JASPER, Texas – Pro Trey Morgan of Goldonna, La., braved wind and cooler temperatures on Sam Rayburn Reservoir Thursday to haul in five bass weighing 17 pounds, 9 ounces at the EverStart Series Central Division season opener. The original field of 200 pros and 200 co-anglers was cut to 20 in each division following Thursday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated weight.
Sam Rayburn anglers fished through a second straight day of rain and 40-degree temperatures but continued to haul heavy sacks to the scales. Most anglers were finding success on red Rat-L-Traps. Morgan, however, used a Rite Bite tube to catch 10 bass weighing 41 pounds, 14 ounces over two days.
“It was a pretty nasty day,” said Morgan. “But it feels great to be in the lead.”
Rounding out the top five pros were David Truax of Beaumont, Texas (10 bass, 39 pounds, 10 ounces); Alfred Williams of Jackson, Miss. (10 bass, 39 pounds, 4 ounces); James Davis Jr. of Ferriday, La. (10 bass, 34 pounds, 11 ounces); and Clark Reehm of Russellville, Ark. (10 bass, 30 pounds).
Jerry McKnight of Wells, Texas, leads the Co-angler Division into Friday’s semifinal round with a two-day catch of nine bass weighing 29 pounds, 8 ounces.
“I just tried to stay out of the wind and rain the best I could,” said McKnight, who leads an EverStart Series tournament for the first time. “[Friday] I plan on following the lead of my pro.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Barry Goen of Hartsburg, Mo. (eight bass, 27 pounds, 11 ounces); Joe Rasnick of Brookville, Ind. (nine bass, 23 pounds, 6 ounces); Doug Caskey of Madisonville, Ky. (seven bass, 23 pounds, 2 ounces); and Dean Morgan of Port Authur, Texas (seven bass, 22 pounds, 15 ounces).
Seven hundred and twelve bass were caught Thursday, including 43 five-bass limits. One hundred percent were released alive.
Anglers will take off from Twin Dikes Marina in Brookeland, Texas, at 7 a.m. each morning. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 800 W. Gibson in Jasper beginning at 4 p.m. The community is encouraged to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins.
Weights will be cleared for Friday’s competition, and the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers will advance to Saturday’s final round based on Friday’s total weight. Weights are again cleared for Saturday’s competition, and anglers compete for the heaviest one-day weight.
The winning pro will take home a guaranteed cash award of $10,000 plus a new Ranger 519VS Comanche equipped with Garmin electronics and powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard. If the winner is the original owner of a Ranger boat, he will receive an additional $10,000 cash bonus from Ranger for a total of $61,900 in cash and prizes. Ranger will also award an additional $3,000 to the winner if he is a Ranger Cup participant, and Garmin will award $1,000 to the winner if his boat is equipped with a fixed-mount Garmin Fishfinder or combination GPS/Sounder.
The winning co-angler is guaranteed $5,000 cash. If the winning co-angler is a registered Ranger owner, he will also receive a new Ranger 519VS Comanche for a total of $27,800 in cash and prizes.
Four divisions – Eastern, Central, Northern and Western – comprise the 2003 EverStart Series. Each division stages four regular-season tournaments leading up to the no-entry-fee $335,975 EverStart Series Championship, which will be held on Old Hickory Lake near Gallatin, Tenn., Oct. 29-Nov. 1.
To accommodate tremendous demand, EverStart Series Eastern, Northern and Central division fields have been expanded from 175 pros and 175 co-anglers to 200 pros and 200 co-anglers wherever facilities will allow. Payback in each of the expanded tournaments has also increased from $239,325 to $256,825. The extra cash is spread through the bottom three-quarters of the field, and 10 more places were added to the payout, giving 51st through 60th each $650 on the pro side and $250 on the co-angler side.
In EverStart Series competition, pros supply the boats, control boat movement and fish from the front of each boat against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back of each boat and compete against other co-anglers.
FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing, administers the EverStart Series. Other FLW Outdoors-sanctioned tournament trails include the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, the Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour and the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye League. FLW Outdoors will award as much as $20 million through 175 tournaments in 2003.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its six tournament trails. Wal-Mart has been the title sponsor of FLW Outdoors since 1997. For a complete list of FLW Outdoors sponsors and for more information about the premier products and services they offer, please visit FLWOutdoors.com.