CLEARLAKE, Calif. – Dennis Kolender of San Diego caught five bass weighing 23 pounds, 13 ounces Friday to lead the 10 Pro Division anglers who advanced to Saturday’s final round of the four-day, $118,705 EverStart Series Western Division tournament on California’s Clear Lake.
After a two-day opening round that saw over 4,000 pounds of Clear Lake bass brought to the scales by 272 competitors, the 40 semifinal-round competitors started at zero Friday and went for broke. A total of 143 bass were caught Friday by the 20 remaining pros and 20 co-anglers, including 21 five-bass limits. One hundred percent were released alive. A third straight day of rain made for soggy fishing conditions again Friday, but the fish were still eager to bite. More than half of Friday’s competitors hauled in five-bass limits.
Rounding out the top five pros are Bill Case of Orange (five bass, 23 pounds, 1 ounce); Rusty Salewske of Alpine (five bass, 21 pounds, 6 ounces); Larry Hopper of Tustin (five bass, 21 pounds, 4 ounces); and Wayne Breazeale of Kelseyville (five bass, 19 pounds, 11 ounces).
Day-one leader Bernie Gaunt of West Sacramento topped the co-angler list Friday thanks to his five-bass catch that weighed 16 pounds, 12 ounces. Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Jed Christensen (five bass, 13 pounds, 14 ounces); Ted Vu Nguyen of Irvine (five bass, 13 pounds, 12 ounces); Ron Chambers of Phoenix, Ariz. (four bass, 13 pounds, 11 ounces); and Dennis Miller of Las Vegas, Nev. (three bass, 12 pounds).
One hundred and ninety-six pros and 196 co-anglers kicked off the tournament Wednesday from Redbud Park in Clearlake and competed for two days to determine the top 20 in each division who would compete in Friday’s semifinal round. Weights were cleared for Friday’s competition, and the top 10 anglers in each division advanced to the final round, where they will once again start at zero.
Redbud Park will host the final takeoff at safe light Saturday morning, followed by the final tournament weigh-in, also held at Redbud Park, beginning at 3 p.m. The community is encouraged to attend the takeoff and weigh-in.
The winning pro will take home a guaranteed cash award of $7,500 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 $59,400 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 $3,900 cash. If the winning co-angler is a registered Ranger owner, he will also receive a new Ranger 519VS Comanche for a total of $26,700 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.
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.
FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing, administers the EverStart Series. Other FLW Outdoors-sanctioned tournament trails include the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, the Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour and the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye League. FLW Outdoors will award as much as $20 million through 175 tournaments in 2003.
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 peruse FLWOutdoors.com.