Jeane jumps to top

George Jeane takes commanding lead at EverStart Series Central Division event

NATCHITOCHES, La. – The top 20 pros and 20 co-anglers in the EverStart Series Central Division managed to stay dry all day until they arrived at Friday’s weigh-in at the Natchitoches Wal-Mart Supercenter.

At 4 p.m., the exact starting time of the day-three weigh-in, the bottom fell out of the sky, giving the anglers and spectators an old-fashioned Louisiana crawfish strangler of a rainstorm.

Despite the rain, wind and a small power outage, the EverStart Series tournament staff went to work doing what they do best, and the show went on without a hitch.

When the deluge quit, George Jeane of Evans, La., rose to the top with a limit of bass weighing 17 pounds, 13 ounces to take the lead by over 4 pounds.

Jeane barely made the top 20 by qualifying in 19th place after day two.

“I got them in the boat today,” Jeane said about his catch. “I’ve had that kind of weight on every day, I just haven’t been able to get them in the boat. I’m fishing really thick cover, and there’s plenty of stuff for the fish to bury up in before coming to the boat. But today I got them all into the boat.”

Jeane is fishing just above the lock in Pool Four.

“I feel like I’ve got the right area and the right technique, it’s just a matter of getting them in the boat tomorrow,” he added.

Morehead moves up to second

Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky., is staying true to his strategy of being consistent. He brought in his best limit of the tournament today, 13 pounds, 11 ounces, to move into second place.

“I’ve been flipping soft plastics all week,” Morehead said. “But today was a perfect top-water day, so I switched to a top-water and caught some of my better fish on it.”

Morehead had been worried that the rising water might affect his fish, but he said the water dropped back down today.

“I’m going to go back tomorrow and stick with what I’m doing,” he said. “I think the area I’m fishing has the potential for a 15- to 16-pound string, but I need to slow down to catch them.”

Sheets in third

Kenneth Sheets of Pevely, Mo., moved into third place today with four bass weighing 12 pounds, 15 ounces.

Sheets has been fishing the same area all week, but within that area is a sweet spot he has been saving for today.

“The quality fish are using one particular spot within my general area,” Sheets said. “Each day, I’ve fished this little spot just long enough to catch one quality fish to anchor my limit. Today I stayed on that spot all day and only caught four. I had another big one on, which would have given me a real nice limit. I’m going to stay on it all day again tomorrow.”

Maxwell hammers out fourth

Glenn Maxwell of Crossett, Ark., is in fourth place with 11 pounds, 15 ounces.

Maxwell continued to grind out fish from his oxbow in Pool Four today to catch a limit, but he had to use a variety of baits.

“I had been throwing a spinnerbait the last two days, but today I had to resort to junk fishing – throwing several different baits to the same cover to get the bites,” he said.

Chapman in fifth

Kenneth Chapman of Woodlawn, Tenn., moved into fifth today with a limit weighing 11 pounds, 15 ounces.

Rest of the best

The rest of the coveted top 10 that will fish tomorrow are Scott Rook of Little Rock, Ark., in sixth place with 11 pounds, 13 ounces; Marc Lowenthal of Prairieville, La., in seventh place with 11 pounds, 7 ounces; Danny Gulledge of Hamburg, Ark., in eighth place with 9 pounds, 8 ounces; Toby Hartsell of Livingston, Texas, in ninth place with 9 pounds, 7 ounces; and Slade Dearman of Sam Rayburn, Texas, in 10th place with 8 pounds, 13 ounces.

Pro stats

Out of the top 20 pros there were 11 limits caught today. The cut weight for the top 10 ended up at 8 pounds, 13 ounces.

Retalic rallies to the top of co-anglers

Terry Retalic of Fayetteville, Ark., took the co-angler lead after day three with 9 pounds, 3 ounces.

Retalic fished a variety of baits to catch the only limit in the Co-angler Division.

“We fished a lot of different water and ran a lot of different kinds of banks today,” Retalic said. “I just tried to keep up with my pro by throwing different things everywhere we went. I caught them on a crankbait, tube, buzzbait and a spinnerbait.”

Rest of the best

The other nine co-anglers that made the top 10 are Stephen Francis of Brookeland, Texas, in second place with 7 pounds, 3 ounces; Mike Williams of Cresson, Texas, in third place with 5 pounds, 10 ounces; Denny Wilkins of Lubbock, Texas, in fourth place with 5 pounds, 1 ounce; Jay Lamb of Kansas City, Mo., in fifth place with 5 pounds; Bill Gift of Alix, Ark., in sixth place with 4 pounds, 15 ounces; Steve Graf of Natchitoches, La., in seventh place with 4 pounds, 12 ounces; Daniel Armstrong of Fayetteville, Ark., in eighth place with 4 pounds, 4 ounces; Kerry Barnett of Waldron, Ark., in ninth place with 2 pounds, 8 ounces; and Mark King of Gurdon, Ark., in 10th place with 2 pounds.

The final day action for the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers starts tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. Central at the Grand Encore boat launch.