See KIRBSTOMP on 2 Derek Lunsford, who graduated from Pike Cen- tral High School in 2011, won overall honors in the 2017 National Physique Committee (NPC) USA Bodybuilding Champion- ships held Friday, July 28, and Saturday, July 29, at Las Vegas, Nev. Lunsford, 24, also placed first among 19 competitors in the light heavyweight class, earning an Interna- tional Federation of Body Builders (IFBB) pro card. Lunsford, who current- ly resides in Terre Haute, where he is the assistant manager at GNC, placed second in the middleweight division during the 2016 NPC USA Bodybuilding Championships. "Whenever I placed sec- ond last year as a middle- weight, I told everyone, and I promised myself, 'I will not do another show until I win the USAs,'" Lunsford told Muscular Development magazine online editor Ron Harris in a Skype inter- view posted on YouTube on Monday, July 31. "And, you know, I went up a weight class and I was able to take the overall. I was actually thinking the class, but the cards fell the right way." The 2017 NPC USA Bodybuilding Champion- ships was only the sixth competition for Lunsford, who also placed first in the novice lightweight, over- all novice and open welter- weight divisions at the NPC Bodybuilding Contest in In- dianapolis and first in wel- terweight division at the NPC Jr. Nationals in 2015. In 2016, Lunsford placed first in the middleweight division, was the overall body building winner and received the award for most muscular during the Mid- west Battle of the Cham- pions, and placed first in the middleweight division during the NPC Jr. Nation- als, in addition to his sec- ond-place finish in the mid- dleweight division during the NPC USA Bodybuild- ing Championships. During the 45 -minute interview, Lunsford – who was a two-time Pocket Ath- letic Conference wrestling champion at 125 pounds as a junior and 130 pounds as a senior – praised Pike Central High School head wrestling coach Billy Hewig, who, according to Lunsford, sent congratula- tions via text message fol- lowing Saturday night's fi- nals. "I told him, 'Man, this is partly, like, what you in- stilled in me back in high school with wrestling – you taught me to be coachable and work hard and be con- sistent, and I just took that and I went with it in a dif- ferent direction,'" Lunsford said. "Definitely, I think wrestling and (Hewig) somewhat set me up for this. Being coachable's ex- tremely important." Lunsford is currently coached by James Brown, of St. Louis, a bodybuild- er who formerly owned a business in Vincennes, Extreme Nutrition. He is the son of Javona Miller, of Petersburg, and Scott Lunsford, of Washington. During the interview with Harris, Lunsford de- scribed his mother as "the Queen Bee." "When you're deplet- ed, it's hard for you to get around – you're traveling, you've got all your luggage, you're trying to get your meals, and you're trying to figure the airport situation out – and having someone there is extremely import- ant," Lunsford said. "For it to be my mother, like, wow! I wouldn't want anybody else but her – her and, actu- ally, my girlfriend, Jhelsin (Mabaga). They have been definitely a huge, huge help in the preps." Lunsford, who per- formed his on-stage rou- tine to music by the Chris- tian pop group Casting Crowns, will compete in his first-ever profession- al show – the IFBB Tam- pa Pro – on Thursday, Aug. 3, Friday, Aug. 4 and Satur- day, Aug. 5. LUNSFORD NAMED OVERALL WINNER AT NPC USA BODYBUILDING CHAMPIONSHIPS Derek Lunsford, who graduated from Pike Central High School in 2011, won overall honors while placing first in the light heavyweight division of the 2017 National Physique Committee (NPC) Body Building Championships on Saturday, July 29, in Las Vegas. Lunsford also earned his International Federation of Body Building pro card and will be competing in his first professional competition in Tampa, Fla., this week. Submitted Photo WE ARE PROFFESIONAL GRADE uebelhorgm.com 1-800-937-8721 Jasper, IN By Ed Cahill Press-Dispatch Sports Editor sports@pressdispatch.net By day, Stendal native Kirby ( Wil- liams) Webster – who graduated from Pike Central High School in 2008 – works as a medical technol- ogist at Deaconess Gateway Hospi- tal in Evansville. At night, however, the 27-year- old Webster puts on a helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, wrist guards and a mouth guard, and laces up a pair of roller skates as a member of the Demolition City Roller Derby's Dy- namite Dolls. Webster, known by her roller der- by nickname, "Kirbstomp," serves as one of the team's jammers, who score points for their team by pass- ing – or lapping – the opposing team's players. "I used to watch (roller derby) on T V with my grandpa, back when it was on T V all the time," Webster said. "Then I randomly found out that a girl I had known for a long time was on the team. I don't know how she never brought it up." "I was, like, 'Oh my gosh! Evans- ville's got a roller derby team? ' She got me the information, and I just de- cided I was going to sign up and try it out." Demolition City Roller Derby, which bills itself as "Evansville's Original Rollergirls," got its start in 2007, according to one of DCRD's founding members known as "Jet- sy Rockette." "We had a girl that moved here from Boston to go to college, and back in Boston, they had a roller der- by team that she was just starting to get in contact with," Jetsy Rockette said. "So when she came to Evans- ville, she brought the idea of roller derby with her." That girl – whose roller derby name was "Maully Olly Oxenfree" – subsequently set up a MySpace page to gauge if there was any inter- est in starting a roller derby team in Evansville. "I just happened to see it the day it goes up, and I talked to her," Jetsy Rockette said. "We met at the Hen- derson skating rink, and me and about 10 other girls put on some skates and rolled around and fell down a couple of times. From there, we decided to have our first meeting and we started a roller derby league." "It was a long, slow process, though," she added. "We had to learn basic roller skating skills. We actu- ally didn't play our first bout for the first year and a half, because we were learning, we were getting our team together. And it took off from there." In 2010, DCRD was awarded full membership in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association ( WF TDA). Five years later, in 2015, DCRD com- peted in the Division II Champion- ships in St. Paul, Minn., returning to Evansville with a bronze medal. "We ended up walking away from PCHS grad making name in roller derby as Kirbstomp Kirby (Williams) Web- ster (right) – also known as Kirbstomp – makes her way around the track before the Demolition City Roller Der- by's Dynamite Dolls host the Springfield (Mo.) Roll- er Girls on Saturday, July 15, at Swonder Ice Arena in Evansville. Ed Cahill photo Kirby (Williams) Webster (right) – also known as Kirbstomp – chats with fellow jammer O. Snap (left) before the Demoli- tion City Roller Derby's Dynamite Dolls take on the Springfield (Mo.) Roller Girls in a home bout on Saturday, July 15, at Swon- der Ice Arena in Evansville. O. Snap was portraying the Incred- ible Hulk as part of Cosplay Night. Ed Cahill photo