Our featured Angler for November is Region 4's Tim McCoy

by Pete Robbins
(Who is Pete Robbins & what else has he written?)

Tim McCoy, a member of the Black Hollow Bassmasters and the Assistant Director for Region 4, has a pretty simple philosophy of life: "Everyone should pull their own weight. Those who are able to work, should be willing to work."

Accordingly, it should come as no surprise that when he perceived Region 4 to be horribly mismanaged, McCoy stepped in to offer his time, energy and intellect. This passion and work ethic permeates everything that he does, from his work for the region, to his own tournament fishing, to his homemade lures, to his political involvement and his "loud" bassboat.

Region 4 Involvement
A past region director "did an absolutely horrible job," McCoy says, adding that "there were no financial records, no structure. Nobody even knew what the payouts were supposed to be, and occasionally there wouldn’t be anyone there to register us at the tournaments."

In light of that crisis, the always outspoken McCoy, who had not previously held office in the Federation, made it clear that he’d like "to be part of fixing the problem." He was nominated to run against Ed Clayton for the position of Region Director. After the election, Clayton, who McCoy did not know very well previously, called McCoy and asked him to be part of the solution. "I was close to telling him to kiss my foot," Tim says half-seriously, "but then I decided to help Ed take the steps to put it back together."

Those steps were fairly simple. They included: comprehensive and scheduled minutes (which McCoy compiles); accounting "for every penny" of the region’s finances; a printed payback schedule (1 place for every 10 boats); and an attempt to codify "everything in the rules."

Despite what he admits was a slight bit of friction initially, McCoy makes clear that he and Clayton work quite well together. Thus, when Clayton had a heart attack, Tim was able to keep things running smoothly, without any gaps or disturbances to the operation of the organization.

Region 4 Within the Federation
McCoy believes that circumstances differentiate Region 4 from the other regions in the Virginia Federation. He and Clayton have actively worked to minimize what he perceives as disadvantages.

For instance, the region is more geographically dispersed than the others. Members in the eastern portion of the region may be several hours away from those in Wise County and other southwest Virginia cities. Those in the outer reaches of the state had long complained about the driving distances to the various tournament sites, and many had chosen to fish the Tennessee or West Virginia Federations instead of their home state’s organization.

McCoy and Clayton have worked hard to appease their constituents in the southwest portion of the state. One example is that this year they scheduled a region tournament at Douglas Lake, in Tennessee. After doing that, "I could have run for president out there," McCoy boasts. And everyone from the eastern part of the region who fished the tournament, many of whom initially resisted going to Douglas, want to go back (with one exception). "It’s only fair," he adds, "those guys have to drive nine hours to go to Gaston."

Some people have suggested that Region 4 be split into two separate entities. McCoy resists this idea. "We don’t need to split Region 4," he says, "plain and simple, the number of fishermen in the region equals revenue." What the Federation needs to do, he believes, "is to redistrict the state so that there are an equal number of clubs in each region, and then six regions would be plenty."

Additionally, McCoy believes that the finances of the Virginia Federation should be subject to annual audit report. He vehemently disagrees with the way our state funds are spent. Ten of the fifteen dollars, he says, are spent to support the state team, which is "only 12 of the 2,300 members." Additionally he contends that the state is currently spending more than it takes in, and has exhausted any money in reserve accounts.

Political Involvement
As noted above, Tim McCoy’s guiding principle in life is that everybody should "pull their own weight." For him, this extends to political action.

After September 11, 2001, a section of the New River running through a military arsenal was proposed to be closed to recreational use. McCoy tried to work with the Colonel in charge of the arsenal, but was rebuffed, so he took to the media.

McCoy’s knowledge of the arsenal was that in case of disaster, it was designed to "blow straight up" in order to minimize the loss of life. "It doesn’t make sense to argue that jonboat could do meaningful damage," he argues, "since anything short of a carpet bomb would have to get every building there in order to do real damage." McCoy expressed this opinion in various newspaper articles, and managed to get airtime on regional radio stations to argue his case. Additionally, he brought he issue to his political representatives.

