2005 EverStart Series preview: Northeast Division
New division to visit some of the nation’s best bass-fishing locales
The EverStart Series, which has experienced phenomenal growth since its inception in 1998, expanded yet again in 2005 to include a new Northeast Division that will take anglers to some of the finest bass fisheries in the country. Increasing demand – as well as the popularity of Northeastern fisheries – made the new Northeast Division a natural fit in the current EverStart Series lineup, and competitors will have a chance to fish in such storied locales as Kerr Lake in North Carolina, Lake Erie near Cleveland, Ohio, the Potomac River in the Virginia area, and of course New York’s fabled Lake Champlain.
Many bass will be caught on these lakes and rivers this year, with the potential of broken records on the horizon at places like Lake Champlain, a record-breaking site for Northern competitors last season. Here’s a closer look at what’s coming up for the new Northeast Division:
Kerr Lake
Henderson, N.C.
June 1-4
Anglers signed up to fish the inaugural Northeast Division event will find themselves in big-water paradise on Kerr Lake. Situated in picturesque North Carolina, Kerr covers more than 850 miles of shoreline, and its 50,000 acres of water are filled to the brim with fish.
According to pro angler Joel Richardson, who has certainly found his share of success on Kerr, competitors will be hunting for the lake’s plentiful largemouths in relatively shallow water.
“There are very few smallmouths in that lake,” Richardson said. “I doubt we’ll see any of them. It will be dominated by largemouths, and the winner of that tournament will probably have a 3 1/2-pound average over all four days.”
Richardson said the lake is full of 2- to 4-pound largemouths, and June is an ideal time to try to catch them. “You’ve still got a lot of fish that are shallow and accessible to the fishermen,” he said. “They’ve not gotten deep or suspended. They’ll pretty much be 10 feet or less. Later on in the summer, they suspend and get harder to catch, and it can be really tough.”
In early June on Kerr Lake, most of the fish will have finished spawning, although there may still be a few male bass guarding fry. Flipping bushes is an effective technique that time of year, particularly if the lake reaches higher water levels.
“Kerr is a flood-control lake, and depending on how much rain we get, it’s a possibility that thing could be flooded,” Richardson said. “If it’s flooded, all the fish will be caught flipping the buck brush and willow trees.
“If things progress as they should and the lake’s not high, there will be a combination of patterns that will work – the early morning topwater bite on a Pop-R or floating worm and then the flipping during the day.”
Richardson also predicted that a Carolina rig could be useful in shallower water of 10 feet or less. Green pumpkin and watermelon-colored worms and lizards will likely catch their fair share of bass.
Anglers will also have the option of fishing the Dan and Staunton rivers, though Richardson says the tournament will be won out of the fish-rich Nut Bush Creek.
“Most years in June, Nut Bush Creek is the No. 1 area,” he said. “It’s the clearest water on the lake, it’s the largest tributary on the lake, and you can do a lot more there – you can actually sight-fish. There are a lot of willow trees in that creek, and if the water’s not extremely high, you’ll be able to catch them a number of different ways.”
Nut Bush’s versatility mirrors that of the lake as a whole. With its variety of water colors and vast fishing area, Kerr Lake offers anglers a wide selection of conditions to suit their style.
“A lot of fishermen really love that lake because they can find what works for them – it’s so big and offers so many situations,” Richardson said.
Look for a winning weight of 30 to 33 pounds on Kerr Lake if conditions are normal.
Lake Erie
Cleveland, Ohio
July 27-30
For several years, the EverStart Series has held Northern Division tournaments on the Detroit River out of Trenton, Mich., with most anglers making the trip to the Western Basin of Lake Erie to catch hordes of smallmouths. This year, the new Northeast Division is headed to the smallest of the Great Lakes for a late-July tournament out of Cleveland, though things will be quite different this time on Erie than in tournaments past.
Colossal Lake Erie is so huge that fishing the same lake from a different basin creates an entirely different tournament. The Northeast event out of the Central Basin features shallower water and even a much-publicized “dead zone” for anglers to contend with. And, like most tournaments, its numbers will probably depend almost entirely on the weather.
To be sure, the weather has been nothing short of unpredictable for most of 2005, with cooler temperatures extending deep into spring with even 2 feet of snow at the end of April. According to Ohio pro Steve Clapper, what happens in the spring is critical for summertime fishing in the Central Basin.
“For that time of year, it depends on the spring,” Clapper said. “Our spring’s been really slow. The water is cold.”
Clapper, for one, hopes the Erie smallmouths will be into their summer pattern by tournament time despite the unusually chilly spring.
“There will be some fish shallow and some fish probably caught on spinnerbaits and jerkbaits, but I think at the time it will be won deep – over 20 feet,” he said. “There will be tubes and drop-shots then. The old standby on Lake Erie is a green tube. More money has been won on a green tube out of there than anything else.”
Working in the anglers’ favor is a rise in water levels that brought the lake up more than a foot over the last year. Clapper believes the higher water will help the largemouth bite in a lake renowned for its smallmouth fishing.
“We’ve got about 14 inches more water this year than last,” he said. “That will help, especially the largemouths that there are as well as a lot of the reefs that we have back toward the Western Basin. There will be a lot of anglers that will travel back to the west toward Canadian waters, I would assume. It’s not out of reason if we have decent weather conditions.”
Clapper says anglers should be on the lookout for rock piles, ledges and breaklines, and although there are indeed a few largemouths to catch, Clapper says 99 percent of the fish brought in will be smallies.
In fact, Clapper reports that the Central and Eastern basins are actually filled with greater numbers of bass than the famed Western Basin.
“The farther east you go, the more numbers there seem to be now,” he said. “The Western Basin is on a downtrend for numbers, though it is really good for size. Lake Erie is just a phenomenal fishery and by far my favorite.”
Provided weather conditions are stable, Clapper predicts a two-day total of 40 pounds to win it.
Potomac River
Woodbridge, Va.
Aug. 17-20
Anglers fishing the FLW Tour’s first event on the Potomac River will have another chance to navigate the historic waterway at the EverStart Northeast event there in mid-August. The weather will be hot, but according to Virginia pro Jacob Powroznik, so will the fishing.
Nicknamed “The Nation’s River,” the Potomac etches a path through Washington, D.C., as well as parts of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. A tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, the river offers tidal fishing at its best due to the influx of vegetation that provides oxygen-rich dwelling places for its resident largemouths.
“It’s probably one of the best fisheries, as far as a river, that I’ve ever fished in terms of quality of the fish,” Powroznik said. “There will be a lot of 13- to 16-pound stringers brought in.”
Powroznik said the Potomac has the potential of fishing big but that anglers tend to horde up on select hot spots, making it seem like it’s fishing rather small. “There are a lot of grass beds where people can get away from the crowds,” he said.
In the late-summer heat, expect the river’s largemouths to be found in deep water. Flipping is the preferred technique, and black/blue jigs are the most productive baits. Green-pumpkin tubes and Brush Hogs can also be effective.
Anglers not accustomed to fishing tidal systems may be at a disadvantage, although the Potomac’s plentiful fish population could make up for what some anglers may lack in river-fishing experience.
“It’s a tidal river that fluctuates 2 to 3 feet every tide change,” Powroznik said. “But as far as the fish being healthy and all, it’s probably one of the healthiest rivers on the East Coast because of the grass and vegetation. The fish can have a good spawn every year, and the fry can hide from other fish that eat them. They can grow in that grass.”
Despite the 90-degree heat that typically plagues the D.C. area in late August, the fish will still be found shallow due to the plentiful oxygen afforded by the grass.
“The channel’s pretty deep, but there’s a bunch of flats with a maximum depth of 4 or 5 feet,” Powroznik said. “People will pretty much be fishing grass and fishing shallow. There will be a lot of fish caught that time of year.”
As such, Powroznik predicts the winner will likely weigh in an average of 15 pounds per day.
Lake Champlain
Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Sept. 14-17
For the die-hard bass fisherman, Lake Champlain is the sport’s crown jewel of tournament fisheries. Just last year, EverStart Series weight records were shattered on Champlain, and with this year’s event scheduled near that same time frame, expect more of the same this time around.
Local knowledge seems to offer little advantage on the upstate New York bass factory, as competitors from as far away as Texas and Oklahoma have earned victories there. However, most everyone should catch fish. Fishermen from across the nation long to visit Lake Champlain and catch a few of its legendary bass. And, according to Vermont pro Mike LeBlanc, September is an ideal time because the fish are ready to eat.
“The fish are starting to move up with the colder water, so they’re kind of on a feeding frenzy – especially the smallmouths,” LeBlanc said of early fall Champlain angling. “They’re going to start moving deeper, so they move up on the flats and start feeding.”
Not hurting Champlain’s bass-rich reputation is the fact that its bass will eat almost anything that time of year. “You can catch them just about any way that time of year, because they will fit about anybody’s type of style,” LeBlanc said. “With the fish moving like they are, it’s not really a local advantage. Everybody’s going to find them.”
LeBlanc predicts anglers will use spinnerbaits, crankbaits and Carolina rigs to land their bass, and he likes green pumpkin for plastics and white and chartreuse for spinnerbaits.
The downside of fishing Lake Champlain in the fall is the wind factor. Champlain isn’t referred to as “the sixth Great Lake” for nothing – it covers nearly 500 square miles and is the sixth-largest freshwater lake in the country. Therefore it can create large, wind-driven waves, Erie-style.
The lake can be very deep – as much as 400 feet in some spots – and though the bass will be heading shallow to feed, they’ll be found near any kind of bottom change where they have access to deep water, such as drop-offs, underwater points and the like.
LeBlanc says both smallmouths and largemouths will be caught, though smallmouths will be the bulk of what’s brought to the scales.
“Champlain is abundant in both,” he said. “Probably that time of year people will head toward the smallmouths and look for a kicker largemouth. That’s probably going to be my game plan.”
LeBlanc says the fisherman who locks into a pile of Champlain smallmouths will probably be the one to take home the win.
“The fall’s as good as it gets,” he said. “It’s probably my favorite time because the smallmouths are moving in and you can catch 50 a day.”
LeBlanc estimates the winning weight to clock in around 32 pounds for a two-day catch.