Morgan tops 200 pros at Sam Rayburn
Co-angler McKnight lands 10-pound largemouth
JASPER, Texas – It took a big effort to land the top spot on opening day of the EverStart Series Central Division at Sam Rayburn Reservoir because 185 out of 200 pro anglers weighed in fish. When all was said and done Wednesday, it was Trey Morgan of Goldonna, La., who climbed to the top of the heap in the Pro Division with a five-bass weight of 24 pounds, 5 ounces.
Morgan leads by almost 4 pounds after day one of competition. Second-place Alfred Williams of Jackson, Miss., weighed in five bass worth 20 pounds, 8 ounces, and third-place George Jeane Jr. of Evans, La., caught five bass weighing 20-6.
EverStart anglers battled cold, drizzly conditions on Sam Rayburn Wednesday, but Morgan’s effort was aided by the fact that he was able to fill out his stringer without moving around too much. It didn’t hurt that he caught his limit by 10 a.m.
“I have one primary spot,” the pro leader said. “It’s really a live-or-die situation for me there.”
He caught the bulk of his bass flipping plastics and jigs at his honey hole in roughly 5 to 8 feet of water early in the day. With a limit of 20 pounds already in his livewell by midmorning, Morgan headed back toward Twin Dikes Marina and culled out a 2-pound bass with his biggest fish of the day, a 7-pound largemouth. The last one he caught using a Rat-L-Trap, a favorite bait among competitors here at Sam Rayburn.
As far as the mucky weather was concerned, Morgan seemed unfazed by it.
“Tomorrow, I’m just going to pretend it’s a pretty, sunny day,” he said. “The weather’s not going to affect me.”
He was also unconcerned by the fact that such a large number of anglers were able to catch fish Wednesday. Of the 185 pros who weighed in, 68 of them caught five-bass limits.
“I fish to catch the fish,” said Morgan, a second-year Central Division competitor who finished in 24th place at Sam Rayburn in 2002. “I don’t care who’s in the tournament.”
He does care about the condition of his main fishing spot, however. He plans on returning to his hole Thursday, but he’s in no hurry to fish the spot out in the opening round.
“I think 20 pounds will be enough to make the (two-day) cut,” he said. “The hole probably won’t get too much action tomorrow, and I might just make a stop or two before I get there.”
Rounding out the top five in the Pro Division were Carl Svebek of Siloam Springs, Ark., in fourth place with five bass weighing 19 pounds, 14 ounces and David Truax of Beaumont, Texas, in fifth place with five bass weighing 19-5. A former Texas native, Svebek won the EverStart tourney at Sam Rayburn, his home lake, in 1998.
Texas-size Florida largemouth claim big-bass honors
Sam Rayburn showed off its potential to produce big fish Wednesday when a number of anglers in both divisions weighed in kicker largemouths in the 7- to 8-pound range. In the Pro Division, Jonathan Newton of Rogersville, Ala., won the $750 big-bass award with his biggest fish, an 8-pound, 9-ounce hog.
But it was a co-angler, Jerry McKnight of Wells, Texas, who weighed in with the biggest fish of the day. Not only did his largemouth weighing an even 10 pounds claim the $250 co-angler big-bass award, the monster was the biggest fish weighed in during EverStart opening-round competition so far this year.
“Man, I was nervous,” McKnight said about catching the fish. “It fought pretty good. It came up to the top of the water four or five times. I thought I was going to lose it. It’s the biggest bass I’ve ever caught.”
For the record, McKnight caught the fish on a Rat-L-Trap.
Brewer plays off pro partner to take co-angler lead
Randy Brewer of South Lake, Texas, leads the Co-angler Division with a five-bass weight of 15 pounds, 9 ounces.
He utilized a strategy of avoiding the same pattern of his pro partner, Bobby Curtis, to catch his fish.
“A lot of credit should go to Bobby Curtis,” Brewer said. “I didn’t want to do the exact same thing as he was. He wanted to work the brush out to the grass line. So I was able to find a couple of secondary points with a rise and some grass on them.”
Brewer was excited, and admittedly nervous, about his results Wednesday.
“I get hyped up about these things,” he said. “It’s a thrill fishing with 200 boats and coming out like this.”
In second place for the co-anglers was McKnight, whose 10-pounder anchored his four-bass weight of 15 pounds, 4 ounces.
Rounding out the top five in the division were Joe Rasnick of Brookville, Ind., in third place with five bass weighing 13-12; Lonnie Fuller Jr. of Hemphill, Texas, in fourth place with five bass weighing 13-11; and Robert Kirtley of Chouteau, Okla., in fifth place with five bass weighing 13-8.
Competition resumes at 7 a.m. Thursday as competitors take off from Twin Dikes Marina for the second half of opening-round competition. The top 20 anglers in both divisions following tomorrow’s fishing will advance to Friday’s semifinal round.
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