Last chance
EverStart Series regular-season finale begins; $15,000 and a boat on the line
TRENTON, Mich. – The regular season of the 2002 EverStart Series ends Saturday, and, for the 10 pros and 10 co-anglers fishing in today’s Northern Division final round, it’s the last chance for glory and some well-earned cash – at least this year.
Richard Grosse of Hebron, Ohio, leads the charge in the Pro Division. The semifinal-round leader has caught nearly 20 pounds of bass all three days coming into Saturday and has placed no worse than third place all week. Grosse also had a strong showing at this EverStart tournament in 2001, finishing 13th, and seems to have a lock on a very productive fishing hole on the edge of a grass flat in the Detroit River.
Grosse, who has been kept out of the three prior Northern Division tournaments this season by his disabled boat, is fishing from a borrowed boat in the finals. Perhaps a little nervous Saturday morning, he is gunning for his first victory – which would bring with it $15,000 cash and a new boat.
He’ll have to beat the likes of Lima, Ohio’s Steve Clapper, in second place after Friday, among others. Clapper, always a favorite on this water, has been strong as usual this week. He indicated that he would head back out on Lake Erie towards Pelee Island to mine big smallmouths for the win.
Another Northern Division race has already been decided this week on the Detroit River. Marcel Veenstra of Newtown, Pa., has won the 2002 Pro Division points title. The results are still unofficial until the completion of the tournament, but Veenstra started the week third in the standings and came back to beat Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wis., and Dave Lefebre of Erie, Pa., by a comfortable margin after they both failed to make the cut here in Detroit. Veenstra finished the tournament Friday in 15th place. He hasn’t missed a cut into the semifinal round all season long, and his highest finish was third place at Lake Champlain.
“It feels really good,” Veenstra said of winning the points race. “It’s almost like a relief. It shows that I am a consistent fisherman.”
The top 10 pros and co-anglers departed Elizabeth Park Marina at daybreak and will fish until 3 p.m. Saturday’s final-round weigh-in begins at 4 p.m. at the Wal-Mart located at 2155 N. Telegraph Road in Monroe, Mich. The pro winner of the one-day shootout will take home $15,000 and a Ranger boat, and the co-angler winner receives $6,000.
Today’s conditions
Sunrise: 7:27 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 54 degrees
Expected high temperature: 70 degrees
Water temperature: 67 degrees
Wind: from the north-northwest at 5 mph
Relative humidity: 88 percent
Day’s outlook: partly cloudy
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