EverStart Northern Division to host event on Lake Erie
Mother Nature biggest factor in bass tournaments on Lake Erie
BUFFALO, N.Y. – The EverStart Series is headed to Lake Erie Aug. 18-20 for the third of four stops in the Northern Division. The tournament will feature as many as 300 pros and co-anglers competing for top awards of up to $35,000 plus a Ranger boat with an Evinrude or Mercury outboard for the pro and a Ranger boat with an Evinrude or Mercury outboard plus $5,000 for the co-angler.
“Safety is always the number-one thing on your mind when fishing Lake Erie,” said Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes pro Dave Lefebre of Union City, Pa. “Buffalo can be one of the worst places to be if the wind starts blowing. You can go from a dead calm to 6- to 8-feet waves in five minutes. The toughest part of this tournament is going to be the ability to get to your fish all three days. This tournament can be won on one spot, but the challenge is being able to get to that spot each day.
“Anglers can make a long run toward Pennsylvania, Dunkirk (N.Y.) or Barcelona (N.Y.) – a lot of tournaments have been won there,” continued Lefebre. “Canadian waters are always good too; you always have at least one or two top-10 anglers come from there. The mouth of the Niagara River has some nice humps where a lot of smallmouth like to hang out. That will be a nice fall-back place to fish.
“You’ll see some huge weights come to the scale,” Lefebre went on to say. “Lots of 20-plus bags. It is probably going to take at least 65 pounds to win. The bass are going to be grouped together in summertime patterns, probably suspended in 20 to 60 feet of water. You’ll see a lot of drop-shotting with tiny worms and goby imitations. A few guys will figure something out with a jerkbait or crankbait, but that won’t be dominant. It should be a good tournament if the weather cooperates.”
Anglers will take off from NFTA Boat Harbor located at 1111 Fuhrmann Blvd. in Buffalo, N.Y., at 6:30 each morning. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will also be held at the marina beginning at 2:30 p.m. daily. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart located at 4255 McKinley Parkway in Hamburg starting at 3:30 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Pros will fish for a top award of $35,000 plus a 198VX Ranger boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard if Ranger Cup guidelines are met. Co-anglers will cast for a top award consisting of a Ranger 177TR with 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $5,000 if Ranger Cup guidelines are met.
The EverStart Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Each division consists of four tournaments and competitors will be vying for valuable points in each division that could earn them the Strike King Angler of the Year title along with $5,000 for the pro and $2,000 for the co-angler. The top 40 pros and co-anglers from each respective division will qualify for the EverStart Series Championship that will be held on Kentucky Lake in Buchanan, Tenn., Oct. 27-30.
The EverStart Series tournament on Lake Erie is being hosted by the Buffalo Niagara Convention and Visitors Bureau.
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About FLW Outdoors
FLW Outdoors is the largest tournament-fishing organization in the world, offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 191 tournaments in 2011. FLW Outdoors has taken fishing mainstream with the world’s richest fantasy sports game, FLW Fantasy Fishing at FantasyFishing.com, where competitors can play for free as well as sign up for Player’s Advantage to gain an edge.