HENDERSON, N.C. – Arlie Napier of Middlesboro, Ky., claimed the number-one qualifying spot going into the final round of the last regular season EverStart Series Eastern Division tournament on Kerr Lake after landing five bass weighing 17 pounds, 3 ounces on a stormy Friday afternoon.
Napier, who now has five EverStart Series top-10 finishes to his credit, will be competing Saturday against nine other finalists in the Pro Division 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 of competition are erased, and the winner is determined by the weight of Saturday’s catch. The original field of 162 pros was whittled to the top 30 Thursday and cut again to the top 10 Friday.
“I’ve got a good shallow water pattern and a good deep water pattern,” said Napier, who was forced to move from his previously productive deep-water spot Friday to find quality bass. “I’m going to start out cranking, but if it’s cloudy and raining, I’m going flipping.”
Napier caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 33 pounds, 7 ounces to make the semifinal round cut in first place. Most of his bass during the first two days of competition were caught on crankbaits that he was tossing into a deepwater school of bass under clear skies. When the weather turned sour Friday he only managed four small bass form the deepwater spot, so he turned to flipping a jig to small bushes on the tips of shallow-water points. The switch proved successful as he landed more than 20 bass and culled to a hefty limit.
Rounding out the top five pros were Mark Inman of Henderson with five bass weighing 17 pounds; Frank Poirier of Hopewell, Va., with five bass weighing 16 pounds, 11 ounces; Wayne Jeffcoat of Chapin, S.C., with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 9 ounces; and Joel Richardson of Kernersville, N.C., with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 8 ounces.
Jimmy Hale Sr. of Rocky Mount, Va., claimed the top qualifying spot in the Co-Angler Division with five bass weighing 12 pounds. He survived the semifinal round cut from 162 to 30 co-anglers in 12th place with a two-day total of six bass weighing 13 pounds, 14 ounces.
“This feels great,” said Hale, who is making his first top-10 appearance in three years of fishing the EverStart Series. “I’ve got a great partner, and we are going to catch them (Saturday).”
Bob Scott of Lexington, N.C., qualified in second place with five bass weighing 9 pounds, 9 ounces followed by Bruce Bowersock of Lake Worth, Fla., with three bass weighing 9 pounds, 6 ounces.
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.
A total of 196 bass were caught by 60 anglers Friday including 25 five-bass limits. More than 98 percent of the bass were released alive.
Saturday’s action begins at 5:30 a.m. at Satterwhite Point in Henderson. The final weigh-in begins at 3:30 p.m. at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located at 200 North Cooper Road in Henderson.
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 EverStart Series Championship presented by Conseco Nov. 7-10 on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala. There, the winning pro will receive a Mercury- or Yamaha-powered Ranger boat and $25,000. The winning co-angler will receive a Mercury- or Yamaha-powered Ranger boat and $10,000. More than $2.5 million will be awarded during the 2001 EverStart Series season. The series also provides a pathway to the $4.45 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour-bass fishing’s most lucrative tournament series.