GREENVILLE, Miss. – Herb Blush of Yazoo City, Miss., will lead 30 of the nation’s top professional bass anglers into Friday’s semifinal round of competition at the $185,000 EverStart Series tournament on Lake Ferguson with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 25 pounds, 3 ounces.
Blush caught five bass weighing 12 pounds, 9 ounces Wednesday to finish in sixth place then turned in five bass weighing 12 pounds, 10 ounces Thursday to finish the opening round on top of the 165-angler Pro Division. Friday the top 30 pros and co-anglers will start from zero and fish for one day to determine the top 10 anglers who will advance to Saturday’s final round for a shot at top awards of $15,000 and a Mercury- or Yamaha-powered Ranger boat in the Pro Division and $6,000 in the Co-Angler Division.
“I just hope the pattern holds up,” said Blush, who caught the majority of his bass by flipping white and chartreuse Zoom Brush Hogs and tubes to ironwood bushes next to small creeks or “drains” along the shores of Lake Ferguson. “Fishing around here you can be a hero one day and a zero the next.”
Blush, who is fishing his second season on the EverStart Series, says that current flowing through the creeks is another key to his pattern. “If it stops, the fish will leave,” he said.
Another factor to contend with is water that is falling almost a foot per day. The falling water will either cause the bass to congregate or turn them off, Blush advised.
Pro Roger Stegall of Iuka, Miss., caught 24 pounds, 2 ounces over two days to secure the No. 2 spot in Friday’s competition. Rounding out the top five pros were Wesley Strader of Spring City, Tenn., with 23 pounds, 13 ounces; David Seaton of Buchanan, Tenn., with 23 pounds, 3 ounces; and Steve Floyd of Sabina, Ohio, with 22 pounds, 5 ounces.
In the 165-person Co-Angler Division, Keith Ray of Florence, Ala., retained the top spot with a two-day total of seven bass weighing 19 pounds. He caught all of his bass the first two days using a 3/8-ounce White Buzzard buzz bait fitted with a white skirt and gold tinsel.
Finishing in second and third place in the Co-Angler Division were David Fontenot of Alexandria, La., with 14 pounds, 14 ounces and Terry Johnson of Cordova, Tenn., with 13 pounds, 2 ounces.
Big bass and $750 in the Pro Division went to Mark Goines of Shady Point, Okla., for a 5-pound, 7-ounce largemouth. Big bass and $250 in the Co-Angler Division went to Mike Jones of Lebanon, Mo., for a 5-pound, 3-ounce largemouth.
A total of 444 bass were caught Thursday including 16 five-bass limits. More than 98 percent of the bass were released alive.
Competition begins at 5:30 a.m. each day at the Washington Street Ramp in Greenville. Friday’s weigh-in begins at 3:30 p.m. at the ramp, and Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located at 1746 Highway 1 South in Greenville at 3:30 p.m.
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 presented by Conseco Nov. 7-10 on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala. The series also provides a pathway to the $4.45 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour-bass fishing’s most lucrative tournament series.