Although Tim McCoy is a lifelong Republican, he credits Democrat Rick Boucher of the 9^th District with listening and helping to keep the section of the New River in question open. "We knew that [Republican] George Allen was the gubernatorial candidate for sportsman," he says, "but Boucher is also gonna get my vote, based on that issue alone."

Family and Fishing History
The potential closure of the New River hit close to home for Tim McCoy since that is where he cut his angling teeth, fishing out of an eight foot flatbottom boat built by his grandfather at the tender age of eight.

In the mid-1970s, the New became one of the premier muskie fishing locations in the east, and McCoy "chased them pretty religiously." At one point, he held the state record for muskie, with a 39 pound, 12 ounce monster, which was but one of a quintet of thirty pound plus fish that he caught there.

After back surgery in 1986, which left him "unable to pick up anything heavier than a graphite rod or a petticoat," McCoy turned his attention more to bass fishing. He credits the introduction of muskies into the New with revitalizing that bass fishery. "Before the muskies came," he says, "the biggest smallmouth you’d catch was three pounds, but now there in there up to seven." He believes that the "muskies eat the weaker and smaller fish, and [that] bass fishing is one hundred percent better now."

McCoy traces his family history in southwestern Virginia to the mid-1700s, when his ancestors settled near Blacksburg. "They were a bunch of Scot-Irish renegades," he says, "who just wanted to make hard liquor, drink it, hunt and fish." Their toughness is still evident not only in Tim, but also in his father, who will turn 90 this month and still works six days a week.

The father of two sons by a previous marriage, after divorcing Tim developed a seven page list of criteria he was looking for in a spouse, and after years of trying, he met "curly headed Brenda, who met everything on my tough list."

Unconventional Equipment
When he’s not busy working for Region 4, attending to his family, fishing, or otherwise raising a fuss, Tim McCoy makes his own lures, which are highly coveted by anglers in the know. He is proud of the worms and trailers that he pours, but he practically beams when he describes his jigs, calling them "the best jig anyone’s ever fished.

The jigs’ success is attributable not only to the techniques he uses to fish them, but also to the specific components that he uses in their construction. "The guy who taught me how to make them said he would killed me if I shared, though," he replies when asked specifically what makes them so good. Some of the details that he is willing to divulge include the fact that round rubber skirts are best for smallmouths, with a quarter ounce jig using twenty strands, and a three eighths requiring 25. He uses a scent pod on his jigs, which he saturates with garlic. His staple jig color is brown with a green pumpkin trailer, the one distinction being that on rivers he will use a #11 sized chunk for a trailer, while on lakes he prefers Zoom’s super chunk junior.

Tim’s "unconventional" nature extends to his choice of boat. If you’ve ever seen a purple and black blur on Smith Mountain, it’s probably him, driving his Bullet boat, named "Wild Thing." It is a center console model, and although he says "I never race," he notes that in past years he has hit the 225 Pro Max’s rev limiter at 10,000 rpms. With his current prop, he swears the boat will go "ninety plus." If the boat had a 280 Merc, he says, "packed light with no trolling motor and one battery it could get 117 mph."

When he first started tournament fishing, Tim traded in his jon boat, added $7,500, and bought a Ranger. After a month, he "would have given $7,500 to get the jon boat back. If you want to fish out of a pontoon, get a Ranger." A local dealer decided to carry Bullet, and asked Tim to accompany him to the factory. He was impressed by the quality of the boats, and the fact that each one was custom-built, and knew that was the boat for him.

At nearly 60 years old, Tim McCoy continues to fish hard, having had his best year ever in Region 4 this past year. "It was just an exceptional year," he says modestly. That same adjective, exceptional, would likely be applied to Tim’s efforts by all those within the Federation who know him, not just for his fishing and luremaking, but also to the passion that manifests itself in brutal honesty and unrelenting effort to keep Region 4 running smoothly. It all goes back to the idea that "those who are able to work should be willing to work." It’s just that Tim works not only for himself, but for the entire region, and also for the benefit of all fishermen in that part of the state.

Tim McCoy can be reached at tcoy@usit.net