DETROIT – Scott Emery of Livonia, Mich., landed $50,000 in cash and prizes Saturday for winning the final EverStart Series Northern Division tournament of 2001 on Lake Erie with five smallmouth bass weighing 23 pounds, 2 ounces.
The hefty limit was not only enough to win the tournament, but it ranked as a person best for Emery, who is fishing his second EverStart Series season.
“At about 10 o’clock I started getting a little queasy thinking I might have a shot at winning,” Emery said after learning he’d won $15,000 and a new Mercury- or Yamaha-powered Ranger boat with a Minn Kota trolling motor. “At the time, I thought I needed a couple more fish. I knew that if I could get at least 23 pounds, I could at least make it interesting.”
Emery caught all of his fish in the final round in Lake Erie using a ¾-ounce white spinnerbait that he was casting over a rock hump in 8-12 feet of water. On Thursday, he made the semifinal round cut to the top 30 pros in ninth place with a two-day total of eight bass weighing 24 pounds, 13 ounces that he caught in Lake St. Clair. He then made the final round cut to the top 10 Friday in seventh place with five Lake Erie smallmouth weighing 17 pounds, 15 ounces. Catch weights were cleared for all competitors at the start of the semifinal and final rounds.
Second through fifth place in the Pro Division went to Barry Bucciarelli of Romulus, Mich., with five bass weighing 20 pounds, 14 ounces worth $10,000; Mike Trombly of Perrysburg, Ohio, with five bass weighing 19 pounds, 2 ounces worth $9,000; Al Gagliarducci of Agawam, Mass., with five bass weighing 18 pounds, 6 ounces worth $8,000; and Jim Liechty of Fort Wayne, Ind., with five bass weighing 18 pounds worth $7,500.
Troy White of Green Bay, Wis., claimed first place in the Co-angler Division and collected $6,000 with five smallmouth bass weighing 17 pounds, 2 ounces. Miles Johnson of Beaver Creek, Ohio, finished second in the division and collected $4,000 with five bass weighing 16 pounds, 6 ounces while Cary Lodl of Scribner, Neb., finished third with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 15 ounces worth $3,500.
Rounding out the top five were the co-angler points champion Ted will of Zeeland, Mich., with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 9 ounces worth $3,000 and the tournament’s only female co-angler Renee Flesh of Edwardsburg, Mich., with five bass weighing 14 pounds, 15 ounces worth $2,500.
Competition began Wednesday with 283 anglers taking off from Elizabeth Park Marina to claim a piece of the event’s $185,000 purse.
The 4-year-old EverStart Series includes three divisions-Eastern, Central and Northern-with four events each plus a year-end championship presented by Conseco. 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 with GARMIN electronics, Minn Kota trolling motor and EverStart batteries plus $25,000 cash. The winning co-angler will receive a Ranger boat and $10,000 cash. Top EverStart competitors may also qualify for the Ranger M1 tournament in Mobile, Ala., Feb. 27-March 2, 2002, where they can win up to $1 million in the world’s richest freshwater tournament.