All in the family
Robert Lebert joins his wife Nobie in the EverStart Series winners' circle by claiming the EverStart co-angler title on Sam Rayburn
JASPER, Texas – On top of Nobie Lebert’s refrigerator sit two trophies – and both of them are hers. One is from an EverStart Series win in 1999, and the other is from a 2003 Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League victory, both on Toledo Bend. Legend has it that she reserved a space between her two trophies for her husband, Robert Lebert, also a competitive co-angler who had heretofore gone winless. 
That all changed today when Lebert took home $5,000 as winner of the EverStart Series Central Division season opener on Sam Rayburn Reservoir, finally earning his rightful spot on top of the fridge.
Lebert was perhaps the most feared co-angler among the top 10 finalists, as he is considered a Sam Rayburn expert and is in fact a resident of nearby Brookeland.
“I’ve fished this lake since it started being flooded,” said Lebert, whose win also marks his first career top-10 finish in FLW Outdoors events. “I’ve been around for a while, and yeah, I know a spot or two.”
Lebert said that the key to victory on fickle Sam Rayburn was fishing slowly. He dragged a Carolina rig and an 8-inch lizard to haul in his tournament-winning bass.
Lebert never fell below third place this week, ending day one and day two in the No. 3 spot before climbing to second on day three. He continued his ascension up the leaderboard during a week that saw the big Texas lake completely change conditions over the course of the tournament’s four days.
The tournament began Wednesday with thunderstorms and air temperatures topping out in the mid-60s. Thursday, however, brought much cooler temperatures and more rain, but the fish kept on biting to the tune of 6,600-plus pounds of fish over two days.
Then the turnaround occurred. Friday was the second full day of the cold front, and despite bright and sunny skies, the fish all but stopped biting. Only three anglers managed to catch a five-bass limit Friday. Two of them were pros. One of them was Robert Lebert.
“The water has cooled off considerably, and the fish are not really active,” Lebert said. “I was fishing really slowly, and that was the key.
“I started off fishing shallow when the water was warm – in the upper 60s,” he continued. “Then we got that cold rain that dropped the water temperature to the upper 50s. The fished backed out, and we backed out.”
Nevertheless, Lebert fished his Zoom lizard toward a two-day total catch of 10 bass weighing 21 pounds, 15 ounces, a tremendous lead over second-place Bill Rogers, who posted a two-day catch of 14 pounds, 5 ounces. In fact, Lebert’s weight was so heavy that it would have been enough to place him in the top five on the pro side.
“I’ve tried to keep it in perspective,” he said. “Coming in I thought I was the luckiest guy around. I married my best friend. I’m proud to win it, but I felt like I was lucky before I got here.”
Another local makes a run for the top spot
Second-place co-angler Rogers also had local knowledge working in his favor, as the Jasper native caught 11 pounds, 11 ounces today to jump from eighth place to second.
Rogers was fishing a Carolina rig with a Fluke and said today it was not so much about weather or bait but rather where one decided to try and find the fish.
“I think today it was areas,” he said. “When you find them, they’re concentrated.”
Hillebrandt squeaks out a third-place finish
Ernie Hillebrandt of Sam Rayburn rounded out the local-heavy top three with a two-day catch of 10 pounds, 8 ounces. He scored his lofty finish largely with his day-three-leading catch of 11 pounds, 4 ounces, as he caught only one bass today that weighed 1-14.
“Sometimes they’re chickens, sometimes they’re feathers,” Hillebrandt said of the ever-changing luck in competitive fishing. “It’s different every day.”
Hillebrandt employed a variety of baits and techniques this week, relying mostly on dragging, flipping and Wacky Worms to land his keepers.
Best of the rest
Corydon, Ind., angler Randy Coffman claimed fourth place with a two-day catch of 9 pounds, 15 ounces. In fifth was opening-round leader Gilbert Herald of Pittsburg, Texas, with 6 pounds, 1 ounce.
The rest of the top 10 co-anglers at Sam Rayburn:
6th: Billy Yelverton of Baton Rouge, La., two bass, 5-1
7th: Danny Easley of Clay, Ky., one bass, 5-1
8th: Jeary Wheeler of Batesville, Ark., two bass, 4-14
9th: Gene Purdy of Bentonville, Ark., two bass, 3-13
10th: Keith Newsom of Memphis, two bass, 3-1
Coming up
The EverStart Series will next visit the Santee Cooper lakes near Manning, S.C., March 2-5 for the second Southeast Division event of the season.
The next Central Division stop is March 16-19 on the Columbus Pool near Columbus, Miss.