GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. – Dan Morehead, 34, of Paducah, Ky., landed more than $50,000 in cash and prizes including an Evinrude-powered Ranger boat Saturday with five bass weighing 21 pounds, 4 ounces in the third EverStart Series Central Division tournament on Kentucky Lake.
Morehead, a Wal-Mart FLW Tour pro whose only other EverStart Series appearance was in 1998, topped his nearest competitor by 7 pounds, 9 ounces. He made the cut from 165 pros to 20 Thursday in fifth place with a two-day, opening-round total of eight bass weighing 28 pounds, 1 ounce. He then caught five more bass weighing 14 pounds, 1 ounce Friday to make the top-10 cut in third place. Catch weights were cleared for all competitors following each cut.
With five FLW Tour top-10 finishes in as many years, including a 1998 victory on Kentucky Lake, many considered Morehead to be the pretournament favorite. But he had not won an FLW Outdoors event on his home water since 1999 when he took top honors in a Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League LBL Division tournament. So, was winning on his home turf rewarding? It sure was. “I don’t fish the EverStart Series that much, but I know the quality of other local guys in this tournament,” Morehead said following the final weigh-in. “They are tough to beat, so it’s very gratifying to win at home.”
Morehead had a 17-pound limit of largemouth bass by noon Saturday, and then he landed a kicker bass that he says weighed nearly 7 pounds. “When I set the hook, she jumped nearly 2 feet,” he said. “And I didn’t have the net ready, so it was ugly getting her in.”
The bass were caught on a 1/2-ounce black and brown Stone jig with a green pumpkin trailer that Morehead was flipping to bushes in the north end of Barkley Lake. He knew from experience the bushes held fish. “You had to be precise,” he said. “You couldn’t just throw the jig into the bushes. You had to pitch it into the heart of the bushes and hop it two or three times before they would hit.”
In qualifying rounds, Morehead exploited a potent top-water bite, but rising water Friday night and throughout Saturday shut the bite down.
Ray Scheide of Cookson, Okla. (five bass, 13 pounds, 11 ounces, $10,000); Jeremiah Kindy of Benton, Ark. (four bass, 12 pounds, 12 ounces, $9,000); Craig Powers of Rockwood, Tenn. (three bass, 12 pounds, $8,000); and Fujifilm pro Wesley Strader of Spring City, Tenn. (five bass, 11 pounds, 1 ounce, $7,500) rounded out the top five pros.
In the 165-competitor Co-angler Division, Doug Caskey of Madisonville, Ky., claimed first place and $6,000 with two bass weighing 6 pounds, 6 ounces. He was the No. 3 seed in the final round after landing four bass weighing 8 pounds, 12 ounces in the semifinal round and four bass weighing 10 pounds, five ounces in the two-day opening round. Catch weights were cleared at the start of each round.
“I thought I needed a few more fish,” said Caskey, who fished with Morehead in the final round. “I struggled all day, and I didn’t get too many bites.”
Co-anglers David Terry of Albion, Ind. (two bass, 4 pounds, 4 ounces, $4,000) and Michael Mikiska of Vincennes, Ind., (one bass, 2 pounds, 8 ounces, $3,500) finished second and third respectively.
The tournament began Wednesday with 330 anglers taking off from Moors Resort in Gilbertsville to claim a piece of the event’s $210,000 purse. The Red River near Shreveport, La., will be the next Central Division EverStart Series stop June 12-15.
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.