GILBERTSVILLE, Ky., – Koby Kreiger of Osceola, Ind., claimed the No. 1 qualifying spot Friday going into the final round of the $185,000 EverStart Series tournament on Kentucky Lake with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 2 ounces.
Kreiger, who is also leading the Eastern Division EverStart points race, will be competing Saturday against nine other pro finalists in this Central Division event for a top award of $15,000 and a Mercury- or Yamaha-powered Ranger boat. All the finalists start on equal footing as weights from previous rounds of competition are erased, and the winner is determined by the weight of Saturday’s catch. The original field of 165 pros was whittled to the top 30 Thursday and cut again to the top 10 Friday.
“There are some new fish moving into the pockets, so I expect tomorrow to be a real shootout,” Kreiger said.
Kreiger caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 28 pounds, 13 ounces to make the semifinal round cut in fourth place Thursday. Most of his bass so far were caught on plastic lizards and centipedes. Kreiger also says that he is keying on willow trees situated in small pockets of shallow water.
Rounding out the top five pros were opening round leader Carl Svebek III of Sam Rayburn, Texas, with five bass weighing 16 pounds, 3 ounces; Stephen Johnston of Hemphill, Texas, with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 4 ounces; Craig Powers of Rockwood, Tenn., with five bass weighing 14 pounds, 12 ounces; and Terry Bolton of Paducah, Ky., with five bass weighing 14 pounds, 11 ounces.
Richard Rhodes of Calvert City, Ky., claimed the top qualifying spot in the Co-Angler Division with three bass weighing 6 pounds, 4 ounces. He survived the semifinal round cut from 165 to 30 co-anglers Thursday in 9th place with a two-day total of four bass weighing 14 pounds, 1 ounce.
Co-angler Ed Daniel of Benton, Ill., qualified in second place with two bass weighing 6 pounds, 4 ounces followed by J.H. Alphin of Chandler, Texas, with two bass weighing 6 pounds. Daniel finished behind Rhodes based on his lower finish in the opening round Thursday.
Like their pro counterparts, co-anglers start from zero Saturday and compete for one day to determine the winner. The winning co-angler will receive $6,000.
A total of 133 bass were caught Friday including 13 five-bass limits. More than 99 percent of the bass were released alive.
Saturday’s action begins at 6 a.m. at Moors Resort in Gilbertsville. The final weigh-in begins at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located at 310 West 5th Street in Benton.
The 4-year-old EverStart Series now includes three divisions-Eastern, Central and Northern-with four events each plus a year-end championship. Tournament winners and the top 50 pros and top 50 co-anglers from each division will earn a spot in the championship, which will be held Nov. 7-10 on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala. There, the winning pro will receive a Mercury- or Yamaha-powered Ranger boat and $25,000. The winning co-angler will receive a Mercury- or Yamaha-powered Ranger boat and $10,000. More than $2.5 million will be awarded during the 2001 season. The series also provides a pathway to the $4.45 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour-bass fishing’s most lucrative tournament series.