Catch fest begins
EverStart Northern anglers prepare to make hay with Lake Erie smallmouths
HAMBURG, N.Y. – The third EverStart Series Northern Division tournament of the season took off onto Lake Erie Wednesday morning with anglers geared up for another week of heavy smallmouth bass action on the Great Lake.
The last several Northern Division trips to big Lake Erie have been to the western side of the lake. This time, with the city of Buffalo, N.Y., as the backdrop and the roar of Niagara Falls several miles to the north, anglers will be plying the eastern end of the lake for its unparalleled quarry of smallmouths.
Since this relatively shallow Great Lake is a little deeper on this end, the fishing will be different from the flat-bottom events that have gone out from Port Clinton, Ohio, and Detroit. But the results should prove to be equally productive throughout the week.
“It’s going to be a catch fest,” said EverStart tournament director Chris Jones.
The main variable for anglers this week, as usual on the massive lake, will be the weather. Just a slight wind really stirs up the water and makes running around a major chore. More than a few competitors took off in walleye boats Wednesday morning, presumably to combat the big waves. Some isolated thunderstorms are in the forecast for this end of the lake, but more important will be the 15-mph south winds that could make things especially interesting.
But that’s the name of the game on Erie. Anglers expect it, and it shouldn’t cut into the high limit count at the end of the day.
See the catch fest in action at Wednesday’s weigh-in, which will take place at NFTA Boat Harbor in Buffalo, located at 1111 Fuhrmann Blvd., at 3 p.m. Eastern time.
Tournament logistics
The full field will compete for two days to determine the top 20 pros and 20 co-anglers who advance to Friday’s semifinal round based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for the semifinal round, and anglers compete for one day to determine who advances to Saturday’s final round. Only the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers compete Saturday, and the winner is determined by the heaviest two-day weight.
The winning pro is guaranteed $10,000 cash plus an Evinrude- or Yamaha-powered Ranger 519 VS equipped with Garmin electronics, a Minn Kota trolling motor and EverStart batteries. If the winner is the original owner of a Ranger boat, he will receive a $10,000 bonus from Ranger for a top pro award worth $61,900. If he is a qualifying participant in the Ranger Cup incentive program, Ranger will award another $3,000 cash (or $1,500 to the highest-finishing Ranger Cup participant if not the winner), and Yamaha will match 50 percent of Ranger Cup winnings if the angler’s boat is powered by a Yamaha outboard. Garmin will award the winning pro $1,000 if he uses only Garmin electronics and at least one unit is a qualifying unit.
The winning co-angler is guaranteed $5,000 cash, and if he is a Ranger boat owner, Ranger will award him a new Ranger 519 VS for a total prize package worth $35,000. Co-anglers who make the final round of each regular-season EverStart Series event and wear an EverStart/Evinrude shirt and cap on stage are awarded points toward the EverStart Batteries and Evinrude Outboard Engines Co-angler Award. The co-angler receiving the most points by the end of the season receives a 2004 Evinrude 225HO Direct Injection outboard engine rigged on a Ranger boat equipped with a Minn Kota trolling motor and EverStart batteries.
Wednesday’s conditions:
Sunrise: 6:33 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 71 degrees
Expected high temperature: 83 degrees
Wind: from the south-southeast at 7 mph
Maximum humidity: 65 percent
Day’s outlook: isolated thunderstorms