Fishing News - 4/11/02
From Operation BASS
Ray Leads Pros into $210,000 EverStart Series Finals
Manning, S.C. (April 12, 2002) — Ronnie Ray of Phenix City, Ala., claimed the No. 1 qualifying spot Friday going into the final round of the $210,000 EverStart Series tournament on the Santee Cooper lakes with five bass weighing 23 pounds, 7 ounces.
Ray, who finished eighth at last month’s Eastern Division tournament on Alabama’s Lake Eufaula, will compete Saturday against nine other finalists in the Pro Division for a top award of $15,000 cash and a Ranger boat powered by Evinrude or Yamaha. If his boat is equipped with a fixed-mount
GARMIN Fishfinder or combination GPS/Sounder, he will also receive a $1,000 bonus from GARMIN."This is the greatest lake in the world," said Ray, alluding to the fishery’ s tendency to produce record-breaking stringers. "I’m not getting a lot of bites, but the ones I am getting are quality fish."
Ray and the rest of the field are catching quality fish indeed. Ray’s two-day, opening-round catch of nine bass weighing 33 pounds, 2 ounces advanced him to Friday’s semifinal round in seventh place. The catch was dwarfed, however, by William Smith’s opening-round stringer of 10 bass
weighing 48 pounds, 10 ounces, which set a new EverStart Series record. Smith, a resident of Moncks Corner, S.C., captured third place heading into the final round with a five-bass, 21-pound, 11-ounce catch Friday.Henry McFadden of Kingstree, S.C., claimed the No. 2 qualifying spot with five bass weighing 23 pounds, 2 ounces. Cecil Wolfe III of Goose Creek, S.C., (five bass, 19 pounds, 15 ounces) and Ricky Shumpert of Lexington, S.C., (five bass, 19 pounds, 4 ounces) advanced in fourth and fifth place respectively.
All finalists start on equal footing as weights from previous rounds are erased, and the winner is determined by the weight of Saturday’s catch.
The original field of 165 pros was cut to the top 20 Thursday and cut to the top 10 Friday.
Ray’s partner, Michael Merritt of West Columbia, S.C., claimed the top co-angler spot Friday with three bass weighing 10 pounds, 4 ounces. He survived the semifinal-round cut from 165 to 20 co-anglers Thursday in seventh place with a two-day total of five bass weighing 15 pounds, 11
ounces. He was using a trick worm with a split shot while Ray opted for a 10-inch worm.Co-angler William Robinson of Clintwood, Va., qualified in second with two bass weighing 9 pounds, 9 ounces followed by Chris Brunn of Murray, Ky., in third with two bass weighing 9 pounds, 5 ounces.
Like their pro counterparts, co-anglers start from zero Saturday with the winner determined by the day’s heaviest catch. The winning co-angler receives $6,000 cash.
A total of 133 bass weighing 403 pounds, 9 ounces were caught Friday including 19 five-bass limits.
Saturday’s action begins at 7 a.m. at the John C. Land boat ramp. The final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located at 481 West Boyce Street starting at 4 p.m.
Now in its fifth season, the EverStart Series features three divisions — Eastern, Central and Northern — with four events each plus the $325,000 no-entry-fee EverStart Series Championship presented by Conseco. The top 50 pros and co-anglers from each division will be invited to the Championship
for a shot at top pro awards of more than $60,000 in cash and prizes and top co-angler awards of more than $40,000 in cash and prizes. The top 10 pros and co-anglers from each division also earn priority entry into the 2003 Wal-Mart FLW Tour where they could win up to $260,000 and $40,000 in cash respectively while fishing at the sport’s highest level.Sponsors of the 2002 Wal-Mart FLW Tour are Wal-Mart, ALPO Pet Foods,
BFGoodrich Tires, Castrol, Chevy Trucks, Coleman, Conseco, Eagle Electronics, Energizer, EverStart Batteries, Evinrude, Faded Glory, Frito-Lay, Fujifilm, Kellogg’s, Land O’Lakes, Maxwell House, Minn Kota, Pepsi, Poulan, Ranger Boats, Shop-Vac, Snickers, Stanley Works, US Bank, Weed Eater and Yamaha Outboards. Associate sponsors are Abu Garcia, Act II, Berkley, David Sunflower Seeds, Eagle Claw, Laker, Plano and Solar Bat.For more information, visit FLWOutdoors.com.
