GROVE, Okla. – Al Fisher of Hackett, Ark., claimed the No. 1 qualifying spot Friday going into the final round of the $210,000 EverStart Series tournament on Grand Lake with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 2 ounces.
Fisher, who works for Norman Lure company as a designer and promotions director, caught his bass using Norman’s 1/8-ounce Deep Tiny N and 1/4-ounce Quarterback crankbaits.
“Some of the fish I caught I would have to through to 30 or 40 times,” Fisher said. “They are not really spawning yet, but they are moving up to spawn, and I’m catching them in shallow ditches.”
In the two-day opening round, he caught seven bass weighing 19 pounds, 6 ounces to make the top-20 cut in 15th place. After Friday’s catch, he advances to Saturday’s final round where he’ll go up against nine other Pro Division finalists for a top award of $15,000 cash and an Evinrude- or Yamaha-powered Ranger boat. If his boat is equipped with a fixed-mount GARMIN Fishfinder or combination GPS/Sounder, he will also receive a $1,000 bonus from GARMIN.
Finalists start on equal footing as weights from previous rounds are erased, and the winner is determined by the weight of Saturday’s catch. The original field of 165 pros was cut to the top 20 Thursday and cut to the top 10 Friday.
Jim Eakins of Nixa, Mo. (five bass, 16 pounds, 14 ounces); Greg Hackney of Oak Ridge, La. (five bass, 15 pounds, 2 ounces); Team Castrol pro Darrel Robertson of Jay, Okla. (five bass, 14 pounds, 9 ounces); and Toby Hartsell of Grove, Okla., (four bass, 13 pounds, 11 ounces) rounded out the top five pros.
Perennial top-10 co-angler Fred Hill of Roxboro, N.C., claimed the top spot in his division Friday with four bass weighing 16 pounds, 2 ounces. He survived the semifinal round cut from 165 to 20 co-anglers Thursday in 20th place with a two-day total of four bass weighing 8 pounds, 10 ounces.
“I got into the semifinals by the skin of my teeth,” said Hill, who has wracked up six top-10 finishes in four years of EverStart Series competition. “But [Friday] I didn’t make a cast after 10 a.m. I caught all my fish early on a jerkbait.”
Bobby McMullin of Pevely, Mo., qualified in a distant second with four bass weighing 12 pounds, 7 ounces followed by Mike Swayne of Du Quoin, Ill., with four bass weighing 12 pounds, 5 ounces.
Like their pro counterparts, co-anglers start from zero Saturday with the winner determined by the day’s heaviest catch. The winning co-angler receives $6,000 cash.
A total of 77 bass weighing 229 pounds, 3 ounces were caught Friday, including four five-bass limits. All of the bass were released alive.
Saturday’s action begins at 6 a.m. at Red 11 Port in Grove. The final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located at 2115 South Main Street in Grove starting at 4 p.m.
Now in its fifth season, the EverStart Series features three divisions – Eastern, Central and Northern – with four events each plus the $325,000 EverStart Series Championship presented by Conseco. The top 50 pros and co-anglers from each division will be invited to the Championship for a shot at top pro awards of more than $60,000 in cash and prizes and top co-angler awards of more than $40,000 in cash and prizes. The top 10 pros and co-anglers from each division also receive priority entry into the 2003 Wal-Mart FLW Tour – bass fishing’s most lucrative tournament series – where they could win up to $260,000 and $40,000 in cash respectively.
More than $2.8 million will be awarded to bass anglers through the 2002 EverStart Series.
Sponsors of the 2002 EverStart Series are Wal-Mart, ALPO Pet Foods, BFGoodrich Tires, Castrol, Chevy Trucks, Coleman, Conseco, Energizer, EverStart Batteries, Evinrude, Faded Glory, Frito-Lay, Fujifilm, GARMIN, Kellogg’s, Land O’Lakes, Maxwell House, Minn Kota, Newell Rubbermaid, Pepsi, Poulan, Ranger Boats, Shop-Vac, Snickers, Stanley Works, US Bank, Weed Eater and Yamaha Outboards. Associate sponsors are Abu Garcia, Berkley, Eagle Claw, Laker, Plano and Solar Bat.
FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing tournaments, manages the EverStart Series. The organization operates 170 tournaments through the EverStart Series, Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Circuit and Ranger M1. FLW Outdoors will award anglers up to $22 million in 2002.