MANNING, S.C. – Ken Ellis of Bowman, S.C., landed more than $50,000 in cash and prizes including a Yamaha-powered Ranger boat Saturday with five bass weighing 27 pounds, 14 ounces in the EverStart Series Eastern Division tournament on lakes Marion and Moultrie.
Ellis, a veteran EverStart Series competitor with more than 30 years experience fishing the Santee Copper lakes, topped 165 Pro Division anglers after four days of competition and two elimination rounds. He made the top-20 cut Thursday in fourth place with a two-day, opening-round total of 10 bass weighing 35 pounds, 15 ounces. Then he caught five more bass weighing 17 pounds, 7 ounces Friday to make the top-10 cut in ninth place. Catch weights were cleared for all competitors following each cut.
“I cut it a little closer than I intended to,” said Ellis, who made a conscious effort to conserve fish in the semifinal round. “I laid off the fish a little early and almost messed up. I never dreamt it would take more than 16 pounds just to make the top 10, but I should have known better on this lake.”
While other competitors were catching hefty limits out of lily pads, Ellis’ bass came exclusively from cypress trees. Four cypress trees in particular paid huge dividends for Ellis, as he caught post-spawn females ranging from 4 to 8 pounds from the trees each day of competition. On Saturday, the trees in Lake Marion produced an 8-pounder and a 7-pounder in the first 10 minutes of fishing. All of Ellis’ fish were caught on a finesse worm and 6-pound test line.
“This is a load off my back,” said Ellis, who has cracked the top 10 on the Santee Cooper lakes four out of the last five years. “Being the local heavy puts a lot of pressure on you. People expect you to win, and if you don’t, they wonder why you didn’t. If feels good to finally get the win.”
Ricky Shumpert of Lexington, S.C. (five bass, 20 pounds, 2 ounces, $10,000); Steve Kennedy of Hoover, Ala. (five bass, 19 pounds, 15 ounces, $9,000); Henry McFadden of Kingstree, S.C. (five bass, 18 pounds, 7 ounces, $8,000); and Vince Ingle of Maryville, Tenn., (five bass, 16 pounds, 3 ounces, $7,500) rounded out the top five pros.
In the 165-competitor Co-angler Division, EverStart Series rookie Doug Vest of Okeechobee, Fla., claimed first place and $6,000 with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 2 ounces. He was the No. 4 seed in the final round after landing five bass weighing 8 pounds, 13 ounces in the semifinal round and seven bass weighing 16 pounds, 8 ounces in the two-day opening round.
“I caught my first three fish in 15 minutes,” said Vest, who was using a watermelon colored flapping shad. “Then I missed seven in a row. In a tournament of this caliber, you can’t miss bites like that and win. I just got lucky later in the day and caught two more fish.”
Co-anglers Joseph Webster of Brilliant, Ala., (four bass, 14 pounds, 1 ounce, $4,000) and John Presnell of Shelby, N.C., (three bass, 7 pounds, 10 ounces, $3,500) finished second and third respectively.
A total of 59 bass weighing 193 pounds were caught Saturday including seven five-bass limits. More than 99 percent of the bass were released alive.
The tournament began Wednesday with 330 anglers taking off from the John C. Land boat ramp to claim a piece of the event’s $210,000 purse. The final EverStart Series Eastern Division tournament is Guntersville Lake in Guntersville, Ala., June 5-8.
Now in its fifth season, the EverStart Series features three divisions – Eastern, Central and Northern – with four events each plus the $325,000 EverStart Series Championship presented by Conseco. The top 50 pros and co-anglers from each division will earn a berth in the no-entry-fee 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.
More than $2.8 million will be awarded to bass anglers through the 2002 EverStart Series.