OKEECHOBEE, Fla. – The $4.09 million EverStart Series kicked off Wednesday on Lake Okeechobee in Okeechobee, Fla., with 400 competitors scouring the fabled Florida fishery during the first of four days of competition that will determine the winners of a newly expanded $256,825 purse and establish an Eastern Division points leader.
Pro Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla., rose to the occasion with five bass weighing 26 pounds, 3 ounces despite water temperatures in the middle 50s that kept many of the nation’s top anglers from producing hefty five-bass limits.
Anglers were greeted to takeoff temperatures that were barely above the freezing point accompanied by sharp winds. Although the sun popped out and temperatures rose as the day wore on, it was not enough to warm the water to ideal Okeechobee conditions.
“I’ve been down here for five or six days,” said Browne, who caught his bass using a Gambler Crawdaddy on the north end of Lake Okeechobee. “The fish are biting really well for me.” He said he intended to fish conservatively Thursday and hopes to catch a small limit.
Rounding out the top five pros are Doug Vest of Okeechobee, Fla. (five bass, 22 pounds, 6 ounces); Barry Wilson of Chelsea, Ala. (five bass, 21 pounds, 5 ounces); Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla. (five bass, 20 pounds, 15 ounces); and Russ Bringger of Hobe Sound, Fla., (five bass, 19 pounds, 5 ounces).
Robert Russell of Smyrna, Tenn., led the co-angler field with a five-bass catch weighing 15 pounds, 15 ounces.
“Being in the lead feels fine, but I don’t know if I need to sit there and relax Thursday or fish hard,” said Russell, who caught his bass using a Craw Tube. “I guess I’ll fish hard anyway.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are John Pellegrino of Smithtown, N.Y. (four bass, 15 pounds, 7 ounces); Richard Angel of Surf City, N.C. (five bass, 12 pounds, 7 ounces); Derek Moyer of Alexandria, Va. (five bass, 10 pounds, 8 ounces) and Rob Boswell of Winder, Ga., (five bass, 10 pounds, 6 ounces).
Tony Christian of Hull, Ga., earned Pro Division big-bass honors and $750 thanks to a 9-pound, 7-ounce bass. A 6-pound, 14-ounce bass earned Randol Stone of Marianna, Fla., $250 as the Co-angler Division big-bass winner.
Eight hundred and seventy-four bass were caught Wednesday, including 82 five-bass limits. One hundred percent of the bass were released alive.
Anglers take off each morning at 7 a.m. from Okee-Tantie Marina in Okeechobee. Thursday’s weigh-in will also be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located on S. Parrott Avenue in Okeechobee beginning at 4 p.m. The community is encouraged to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins.
Following Thursday’s conclusion of the opening round, the top 20 pros and 20 co-anglers based on their two-day accumulated weight advance to Friday’s semifinal round. Weights are cleared for Friday’s competition, and the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers advance to Saturday’s final round based on Friday’s total weight. Weights are again cleared for Saturday’s competition, and anglers compete for the heaviest one-day weight.
The winning pro will take home a guaranteed cash award of $10,000 plus a new Ranger 519VS Comanche equipped with Garmin electronics and powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard. If the winner is the original owner of a Ranger boat, he will receive an additional $10,000 cash bonus from Ranger for a total of $61,900 in cash and prizes. Ranger will also award an additional $3,000 to the winner if he is a Ranger Cup participant, and Garmin will award $1,000 to the winner if his boat is equipped with a fixed-mount Garmin Fishfinder or combination GPS/Sounder.
The winning co-angler is guaranteed $5,000 cash. If the winning co-angler is a registered Ranger owner, he will also receive a new Ranger 519VS Comanche for a total of $27,800 in cash and prizes.
Four divisions – Eastern, Central, Northern and Western – comprise the 2003 EverStart Series. Each division stages four regular-season tournaments leading up to the no-entry-fee $335,975 EverStart Series Championship, which will be held on Old Hickory Lake near Gallatin, Tenn., Oct. 29-Nov. 1.
To accommodate tremendous demand, EverStart Series Eastern, Northern and Central division fields have been expanded from 175 pros and 175 co-anglers to 200 pros and 200 co-anglers wherever facilities will allow. Payback in each of the expanded tournaments has also increased from $239,325 to $256,825. The extra cash is spread through the bottom three-quarters of the field, and 10 more places were added to the payout, giving 51st through 60th each $650 on the pro side and $250 on the co-angler side.
In EverStart Series competition, pros supply the boats, control boat movement and fish from the front of each boat against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back of each boat and compete against other co-anglers.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its six tournament trails. Wal-Mart has been the title sponsor of FLW Outdoors since 1997. For a complete list of FLW Outdoors sponsors and for more information about the premier products and services they offer, please browse this Web site.