ALEXANDER CITY, Ala. – After weighing in five bass that registered 13 pounds, 8 ounces, Terry Tucker, a rookie on the professional bass tour, leads 10 of the nation’s top anglers into Saturday’s final round of the EverStart Batteries Series tournament on Lake Martin.
Tucker, who hails from Gadsden, Ala., caught his fish on a crankbait and jig up river from Wind Creek State Park. The bass were primarily caught around laydowns and rock cover in shallow water.
“I won a Red Man Tournament on this lake in October,” Tucker says. “I feel good about tomorrow. You fish long enough and get that feeling that you are in the groove. That’s how I feel. I may zero tomorrow, but I’m going after them.”
Finishing the round in second through fifth position in the Pro Division were Jason Quinn of Lake Wylie, S.C., with five bass weighing 9-1; Brannon Hurst of Oxford, Ala., with five bass weighing 8-13; Trip Weldon of Wetumpka, Ala., with five bass weighing 8-8; and Rodger Beaver of Leesburg, Ga., with three bass weighing 7-0.
In the co-angler division, Jack Sharp of Alexander City, Ala., led the field with five bass weighing 8-3. Eddie Voss of Jacksons Gap, Ala., finished the round in second with four bass weighing 5-13 followed by Hugh Brown of Opalika, Ala., with five bass weighing 5-10; Terry Parnell of Sylacauga, Ala., with three bass weighing 3-15; and David Pollard of Carrollton, Ga., with two bass weighing 3-14.
Jeff Taylor of Vernon, Ala., who qualified for Friday’s action by winning a rare fish-off against Fred Hill of Givsonville, N.C., also advanced to the final round in sixth position with three bass weighing 3-7. “I had nothing to do with it,” says Taylor about winning the fish-off. “The good lord reached down with his hand and but a bass on the end of my line.”
On Saturday, anglers will start over and fish for one day to determine the victor. The winning pro will receive $10,000 and an Evinrude-powered Ranger bass boat. The winning co-angler will collect $6,000.
Saturday’s action begins at 7 a.m. at Wind Creek State Park located at 4325 Alabama Highway 128 in Alexander City. The weigh-in begins at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located on Highway 280 West in Alexander City.
The three-year-old EverStart Series is comprised of two divisions, Eastern and Central, with four multi-day events per division. The top 75 pros and co-anglers from each division will advance to the year-end EverStart Invitational Challenge at Cypress Gardens, Fla., which features a purse of $360,000.
Over the course of the season, the EverStart Series awards anglers up to $1.7 million in cash and prizes. It also provides a pathway to the prestigious Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the richest tournament series in history. Winning anglers in the Pro and Co-Angler Divisions of each EverStart tournament, as well as the overall top 10 anglers, based on a system of points and pounds, receive automatic berths in the 2001 FLW Tour.
The series’ title sponsor, EverStart Batteries, is the No. 1 retail selling automotive and marine battery brand in the world. Supporting sponsors of the 2000 EverStart Series are: BFGoodrich Tires, Black & Decker, Chevy Trucks, CITGO, Coca-Cola, Coleman, Energizer, Evinrude, Frenzy, Fujifilm, Garmin, Kellogg’s, Land O’Lakes, Mitchell, Poulan/Weed Eater, Power Bait, Ranger Boats, Shop-Vac, Spiderline, Timex, US Bank, Visa USA, Wal-Mart and Wrangler.