Jasper, Texas – Mark Goines of Shady Point, Okla., claimed the No. 1 qualifying spot Friday going into the final round of the $185,000 EverStart Series tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir with five bass weighing 14 pounds, 12 ounces.
Goines, who is competing in the EverStart Series for the first time as a pro, will go up against nine other finalists Saturday for a top award of $15,000 and a Mercury- or Yamaha-powered Ranger boat. All the finalists start on equal footing as weights from previous rounds are erased. The original field of 172 pros was whittled to the top 30 Thursday and cut again to the top 10 Friday.
“Leading feels pretty good, but I’m trying not to think about it,” Goines said. “I’m just going to try to keep my head on straight and catch some fish (Saturday). It would be a big step for me to win.”
Goines caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 24 pounds, 4 ounces to make the semifinal round cut in 26th place Thursday. Most of his bass during the first three days of competition were caught on a smoke- and neon-colored tube that he was pitching to bushes in midlake pockets that are protected from the northern wind.
Rounding out the top five pros were Cody Bird of Granbury, Texas, with five bass weighing 14 pounds, 9 ounces; Adam Wright of Benton, Ark., with five bass weighing 13 pounds, 8 ounces; Jeff Stevens of Terre Haute, Ind., with five bass weighing 12 pounds, 11 ounces; and Jim Eakins of Nixa, Mo., with five bass weighing 12 pounds, 9 ounces.
Bo Standley of Silsbee, Texas, claimed the top qualifying spot in the Co-Angler Division with five bass weighing 11 pounds, 8 ounces. He survived the semifinal round cut from 172 to 30 co-anglers Thursday in third place with a two-day total of seven bass weighing 20 pounds, 2 ounces. On Friday, most of his bass were caught on a wacky worm while fishing flooded pine trees.
“It feels good just to be in the top 10,” said Standley, who failed to make the final cut last year on Sam Rayburn after going into the semifinal round in third place.
Kay Barton of Tuskahoma, Okla., qualified in second place with five bass weighing 10 pounds, 10 ounces followed by Douglas Bailey of Jasper with five bass weighing 9 pounds, 11 ounces. Barton was one of only two women to make the top-30 cut. Team CITGO angler Lucy Mize of Ben Lomond, Ark., ended up in 22nd place.
Should Barton win Saturday, it would be her first EverStart Series victory and only the second EverStart victory by a female angler. Nobie Lebert of Brookeland, Texas, become the first women to win an EverStart tournament with her victory on Toledo Bend in 1999. Barton’s highest finish to date is eighth at the EverStart Series Challenge in Cypress Gardens, Fla., last season.
Like their pro counterparts, co-anglers start from zero Saturday and compete for one day to determine the winner. The winning co-angler will receive $6,000 cash.
A total of 196 bass were caught Friday including 25 five-bass limits. More than 98 percent of the bass were released alive.
Saturday’s action begins at 7 a.m. at the public boat launch near Twin Dikes Marina in Jasper. The final weigh-in begins at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located at 800 West Gibson Road in Jasper.
The 4-year-old EverStart Series now includes three divisions-Eastern, Central and Northern-with four events each plus a year-end championship. Tournament winners and the top 50 pros and top 50 co-anglers from each division will earn a spot in the championship, which will be held Nov. 7-10 on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala. More than $2.5 million will be awarded to bass fishing enthusiasts during the 2001 EverStart Series season.