Quick Bites: EverStart Championship, Day 2
2002 EverStart Series Championship
Lake Martin, Alexander City, Ala.
Thursday, opening round
Second verse, same as the first … There wasn’t a whole lot of shuffling atop the pro leaderboard on day two at Lake Martin. Jason Quinn, Ricky Shumpert and Felton Langley each brought in another solid five-bass stringer and held onto their respective positions in the top three at the conclusion of the opening round. Quinn, the 30-year-old pro from Lake Wylie, S.C., wasn’t surprised that both he and Shumpert, also from South Carolina, have been lighting it up here in Alabama. “Shumpert and I are both pretty good all-around fishermen,” he said. “This is one lake where you can’t be a one-dimensional angler. You’ve to be versatile and fish what the lake is giving you.” The only angler to tally more than 20 pounds in the opening round, Lake Martin has given Quinn quite a bit so far this week. He claims to have caught his limit by 9:15 Thursday morning using the drop-shot and proceeded to cull a few more after catching several fish on a Super Spook. He’s fishing the Koweliga area of the lake and indicates that may be the key to his success. “It’s got both good shallow- and deep-water structure, plus the water’s generally deeper over there. I think that intimidates a lot of guys,” he said.
Spinderella story … The wind died down Thursday, so many anglers were better able to stay put and fish deep-water structure for spotted bass. Most anglers are using the drop-shot or a jig in deep water or other various light-line techniques in the shallows. Not Ricky Shumpert. Unlike the majority of top-20 anglers, he’s sticking close to the bank and burning a spinner bait in a foot of water to catch his limit. And even he seems a little bit surprised that the action-bait technique is working so well for him. “This is fishing,” he said. “I could go out tomorrow and not catch a thing, but I feel good about my chances of making the top 10.”
Canoe for rent here! … Pro Jason Graham knows a good thing when he sees it, even when it comes by accident. Wednesday, Graham’s lower unit gave out and left him stranded just outside the bay at Wind Creek State Park. He then proceeded to burn up two trolling motors attempting to get back in, but on the way back, he stopped off and found a little honey hole that coughed up a 9-pound, 5-pound limit of bass, good for fourth place. Thursday, in a borrowed boat, Graham ran to the spots he found in practice at Manoi Creek – where he intended to go on day one – and caught nothing. So he came back to base to fish his lucky hole and caught four more bass to make the cut. While a broken lower unit is never fun for a tournament angler, Graham says he’s glad it happened. And he says he is certainly not going to stray far in the semifinals. “They can leave off the entire back of the boat as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
Have a beer. Don’t cost nothin’ … A point of pride for pro Al Gagliarducci was the fact that three out of four guys he is sharing a house with here this week made the semifinals. Including himself, Tom Dolin and Mark Zona also cracked the top 20 after two days. The fourth roommate, Randy Ramsey, just missed in 22nd place. Dubbed the “Delta House” in the spirit of the movie “Animal House,” Gags also pointed out that its occupants are all from the North. “Look at us representing,” he said.
Sound bites
“Dude, I feel like I just gave birth.”
– Relieved pro Mark “Z-Man” Zona, who weighed in early and had to watch in agony as the rest of the field weighed in and slowly bumped him down the leaderboard. When it was over he barely made the cut, in 19th place, by 1 ounce.
“I’m good.”
– Pro Ricky Shumpert, when asked why he’s been able to work a successful spinner-bait pattern when others haven’t.
Quick links, Day 2:
Photos
Results
Tomorrow’s pairings
Press release
Leaderboard unchanged