GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. – Greg Hackney of Oak Ridge, La., hauled in five bass weighing 18 pounds, 8 ounces Wednesday on Kentucky Lake to lead opening day of the four-day EverStart Series Central Division event. Two hundred pros and 200 co-anglers are vying for their share of a $256,825 total purse in the division’s third regular-season event.
Heavy rains pelted the area Tuesday night, but anglers kick-started the day beneath cloudy skies and drier conditions Wednesday. Highs in the 80s and water temperatures in the 60s made for some productive bass fishing, as 104 anglers claimed five-bass limits. Hackney was no exception, catching his bass Wednesday on a craw worm in shallow water.
The Kentucky Lake EverStart should serve as an effective warm-up for Hackney, who is also scheduled to compete in the upcoming $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour event on Kentucky Lake May 14-17.
“This is a practice run for the FLW Tour event,” Hackney said. “I have learned some new stuff that hopefully will help me in two weeks.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Trey Morgan of Goldonna, La. (five bass, 18 pounds, 3 ounces); David Upchurch of Columbia, Ky. (five bass, 17 pounds, 15 ounces); Bobby Curtis of Siloam Springs, Ark. (five bass, 17 pounds, 9 ounces); and Team Castrol pro David Dudley of Manteo, N.C. (five bass, 17 pounds, 8 ounces).
Daniel Cramer of Van Wert, Ohio, leads the Co-angler Division thanks to a five-bass catch weighing 15 pounds, 5 ounces. Cramer caught his bass Wednesday on soft plastics flipping structures along the shore.
“It feels great to be in the lead,” said Cramer, who leads an EverStart Series for the first time. “I hope to do well enough to make the cut.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Mark Fuller of Bloomington, Ind. (two bass, 12 pounds, 4 ounces); Ron Bricker of Indianapolis, Ind. (five bass, 11 pounds, 15 ounces); Richard Wyrick of Frankfort, Ill. (five bass, 11 pounds, 13 ounces); and tied for fifth place, Keith White of Lewisville, Texas, and Billy Yelverton of Baton Rouge, La. (five bass, 11 pounds, 4 ounces).
Dudley earned $750 as Wednesday’s Pro Division big-bass winner with a 7-pound, 2-ounce bass. Rick Selsor of Glenpool, Okla., caught a 6-pound, 10-ounce bass to earn $250 and co-angler big-bass honors.
A total of 1,102 bass were caught Wednesday.
Daily takeoffs begin at 6 a.m. each morning from Moors Resort in Gilbertsville. Thursday’s weigh-in, also out of Moors Resort, begins at 3 p.m., and Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 310 W. Fifth St. in Benton beginning at 4 p.m. The community is encouraged to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins.
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.
FLW Outdoors is named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood.