Davis Wins Final 2012 Everstart Series Southeast Division Event On Lake Guntersville

Sward wins co-angler title

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. – Alex Davis of Albertville, Ala., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 27 pounds, 1 ounce Saturday to win the EverStart Series Southeast Division event on Lake Guntersville with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 81 pounds, 12 ounces. For his victory, Davis earned $34,767.

“I’m mentally exhausted after having to sit and watch everybody weigh in before me today,” joked Davis. “Justin (Lucas) just had to show up and catch 31-10 to make me nervous and keep me on the edge of my seat.

“I had a great week out here. It went really good today,” Davis continued. “I think I caught around 20 to 25 keepers today, with at least three limits over 20 pounds. I was fishing on the lower end of the lake. I targeted Honeycomb Creek, Brown’s Creek and I also had a few spots near Seibold Creek. It was about a 15-mile stretch that I would run, and I would just hit all of my spots. I probably had around 25 different spots that I would run to. I would stay for a bit and if I was catching fish, I would just sit on them. If I wasn’t, I would just run to the next one.

“I was fishing pretty deep – anywhere from 14 to 32 feet deep,” said Davis. “Earlier this week I had some success with a big spoon, and I caught a few on a jig head rigged with a single shad-colored swimbait. However, today all of my fish came on the Alabama rig. I had it rigged with Strike King Shadalicious swimbaits, and I was using multiple different lengths and weights. If the fish were up higher, I would use the 1/8-ounce or ¼-ounce rig. If they were deeper, I would throw the 3/8-ounce or 1/2-ounce rig. The last week they really moved from the grass and went out deeper, and I was able to find a bunch of big schools of them. The bass are mostly out in their summer spots now, and should be there for the rest of the summer.

“I guide on Lake Guntersville and have pretty much fished it every day since January,” Davis went on to say. “Coming in to this event I thought it would take around 65 to 70 pounds to win this thing. I never thought it would take me 80 pounds to get it done. I couldn’t have done this without my sponsors – Vicious fishing line, Strike King Baits, and Ranger Boats. I’m planning on joining the FLW Tour next year as a boater and have been saving my money to make the big jump, so this win is definitely a good shot in the arm for me.”

Rounding out the top 10 pros were:

2nd: National Guard pro Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., 15 bass, 78-8, $11,920

3rd: Rick Cotten, Guntersville, Ala., 15 bass, 76-3, $9,933

4th: Marshall Deakins, Dunlap, Tenn., 15 bass, 75-5, $8,940

5th: Casey Martin, New Market, Ala., 15 bass, 73-9, $7,947

6th: Richard Peek, Centre, Ala., 15 bass, 73-1, $6,953

7th: National Guard pro Mark Rose, West Memphis, Ark., 15 bass, 70-15, $5,960

8th: Gary Fleming, Russellville, Ala., 15 bass, 69-9, $4,967

9th: Derek Hicks, Rocky Face, Ga., 15 bass, 60-9, $3,973

10th: Straight Talk pro J.T. Kenney, Palm Bay, Fla., 12 bass, 58-14, $2,980

Complete results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.

Fleming caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Friday – a 7-pound, 13-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s EverStart Series Big Bass award of $298.

Justin Sward of Birmingham, Ala., won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger 177TR with an Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 62 pounds, 12 ounces.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:

2nd: Jason Atkins, Section, Ala., 14 bass, 53-11, $4,470

3rd: Ed Shannon, Milford, Ohio, 15 bass, 53-5, $3,973

4th: Steve Keller Jr., Bethel, Ohio, 13 bass, 42-6, $3,477

5th: Josh Mims, Clanton, Ala., 13 bass, 41-4, $2,980

6th: Kyle Giella, Pooler, Ga., 14 bass, 40-4, $2,483

7th: James Bobbitt, Rainbow City, Ala., 11 bass, 39-8, $1,987

8th: Randy Brewington, Moulton, Ala., 13 bass, 38-4, $1,490

9th: Ben Johnson, Huntsville, Ala., 11 bass, 33-5, $993

10th: Wally Coward, Beech Island, S.C., 15 bass, 28-1, $795

Sward caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Friday – a 7-pound, 13-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s EverStart Series Big Bass award of $198.

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 the Ouachita River in Monroe, La., Nov. 1-4.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWOutdoors.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow FLW on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWOutdoors.