SANDUSKY, Ohio – Vic Vatalaro of Kent, Ohio, landed $50,000 in cash and prizes Saturday for winning the EverStart Series Northern Division tournament on Lake Erie’s Sandusky Bay with an impressive five-bass limit of smallmouths weighing 23 pounds, 13 ounces-the heaviest limit of the four-day tournament.
Vatalaro, a rookie on the EverStart Series, topped the Pro Division by fishing green tubebaits around an isolated hump ranging from 14- to 30-feet deep. He made the semifinal round cut to the top 30 pros Thursday in 17th place with a two-day total of eight smallmouth bass weighing 30 pounds, 2 ounces. He then made the final round cut to the top 10 Friday in second place with five smallmouth weighing 19 pounds, 12 ounces. Catch weights were cleared for all competitors at the start of the semifinal and final rounds.
“I thought I might have it wrapped up around 10:30 this morning,” Vatalaro said after winning $15,000 and a new Mercury- or Yamaha-powered Ranger boat with GARMIN electronics. “I caught five bass in five casts and one of those was a 5-pounder, so that kind of boosts your confidence. It feels awesome. I guess that’s the only word for it.”
Second through fifth place in the Pro Division went to David Hayward of Sylvania, Ohio, with five bass weighing 22 pounds, 1 ounces worth $10,000; Steve Clapper of Lima, Ohio, with five bass weighing 21 pounds worth $9,000; Paul Rambo of Brighton, Mich., with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 13 ounces worth $8,000; and David Reault of Livonia, Mich., with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 2 ounces worth $7,500.
Another EverStart Series rookie claimed first place in the Co-Angler Division and collected $6,000 with five bass weighing 20 pounds, 2 ounces. That angler was David Paul of New London, Conn., who credits much of his success to using a custom made tubebait from Stalker Bait Co. “They just grabbed onto that thing and wouldn’t let go,” he said. “I didn’t miss any fish, and I think that was the difference.”
Daniel Cramer of Van Wert, Ohio, finished second in the Co-Angler Division and collected $4,000 with five bass weighing 18 pounds, 10 ounces, and Ted Will of Zeeland, Mich., finished third with five bass weighing 18 pounds, 6 ounces worth $3,500.
The tournament began Wednesday with 164 anglers in each division taking off from Bickely’s Boat Dock in Sandusky to claim a piece of the event’s $185,000 purse. Lake Erie, which has proven to be a formidable smallmouth bass fishery, will also host the next Northern Division tournament Sept. 26-29 when EverStart Series heads to Detroit.
The 4-year-old EverStart Series now includes three divisions-Eastern, Central and Northern-with four events each plus a year-end championship presented by Conseco. Tournament winners and the top 50 pros and top 50 co-anglers from each division will earn a spot in the championship, which will be held Nov. 7-10 on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala. There, the winning pro will receive a Mercury- or Yamaha-powered Ranger boat with GARMIN electronics and $25,000. The winning co-angler will receive a Mercury- or Yamaha-powered Ranger boat with GARMIN electronics and $10,000.
More than $2.5 million will be awarded during the 2001 EverStart Series season. The series also provides a pathway to the $4.45 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour-bass fishing’s most lucrative tournament series. Top EverStart competitors may also qualify for the Ranger M1 tournament in Mobile, Ala., Feb. 27-March 2, 2002, where they can win up to $1 million in the world’s richest freshwater tournament.