TRENTON, Mich. – Ten Pro Division competitors advanced to Saturday’s final round of the four-day, $256,825 EverStart Series event on the Detroit River, and pro Cecil Cole of Durand leads them thanks to a five-bass catch Friday that weighed 17 pounds, 7 ounces. Cole and his fellow final-round pros are fishing for as much as $61,900 in cash and prizes, including a fully rigged Ranger 519VS Comanche bass boat. Ten co-anglers are also in the hunt for a top co-angler award worth as much as $27,800 in cash and prizes, including a Ranger 519VS Comanche.
Two hundred pros and 200 co-anglers kicked off the second regular-season Northern Division event Wednesday and fished for two days for one of 20 semifinal-round slots in their respective divisions. That number was whittled to 10 after Friday’s competition, and the remaining pros and co-anglers will have their weights cleared for Saturday’s competition.
Cole has been a consistent threat all week, finishing third on opening day and fifth on Thursday despite a run of bad luck that included a blown outboard motor. He’s catching smallmouths in the Michigan sunshine by dragging tubes in 20 to 25 feet of water and by doing so has managed to outfish a field that included several Wal-Mart FLW Tour pros.
“I’ve had nothing but bad luck,” said Cole, who has scored four Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League top-10 finishes in three seasons. “My motor blew (Thursday), and I only fished for 45 minutes. I trolled 45 minutes to get to a competitor and tied my boat to a buoy. I spent most of Thursday night trying to retrieve my boat and got back so late that I forgot all my tackle. Plus, I’m bruised up from a rough ride, so I’m a little sore. So it’s been good, considering my bad luck, but (to win) I’ve got to have some luck on my side. There’s no room for error.”
Rounding out the top five pros are John (Randy) Sparkman of Taylor (five bass, 16 pounds, 12 ounces); Dave Lefebre of Erie, Pa. (five bass, 16 pounds, 7 ounces); Mark Zona of Sturgis (five bass, 15 pounds, 11 ounces); and Mike Trombly of Perrysburg, Ohio (five bass, 15 pounds, 10 ounces).
Eighteen-year-old Andrew Lemle of Perrysburg, Ohio, caught five bass Friday that weighed 18 pounds, 4 ounces – the day’s heaviest stringer – to lead the Co-angler Division into the final round. He caught his bass Friday on tubes around rock piles in deep water.
“I didn’t expect to do this well, so it’s a surprise,” said Lemle, who is fishing his first EverStart Series event. “The pros have been great. (Cole) put me on the fish, and luckily, they were pretty big. I had a stringer bigger than his, so I’m doing something right! I’m very excited to get to fish with him again (Saturday) on the same spots.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Trevor Jancasz of White Pigeon (five bass, 15 pounds, 5 ounces); Virgil Grant of Findlay, Ohio (five bass, 14 pounds, 6 ounces); James Dixon of Southfield (five bass, 14 pounds, 3 ounces); and Mike Graalman of Genoa, Ohio (five bass, 14 pounds, 2 ounces).
A total of 153 bass were caught Friday, including 23 five-bass limits. More than 99 percent were released alive.
Elizabeth Park in Trenton will host the final takeoff at 6 a.m., and the final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 7555 Telegraph Road in Taylor beginning at 3 p.m. The community is encouraged to attend the final takeoff and weigh-in.
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.
FLW Outdoors is named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood.