Cold start to Stren Southeast tournament on Lake Eufaula
Shallow-water fishermen bemoan the chilly morning
EUFAULA, Ala. – The third event of the Stren Series Southeast Division season kicked off Wednesday morning beneath a blinding sun and just a tiny bit of fog on Lake Eufaula. The bright sun might have been enough to fool someone into thinking it was warm outside. They’d be wrong.
Between the touch of fog, motor fumes and breath clouds in the chilly air, the launch ramp at Lakepoint State Park had quite a haze this morning. Anglers bundled up to stave off the 37-degree temperature and bemoaned the cold.
“It’s going to be tough,” said pro Koby Kreiger, who usually fishes Lake Eufaula like it’s home. “The water’s cold. Usually I’m looking forward to going fishing on Lake Eufaula. This morning, I am not looking forward to going fishing on Lake Eufaula.”
Cold as it was this morning, the sun is expected to warm things up to the mid-70s today, but for shallow-water fishermen like Kreiger, the cold mornings are still enough to make a mess of things.
“Guys fishing deep are probably going to do pretty well,” he said. “Later in the day when it warms up, they’ll get to biting for those of us fishing shallow.”
Fujifilm pro Roger Crafton agrees with Kreiger that it’s tough out there on Lake Eufaula and said he had seen water temperatures range from 48 to 62 degrees in the five days he’s been here.
“That’s a wide variance,” Crafton said. “The water came up really high the last few days, and now it’s dropping back really quickly. Progressively it’ll get a lot better because it will bring some fish shallow and some on the beds. They get up there, and a front comes through and they fall back. It all depends on the water temperature.”
Logistics
Pros will fish for a top award of $25,000 plus a $40,000 519VX Ranger powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard and equipped with a Minn Kota trolling motor, Lowrance electronics and EverStart batteries if contingency guidelines are met. Ranger will award another $3,000 to the winner if he or she is a participant in the Ranger Cup program. If the winner is not a Ranger Cup participant, Ranger will award $1,500 to the highest-finishing participant in the contingency program. Yamaha will match 50 percent of Ranger Cup earnings if “Powered by Yamaha” guidelines are met.
Co-anglers will cast for a top award of $5,000 plus a $30,000 Ranger boat and trailer if contingency guidelines are met.
Anglers will take off from Lakepoint State Park located at 104 Lakepoint Drive in Eufaula at 6:30 Central time each morning. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will also be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 1252 S. Eufaula Ave. in Eufaula beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
On the Web
For those who can’t catch the weigh-in action in person, FLWOutdoors.com offers FLW Live, an online application that brings fans real-time weigh-in results, streaming video and audio.
Wednesday’s conditions
Sunrise: 6:01 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 37 degrees
Expected high temperature: 75 degrees
Wind: SW at 6 mph
Maximum humidity: 38 percent
Day’s outlook: sunshine and a few clouds