Roger that
Floridian points title contender takes lead at Kerr Lake
HENDERSON, N.C. – Mark Rogers has been in contention all year long in the EverStart Eastern Division. He placed third and fifth, respectively, at Lake Okeechobee, Fla., and Lake Eufaula, Ala., in February and 24th at Lake Santee Cooper, S.C., in March. On day one of the opening round at the final Eastern Division tourney this year at Kerr Lake, Rogers muscled his way into the pro lead with a massive five-bass catch weighing 19 pounds.
“This really blew me away,” the Naples, Fla., native said. “I was going for about 13 pounds per day.”
His opening-day stringer blew away the rest of the pro field by over 2 pounds. Scott Dameron of Ghent, W.V., was second best in the Pro Division today with five fish weighing 16 pounds, 15 ounces.
For Rogers, 29, the timing couldn’t be better. He’s sitting in second place in the tightly contested points standings race for the year with 571 points. Koby Kreiger of Osceola, Ind., has the narrow lead with 576 points, which means Rogers needs to beat Kreiger by six places in this tournament to take the Eastern Division points title.
It’s going to be close. Kreiger caught five bass weighing 13 pounds today and also worked himself into position to make the cut in 21st place. But Rogers admits he’s fishing well this week, almost in a zone.
“This year, I feel a lot more confident than in years past,” said Rogers. “In practice, I’ve been finding more fish. I just need to go out there, not worry about anybody else, and catch one fish at a time.”
He caught one at a time today – one good-sized bass after another. Maneuvering from one creek channel to the next, he worked a white spinnerbait in the shallows among trees and brush and caught four fish by 11 o’clock. The wind came up after that and the bigger fish started to bite. Rogers caught a succession of 3-pounders and then his kicker fish, a 6-pound largemouth.
“I have a lot of (fishing) spots, about four or five creek channels,” he said. “I caught one (keeper) fish in each spot.”
Rounding out the top six pros today were Dameron (second), who’s fishing in his first EverStart Series tournament of the season; Terry Tucker (third) of Gadsden, Ala., with five bass weighing 16 pounds, 4 ounces; Arlie Napier (fourth) of Middlesboro, Ky., a perennial Eastern Division contender and former FLW Tour runner-up, with five bass weighing 16 pounds, 2 ounces; Roger Farmer (tied for fifth) of Dalton, Ga., with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 11 ounces; and Wally Szuba (tied for fifth) of Cary, N.C., with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 11 ounces.
While he only caught two bass for a total of 9 pounds, 8 ounces, Andrew Scites of Kenova, W.V., won the $750 Pro Division Big Bass award on day one with a monster that weighed in at 6 pounds, 2 ounces.
Brunn burns up Co-Angler Division
While he contends that a co-angler’s success is largely determined by who he or she draws for a pro partner, Chris Brunn admits there might have been something more to his Co-Angler Division-leading five-bass catch of 13 pounds, 10 ounces today.
“Last year at Cumberland I led the first two days,” he said about garnering the day-one lead at Kerr Lake. “It might have something to do with the last tournament of the season.”
Indeed, the Murray, Ky., native has just one top-10 finish under his belt, a ninth place performance at Lake Cumberland in his home state in 2000. Like this week, it also just happened to be the final tournament of the year.
But, mostly, Brunn credited his pro partner for the day, Ray Rumpf (37th place) of Quakertown, Pa., for his big sack of fish. Brunn caught his limit using a variety of techniques, including topwater baits early in the day, flipping later and, finally, slowing down with soft plastic baits.
“I felt pretty confident going into today,” Brunn said. “I feel like if my partner can get me around fish, I can usually drag in one or two at least.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Jimmy Hale Jr. (second) of Rocky Mount, Va., with five bass weighing 11 pounds, 7 ounces; Jonathan Johnson (third) of Bessemer City, N.C., with four bass weighing 10 pounds, 14 ounces; Asa Godsey (fourth) of Mechanicsville, Va., with five bass weighing 10 pounds, 9 ounces; and Richard Kenworthy (fifth) of Garner, N.C. with five bass weighing 10 pounds, 8 ounces.
James Benningfield of Jamestown, Ky., won the $250 co-angler Big Bass award with a 4-pound, 15-ounce fish.
Tomorrow’s takeoff is scheduled to take place at 5:30 a.m. at Satterwhite Point Marina located at 6254 Satterwhite Point Road outside of Henderson. Weigh-in is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at the same location.
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