TRENTON, Mich. – In a day that saw nearly a ton and a half of bass brought to the scale, Pro Dick Shaffer of Rockford, Ohio, caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 41 pounds, 13 ounces to lead round one of the EverStart Series Northern Division event on the Detroit River near Trenton. Pros are competing for a Ranger 519VX powered by a Yamaha or Evinrude outboard, Minn Kota trolling motor, Garmin electronics and EverStart Batteries plus $10,000 cash. Ranger also awards an additional $10,000 to the winner if he is a qualified Ranger owner for a total award of $69,000 in cash and prizes.
“I’ve been catching my fish on green tubes and drop-shot-rigged gobies,” Shaffer said. “They’ve been coming off rock piles and humps in 18 to 28 feet of water.”
Shaffer’s fishing got off to a tough start, when he had motor problems on Wednesday morning. He wasn’t able to get back on the water until late, and as a consequence, he’s been fishing an area he’d planned to save for the final round. “The wind has been nice, and I still have some areas left,” Shaffer said. “As long as the wind doesn’t blow too hard tomorrow, I should be okay.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Kota Kiriyama of Irvine, Calif. (10 bass, 40 pounds, 3 ounces); Bryan Coates of Amherst, Ohio (10 bass, 39 pounds, 5 ounces); Eric Struif of Lake Villa, Ill. (10 bass, 39 pounds, 1 ounce); and Chris Cox of Appleton, Wis. (10 bass, 38 pounds, 14 ounces).
Struif caught a 5-pound, 2-ounce bass that earned him the Snicker’s Big Bass award in the Pro Division worth $575.
Trevor Jancasz of White Pigeon caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 34 pounds, 1 ounce to lead the Co-angler Division. Having just won last weekend’s Wal-Mart FLW Tour Forrest L. Wood Championship on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Ark., Jancasz said he’s hoping for another win on the Detroit River. Jancasz caught his bass, all of which were smallmouths, in 20 to 30 feet of water on a Bite Me jig.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Del Smith of Castalia, Ohio (10 bass, 33 pounds, 10 ounces); Mike Devere of Berea, Ky. (10 bass, 31 pounds, 9 ounces); Andrew Bray of Clinton Township (10 bass, 30 pounds, 9 ounces) and Charles Hasty of Toledo, Ohio (10 bass, 29 pounds, 14 ounces).
Chris Wenzel of Neenah, Wis., and Arthur Gene Hall of Angola, Ind., tied for the Snickers Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division. Both co-anglers caught a 5-pound, 3-ounce bass worth $107.50.
Anglers caught a total of 1,007 bass weighing 2,948 pounds, 4 ounces on the second day of the event.
Elizabeth Park located at 200 Grosse Isle Parkway in Trenton hosts the daily takeoffs at 6:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart located at 200 North Cooper Road in Henderson beginning at 4 p.m.
EverStart Series tournaments are four-day events consisting of two rounds. The entire field competes Wednesday and Thursday, and the top 10 pros and co-anglers – based on two-day accumulated weights – advance to the final round. Anglers start at zero Friday, and pro and co-angler winners are determined Saturday based on two-day accumulated weights.