GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. – David Young of Mayfield, Ky., dodged scattered thunderstorms Thursday on Kentucky Lake and brought in five bass weighing 16 pounds, 7 ounces to lead the Pro Division heading into the semifinal round of the four-day, $256,825 EverStart Series Central Division event. Young’s two-day total of 10 bass weighing 32 pounds, 12 ounces bested the two-day weight of second-place contender Gary Paris of Emory, Texas, by 3 pounds.
Mother Nature brought unpredictable and sometimes unpleasant weather to Kentucky Lake competitors Thursday, but anglers hoping to make the top-20 cut soldiered on, hauling 81 five-bass limits to the scales.
Rounding out the top five pros are Paris (10 bass, 29 pounds, 12 ounces); Lendell Martin Jr. of Nacogdoches, Texas (10 bass, 29 pounds, 8 ounces); Joe Bennett of Independence, Mo. (10 bass, 28 pounds, 14 ounces); and Wesley Strader of Spring City, Tenn. (10 bass, 28 pounds, 14 ounces).
Daniel Cramer of Van Wert, Ohio, caught 10 bass weighing 24 pounds, 7 ounces over two days to lead the 20 co-anglers who advanced to Friday’s semifinal round. He caught five bass weighing 9 pounds, 2 ounces Thursday flipping a jig inside pockets.
“I have had a great mental game going,” said Cramer, who also led on opening day. “I plan on using the same strategy Friday.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Keith White of Lewisville, Texas (10 bass, 22 pounds, 7 ounces); Greg Pugh of Cullman, Ala. (eight bass, 21 pounds, 9 ounces); Larry Regina of South Bend, Ind. (nine bass, 21 pounds, 2 ounces); and Ray Johnson of Clinton, Ky. (eight bass, 19 pounds, 8 ounces).
Greg Korschot of Lafayette, Ind., earned $750 as Thursday’s Pro Division big-bass winner thanks to a 7-pound, 2-ounce bass. Don Smith of Belton, Ky., claimed co-angler big-bass honors and $250 with a 5-pound, 13-ounce bass.
A total of 996 bass were caught Thursday.
Anglers take off from Moors Resort in Gilbertsville each morning at 6 a.m. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 310 W. Fifth St. in Benton beginning at 4 p.m. The community is encouraged to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins.
Weights will be cleared for Friday’s competition, and the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers will advance to Saturday’s final round based on Friday’s total weight. Weights are again cleared for Saturday’s competition, and anglers compete for the heaviest one-day weight.
The winning pro will take home a guaranteed cash award of $10,000 plus a new Ranger 519VS Comanche equipped with Garmin electronics and powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard. If the winner is the original owner of a Ranger boat, he will receive an additional $10,000 cash bonus from Ranger for a total of $61,900 in cash and prizes. Ranger will also award an additional $3,000 to the winner if he is a Ranger Cup participant, and Garmin will award $1,000 to the winner if his boat is equipped with a fixed-mount Garmin Fishfinder or combination GPS/Sounder.
The winning co-angler is guaranteed $5,000 cash. If the winning co-angler is a registered Ranger owner, he will also receive a new Ranger 519VS Comanche for a total of $27,800 in cash and prizes.
Four divisions – Eastern, Central, Northern and Western – comprise the 2003 EverStart Series. Each division stages four regular-season tournaments leading up to the no-entry-fee $335,975 EverStart Series Championship, which will be held on Old Hickory Lake near Gallatin, Tenn., Oct. 29-Nov. 1.
In EverStart Series competition, pros supply the boats, control boat movement and fish from the front of each boat against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back of each boat and compete against other co-anglers.
FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing, administers the EverStart Series. Other FLW Outdoors-sanctioned tournament trails include the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, the Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour and the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye League. FLW Outdoors will award as much as $20 million through 175 tournaments in 2003.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its six tournament trails. Wal-Mart has been the title sponsor of FLW Outdoors since 1997.
FLW Outdoors is named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood.