GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. – Koby Kreiger of Osceola, Ind., claimed the No. 1 qualifying spot Friday going into the final round of the season’s last EverStart Series Eastern Division tournament on Guntersville Lake with five bass weighing 16 pounds, 7 ounces.
Kreiger will compete Saturday against nine other finalists in the Pro Division for a top award of $15,000 cash and an Evinrude- or Yamaha-powered Ranger boat. If his boat is equipped with a fixed-mount Garmin Fishfinder or combination GPS/Sounder, he will also receive a $1,000 bonus from Garmin.
Finalists start on equal footing as weights from previous rounds are erased, and the winner is determined by the weight of Saturday’s catch. The original field of 165 pros was cut to the top 20 Thursday and cut to the top 10 Friday.
“It always feels good to be the leader,” Kreiger said. “But I’d rather be the leader on Saturday afternoon. We are all on equal footing again, so I’m just going to work on it and see what happens.”
Kreiger caught his bass Friday using a Zara Spook early and a Zoom worm later in the afternoon. In the opening round, he caught a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 29 pounds, 8 ounces to make the top-20 cut in 13th place.
Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 8 ounces; Michael Brown Chatsworth, Ga., with four bass weighing 13 pounds, 14 ounces; Edward Gettys of Stevenson, Ala., with five bass weighing 13 pounds, 1 ounce; and Rick Couch of Ocala, Fla., with five bass weighing 12 pounds, 9 ounces rounded out the top five pros.
Jeff Taylor of Vernon, Ala., claimed the top co-angler spot Friday with five bass weighing 13 pounds, 15 ounces. He survived Thursday’s top-20 cut in ninth place with a two-day total of nine bass weighing 23 pounds, 7 ounces.
Co-angler Alan Paczkowski of Henrico, N.C., qualified in second with three bass weighing 10 pounds, 1 ounce followed by Ron Figueroa of Appling, Ga., with four bass weighing 9 pounds, 4 ounces.
Like their pro counterparts, co-anglers start from zero Saturday with the winner determined by the day’s heaviest catch. The winning co-angler receives $6,000 cash.
Saturday’s action begins at 5:30 a.m. at Guntersville State Park. The final weigh-in will be held at the Guntersville Wal-Mart Supercenter located at 11697 U.S. Highway 431 South starting at 3:30 p.m.
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 be invited to the 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 – bass fishing’s most lucrative tournament series – where they could win up to $260,000 and $40,000 in cash respectively.
More than $2.8 million will be awarded to bass anglers through the 2002 EverStart Series.
FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing tournaments, manages the EverStart Series. The organization operates 170 tournaments through the EverStart Series, Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Circuit and Ranger M1. FLW Outdoors will award anglers up to $22 million in 2002.