Inaugural EverStart Western Division tourney underway

EverStart anglers vie for $200,000 tournament purse

PEORIA, Ariz. – Today, Lake Pleasant lived up to its billing. With beautiful vistas, majestic mountain ranges and compelling desert flower and fauna serving as backdrop, more than 300 anglers made their way past Pleasant Harbor Marina shortly after 7 a.m. to kick off the first-ever Western Division event in the history of EverStart competition.

If the gorgeous scenery wasn’t enough, the Lake Pleasant area also produced mild temperatures and virtually no wind at takeoff – all but ensuring that anglers would have a rather pleasant day on the water as well.

However, despite the beautiful location, the four-day tournament will be anything but a vacation for the full field. At stake is as much as $60,000 in cash and prizes for the top finisher in the Pro Division and more than $35,000 for a first-place finish in the Co-angler Division – assuming various contingency awards are met.

The EverStart Series features a pro/co-angler format in which the pro supplies the boat, fishes from the front deck against other pros and controls boat movement. The co-angler fishes from the back deck and competes only against other co-anglers. The field will compete for two days to determine the top 20 anglers who will advance to Friday’s competition based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are then cleared for Friday’s semifinal round where pros and co-anglers will challenge for one of 10 spots in Saturday’s final round. Before the start of Saturday’s finals, weights are again cleared for the top 10 finalists. At the end of Saturday’s weigh-in, both a pro and co-angler champion will be crowned.

EverStart action continues at today’s weigh-in, scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. at Pleasant Harbor Marina, located at 8708 W. Harbor Boulevard in Peoria, Ariz.

Vital statistics

Sunrise: 7:28 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 48 degrees
Expected high temperature: 80 degrees
Water temperature: 54 degrees
Wind: from the southeast at 3 mph
Relative humidity: 48 percent
Day’s outlook: Partly cloudy

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