FLORENCE, Ala. – Pro Steven Lake of Lowell, Ark., caught four bass weighing 15 pounds, 3 ounces Wednesday to lead the four-day, $253,325 EverStart Series Central Division event on Alabama’s Pickwick Lake. Lake topped the list of 198 pros vying for as much as $61,900 in cash and prizes, including an Evinrude- or Yamaha-powered Ranger 519VS Comanche equipped with EverStart Batteries, Garmin electronics and a Minn Kota trolling motor.
Rainy weather that has plagued Central Division competitors all season continued Wednesday on Pickwick, but the wet weather did little to deter the anglers or the readily biting fish. With temperatures in the mid-60s, anglers probed Pickwick, Wheeler and Wilson lakes for an abundance of largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass.
“All the fish I caught in practice were caught in the sunshine,” said Lake, who caught his bass on a jerkbait in the rocky banks. “I thought the rain kind of hurt me, but I guess it didn’t.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Clay Fritts of Florence (five bass, 14 pounds, 6 ounces); Clark Wendlandt of Cedar Park, Texas (five bass, 13 pounds, 8 ounces); Jonathan Newton of Rogersville (five bass, 12 pounds, 5 ounces); and Jim Tutt of Longview, Texas (five bass, 11 pounds, 15 ounces).
Shane Phillips of Franklin, Ky., leads the 198-competitor Co-angler Division thanks to a four-bass catch weighing 10 pounds, 6 ounces. He caught his bass on spinner baits and crankbaits.
“My partner’s fishing area got messed up in the wind, so we just went fishing and happened to luck into some fish,” said Phillips, who also competes in the LBL Division of the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League. “This is my first EverStart tournament, so I’m just having fun.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Tim Krier of Indianola, Iowa (five bass, 9 pounds, 7 ounces); Robert Garner of Florence (five bass, 8 pounds, 15 ounces); Doug Caskey of Madisonville, Ky. (five bass, 8 pounds, 13 ounces); and Terry Pettle of Wagoner, Okla. (three bass, 8 pounds, 5 ounces).
Wendlandt hauled in an 8-pound, 4-ounce smallmouth to claim Pro Division big-bass honors and $750. Phillips earned $250 as the co-angler big-bass winner thanks to a 5-pound, 10-ounce bass.
A total of 825 bass were caught Wednesday, including 73 five-bass limits. More than 99 percent were released alive.
McFarland Park in Florence will host daily takeoffs each morning at safe light. Thursday’s weigh-in will also be held at McFarland Park beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 3100 Hough Road in Florence beginning at 4 p.m.
Following Thursday’s conclusion of the opening round, the top 20 pros and 20 co-anglers based on their two-day accumulated weight advance to Friday’s semifinal round. Weights are cleared for Friday’s competition, and the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers 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.
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 peruse FLWOutdoors.com.
FLW Outdoors is named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood.