Our featured Angler for October is Region 2's Bryant Copley

Bryant with a couple of Smith Mountain Beauties

Bryant Copley of Region 2's Staunton River Bassmasters is well known in the Virginia BASS Federation for his ability to fish a jig. "Anyone who knows me," he says, "knows that I love to pitch and flip." What they may not know about the three time state team qualifier, however, is that he is fascinated by Fred Arbogast Jitterbugs.

"I caught my first bass on a jitterbug," Copley states, "and now I'm a Fred Arbogast nut." His collection is currently "pushing 300," including traders and extras, and he is looking to add to that number. He notes that if an individual ordered enough lures, the company would make any color, so there are a wide variety of different Jitterbugs in circulation. There are other varieties, too. For example, during World War II, the rationing of metal led the company to produce baits with plastic lips.

Bryant caught that first Jitterbug bass when he was "knee high to a duck." Introduced to fishing by his father, the 37 year-old Altavista resident has been fishing virtually his entire life. A friend introduced him to tournament fishing in 1987, he joined the club in 1988, and quickly became "totally addicted."

Copley's tournament record shows that he is a consistent and accomplished member of the Federation. He made the state team in 1994, 1998, and 2000, all through the Six Man tournament, where he finished 4th, 1st and 2nd, respectively. He makes no secret of the fact that Buggs Island is his favorite body of water in the state.

By his own admission, Copley did poorly in his first Eastern Divisional in Delaware. With that experience under his belt, though, he was Virginia's 4th place finisher in New Hampshire in 1998, and our 3rd place finisher on the Potomac River in 2000. He credits much of his success, in those tournaments and others, to long-time sponsor Virginia Guide Bait Company, a local distributor of Zoom products which also produces its own great line of high-quality soft plastic baits.

In addition to his tournament successes, Bryant has contributed to the Federation in other ways. He is active in youth functions, and has repeatedly participated in a Region 2 youth event on Mill Creek in Amherst. He encourages all Federation members to engage in similar activities through their region.

For the future, Bryant Copley makes no secret of his goals. He wants to make it to the Federation National, and ultimately to the Bassmasters Classic. Toward that end, he has centered his efforts of Federation tournaments and cut back on fishing other events. With Bryant's long track record of success within the state and in the Eastern Divisionals, not many Virginia Federation members will be surprised if and when he achieves his goals. They may, however, be a little bit surprised when he announces that his winning catch came on a plastic-lipped, blackbird-colored Jitterbug.

Just remember, you read it here first!

Bryant Copley can be contacted at bcopleyjigs@aol.com.