WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Winter Haven Chain of Lakes near Cypress Gardens will host 300 of the nation’s top bass anglers Nov. 8-11 as they compete in the $300,000 EverStart Series Invitational Challenge presented by Coleman.
Anglers competing in the Challenge represent the top pros and co-anglers from two EverStart divisions, Central and Eastern, after four qualifying events in each division. The winning pro at the four-day Challenge will take home $25,000 cash and an Evinrude-powered Ranger Comanche fishing machine. The winning co-angler will collect $10,000 cash and an Evinrude- or Johnson-powered Ranger boat.
CITGO Pro Staff member Darrel Robertson of Jay, Okla., who in 1999 won the Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship then went on to win $600,000 at the Ranger M1 Millennium in Cypress Garden, Fla., is one of the pro competitors who will be casting for the Challenge crown. The Ranger Millennium was the richest bass fishing tournament in history.
Craig Powers of Rockwood, Tenn., and Carl Svebek III of Sam Rayburn, Texas, will also be among the pros competing for a share of the lucrative EverStart Challenge purse along with Central Division points leader, Jim Carnell of Muskogee, Okla., and Eastern Division points leader Brannon Hurst of Oxford, Ala. Powers placed third at the FLW Tour Championship, and Svebek, a member of the Land O’Lakes team, placed sixth at the FLW Championship.
“The EverStart Series is a favorite among serious bass anglers,” says Charlie Hoover, president of Operation Bass, the world’s largest bass tournament organization. “It offers them the opportunity to fish for some of the sport’s top prize money and to advance to the prestigious Wal-Mart FLW Tour, which is the most lucrative tournament series in history.”
Bass anglers, however, are not the only winners at EverStart tournaments. The Challenge will have a total economic impact of $945,000 on Winter Haven businesses according to 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 doesn’t account for the considerable value of subsequent tourism revenue generated by EverStart Series events.
The EverStart Series Invitational Challenge will include four days of competition, Wednesday through Saturday. A full field of 150 anglers from the Pro Division and 150 from the Co-Angler Division will compete for two days, after which the fields are reduced to the top 10. The top 10 anglers from each division start over on day three and fish for one day to determine the top five pros who will advance to the final round on Saturday. Anglers start over on the final day, with the winner determined by the weight of that day’s catch.
Lake Summit at Cypress Gardens is the site of each day’s takeoff. Wednesday and Thursday’s takeoffs begin at 7 a.m. followed by 3 p.m. weigh-ins at Cypress Gardens. Friday’s takeoff will be at 8 a.m. followed by a 4 p.m. weigh-in at Cypress Gardens. Saturday’s takeoff starts at 7 a.m., and the final weigh-in at Cypress Gardens will begin at 2 p.m.
Finalists at the Challenge will compete from colorful NASCAR-styled Ranger Comanche fishing machines that will be towed to the launch site by matching Chevy tow vehicles. The event will air Dec. 18 and Dec. 24 on ESPN 2 as part of the FLW Tour television series.
The recently announced 2001 EverStart Series schedule offers anglers more opportunity to win than ever before. The 2001 series, which features three divisions with four qualifying events each, will award more than $2.5 million in cash and prizes.
EverStart batteries, the No. 1 retail selling automotive and marine batteries, are marketed exclusively through Wal-Mart Stores.