LA CROSSE, Wis. – A full field of 330 top bass anglers from around the country embarked on the Mississippi River early Wednesday morning to kickoff the first $185,000 tournament of the new EverStart Series Northern Division. When the field returned for the opening day weigh-in, Ron Cherkas of Ankeny, Iowa, led with five bass weighing 12 pounds, 3 ounces, and a female angler, Karen Savik was tied for second place.
Cherkas was lucky to be leading the event after an ominous start, losing a 6 pound and 5 pound bass on his first two casts of the day. He went on to lose 11 more fish throughout the day. He caught the majority of his bass using a Doug Garret Megatube with a Megatube rattle in 2-3 feet of water in Lawrence Lake.
“I could not believe my misfortune when I lost those first two fish of the day,” Cherkas said. “I made some adjustments after that and settled down a little.”
The tournament, which is the first of four events in the Northern Division, features 165 pros and 165 co-anglers fishing for top awards of $15,000 and a Mercury- or Yamaha-powered Ranger boat with GARMIN electronics in the Pro Division and $6,000 in the Co-Angler Division. GARMIN will also award a $1,000 bonus if the winning angler was using a fixed-mount GARMIN sonar product.
Savik of St. Louis Park, Minn., and Jason Graham of Coleman, Mich., tied for second place with five bass apiece weighing 12 pounds, followed by Mark Martin of La Crosse, Wis., with five bass weighing 11 pounds, 12 ounces; and Robert Oines of Beaver Dam, Wis., with five bass weighing 11 pounds, 11 ounces.
In the Co-Angler Division, Tim George of Kittanning, Pa., led with five bass weighing 11 pounds, 12 ounces followed by Paul Dostal of La Crosse, Wis., with five bass weighing 11 pounds, 10 ounces and Mike Blaesi of Donhue, Iowa, with four bass weighing 11 pounds, 9 ounces.
Overall, 576 bass were caught Wednesday including 32 five-bass limits. More than 98 percent of the bass were released alive.
For a shot at victory, anglers in both divisions must secure one of 30 slots available in Friday’s semifinal round by catching the heaviest two-day total of bass in round one. During the semifinal round, anglers start from zero and compete for one day to determine the top 10 pros and top 10 co-anglers who will compete in Saturday’s finale. Catch weights are cleared again for the final day of competition, and the winner of each division is determined by the weight of that day’s catch.
Competition begins at 5:30 a.m. each morning at West Clinton Street Ramp in La Crosse. Weigh-ins Thursday and Friday will also be held at the ramp starting at 2:30 p.m. each day. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located at 1210 Crossing Meadows Drive in Onalaska, Wis., 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. More than $2.5 million will be awarded during the 2001 EverStart Series season.