Anglers fired up for Kerr Lake competition

The sun peers over Kerr Lake's Eastern shore as tournament boats make their way out for the first day of the Eastern Division's final event of the year. Photo by Jeff Schroeder.

May 30, 2001 • Jeff Schroeder • Archives

Final EverStart Eastern Division tourney underway

HENDERSON, N.C. – Whatever aspirations that some 330 pros and co-anglers have maintained over the course of the 2001 EverStart Series season – perhaps to place in the money, maybe make the Championship, maybe even a win – the competition has been boiled down to the next four days. Anglers took off this morning from Satterwhite Point Marina on Kerr Lake for the start of the final Eastern Division tournament of the year.

By the looks of things, as far as the pro standings are concerned, it’s going to be a tight race. Koby Kreiger of Osceola, Ind., winner of the last EverStart event on Kentucky Lake, leads the division with 576 points. Mark Rogers of Naples, Fla., and Greg Pugh of Cullman, Ala., are right behind him with 571 and 570 points, respectively. A win this week is worth 200 points.

Not surprisingly, competitors were anxious to get out on the water and go fishing under sunny, warm conditions this morning at Kerr Lake. The 50,000-acre body of water on the North Carolina-Virginia border has been coughing up limit after limit of bass for anglers in practice.

“It’s going to be a lot like Eufaula,” Kreiger said at takeoff, referring to the near record-setting number of five-fish limits brought in by anglers at March’s EverStart event on Alabama’s Lake Eufaula. “Some (bass) are still spawning.”

Competitors are hoping to take advantage of the still-shallow bass this week. Krieger said he would probably focus on flipping into bushes to target spawning largemouth.

Weigh-in begins today at 2:30 p.m. at Satterwhite Point located at 6254 Satterwhite Point Road outside of Henderson. The four-day tournament lasts through Saturday, when the winning pro will receive $15,000 and a Ranger boat. The winning co-angler will receive $6,000.

Vital statistics

Sunrise: 5:58 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 59 degrees
Expected high temperature: 78 degrees
Water temperature: 80 degrees
Wind: North to northwest at 5 to 10 mph
Relative humidity: 94 percent
Day’s outlook: Sunny

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