Gilbertsville, Ky. – The nine-event EverStart Batteries Series kicks off its third season Jan. 5 on Lake Okeechobee at Roland Martin’s Marina in Clewiston, Fla. A full field of 350 anglers is expected for the Eastern Division event, which features a $164,000 purse..
Returning for a shot at the tournament’s $10,000 first place cash and an Evinrude powered Ranger bass boat are last year’s winner, Larry Pinder of Port Charlotte, Fla., and defending EverStart Challenge champion, Robert Walser of Lexington, N.C. Pinder won last year’s Lake Okeechobee event with a final round catch of five bass weighing 16 pounds, 15 ounces.
“The EverStart Series is a favorite among serious bass anglers, offering them the opportunity to fish for large purses and to advance to the prestigious Wal-Mart FLW Tour, which features the sports top prize money,” says Brian Sayner, Vice President of Communications for Operation Bass, the world’s largest bass tournament organization.
But anglers are not the only winners at EverStart tournaments. Communities hosting the events benefit from nearly $315,000 in direct expenditures by anglers, spectators and sponsors based on a study of multi-day fishing tournaments by Dr. Hobson Bryan of the University of Alabama, Department of Geography, Urban and Regional Planning. The estimate of economic impact, however, doesn’t account for the considerable value of subsequent tourism revenue generated by EverStart Series events.
Each regular season EverStart Series tournament includes four days of competition, Wednesday through Saturday. A full field of 175 anglers from the Professional Division and 175 from the Co-Angler Division compete for two days, after which the fields are reduced to the top 30. The top 30 anglers from each division start over on day three and fish for one day to determine the top 10 professional anglers who will advance to the final round on Saturday. Co-angler competition concludes at the end of fishing on day three. The professional anglers start over on the final day, with the winner determined by the weight of that day’s catch.
Roland Martin’s Marina located at 920 East Del Monte Ave. in Clewiston, Fla., is the site of each day’s 7 a.m. take-off on Lake Okeechobee. Weigh-ins for the first three days of competition also will be held at Roland Martin’s Marina at 3 p.m. The final weigh-in on Saturday, Jan. 8, will be held at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located on Highway 27 North in Clewiston, Fla., at 3:30 p.m.
Other stops on the 2000 EverStart Series schedule are: Eastern Division – Lake Martin, Alexander City, Ala., Feb. 2-5; Lake Santee Cooper, Manning, S.C., March 1-4; Lake Cumberland, Somerset, Ky., April 5-8. Central Division – Lake Sam Rayburn, Jasper, Texas, March 8-11; Beaver Lake, Rogers, Ark., March 29-April 1; Kentucky Lake, Gilbertsville, Ky., May 3-6; Ft. Gibson Lake, Wagoner, Okla., June 7-10. EverStart Challenge – Cypress Gardens, Winter Haven, Fla., Nov. 8-11.