TOWER, Minn. – Lawry’s pro Jim Moynagh of Carver leads 20 pros into the semifinal round of the four-day, $249,825 EverStart Series event on Lake Vermilion with a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 31 pounds, 3 ounces. The event is the first of four regular-season Northern Division tournaments and will award the winning pro $61,900 in cash and prizes, including a new Ranger 519VS Comanche. The winning co-angler will earn a guaranteed award of $5,000 cash.
After 318 of 378 competitors caught five-bass limits Wednesday, the competition on Lake Vermilion continued in full force Thursday with 1,610 bass caught, including 278 limits. Most anglers caught limits of smallmouths in the shallows, and Moynagh continued that trend Thursday with a five-bass catch weighing 15 pounds, 8 ounces. He caught his bass Thursday in shallow water near the shorelines, but with cloudy weather and even rain in the forecast, he may be forced to abandon the sight-fishing pattern that got him to the semifinals.
“Weather is important with what I’ve been doing,” said Moynagh, a Wal-Mart FLW Tour regular who is fishing his first EverStart Series event. “When you’re looking for fish in clear water, what helps you are calm winds and sunny skies because you can see the fish a lot better. I’m not the only one who’s fishing this way; everybody is. I’m going to need to find some fish that are related to shoreline cover, whether that be a dock or a laydown. I’ll need to catch those to help me out.”
While leading a tournament is certainly an accomplishment, Moynagh fully understands the importance of keeping momentum throughout a four-day event. “I wasn’t shooting for the lead,” he said. “These EverStart tournaments are like three tournaments in one. (Friday) is step two; it’s a brand-new tournament against 19 other fishermen. So if I don’t make the top 10 after Friday, then any sort of satisfaction from (Thursday) will be gone. It’s like a hockey team in the playoffs. If the win their first round, it feels good, but then they have round two with another team.”
Rounding out the top five pros are Vic Vatalaro of Kent, Ohio (10 bass, 30 pounds, 15 ounces); Koby Kreiger of Okeechobee, Fla. (10 bass, 30 pounds, 7 ounces); Mark Zona of Sturgis, Mich. (10 bass, 29 pounds, 14 ounces); and Jim Tutt of Longview, Texas (10 bass, 29 pounds, 13 ounces).
Day-one leader Eric Struif of Lake Villa, Ill., tops the list of semifinal-round Co-angler Division qualifiers with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 23 pounds, 4 ounces. He spent Thursday looking for largemouths with a Senko in shallow water.
“Words can’t describe how I’m feeling today,” said Struif, who has led the first two days of his first-ever EverStart Series event. “It’s just unbelievable. I came here to finish in the top 100; I only made hotel reservations for two nights! I really didn’t expect to get this far. I’m just feeling really good right now. The word’s got around to everybody – my family in Colorado and Oklahoma, all over the place. Without the support of my wife and my family, I couldn’t do this.”
Finishing second in the Co-angler Division was Dave Linton of Twin Lakes, Wis. (10 bass, 22 pounds, 12 ounces). Tied for third were Richard Wyrick of Frankfort, Ill., (10 bass, 22 pounds, 2 ounces) and Judy Israel of Clewiston, Fla., (10 bass, 22 pounds, 2 ounces). Finishing fourth was Chris Wade of Preston, Conn., (10 bass, 21 pounds, 12 ounces) to round out the top five co-anglers.
William Fitzsimmons of Hubbard, Ohio, earned $750 Thursday as the Pro Division big-bass award winner, thanks to a 4-pound, 9-ounce bass. Linton earned co-angler big-bass honors and $250 with a 4-pound, 9-ounce bass.
Fortune Bay Resort and Casino in Tower hosts daily takeoffs and weigh-ins. Anglers take off each morning at 6 a.m. followed by the weigh-in at 3 p.m. The community is encouraged to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins.
One hundred and eighty-nine pros and 189 co-anglers kicked off the tournament Wednesday from Fortune Bay Resort and Casino, and the top 20 competitors in both divisions advanced to Friday’s semifinal round based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights will be cleared for Friday’s competition, and the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers will 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.
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 explore FLWOutdoors.com.
FLW Outdoors is named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood.