EverStart Series to visit Guntersville Lake
GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. – The $3.88 million EverStart Series will visit Guntersville Lake for the second straight year, as the Eastern Division rolls into town June 11-14 for the fourth and final regular-season event. Hosted by the Marshall County Convention and Visitors Bureau, the tournament will pay out as much as $256,825 in cash and prizes to as many as 400 competitors.
Guntersville Lake has earned a reputation as one of the prime bass-fishing destinations in the nation, thanks to an abundance of bass, plenty of places to catch them and superior facilities. Pro Tommy Swindle of Warrior, who finished 12th at last year’s EverStart event on Guntersville, expects the lake to produce several 20-pound sacks for EverStart Series competitors. Top-water baits such as a Chug Bug or Pop-R in white or chrome colors will likely be the most productive bait choice, and Swindle recommends scouring for bass in Guntersville’s grass and hydrilla in 6 to 8 feet of water. Fishing drop-offs with black or blue jigs and tubes should also be effective.
Anglers will take off each morning from the Guntersville State Park Pier at safe light, and Wednesday and Thursday’s weigh-ins will also be held there beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 11697 U.S. Highway 431 in Guntersville beginning at 3 p.m.
Opening-round anglers compete for two days to determine the 20 anglers who advance to Friday’s semifinal round based on their two-day accumulated weight. Anglers start at zero Friday and compete for one of 10 slots in Saturday’s final round. Weights are again cleared for Saturday’s competition, and anglers compete for position and prize money.
As many as 200 Pro Division anglers will compete for a top award worth as much as $61,900, including an Evinrude- or Yamaha-powered Ranger 519VS Comanche bass boat equipped with EverStart batteries, Garmin electronics and a Minn Kota trolling motor. The winning pro is guaranteed $10,000 cash and the Ranger boat. If the winner is the original owner of a Ranger boat, Ranger will award an additional $10,000 cash bonus.
The winning co-angler is guaranteed a $5,000 cash award. If the co-angler winner is a registered Ranger boat owner, Ranger will also award a new Ranger 519VS Comanche bass boat.
The EverStart Series features a pro/co-angler format with pros supplying the boats, fishing from the front deck against other pros and controlling boat movement. Co-anglers fish from the back deck and compete against other co-anglers. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points that determine angler standings. Two hundred points are awarded to the winner, 199 points for second, 198 points for third, and so on.
Designed as a pathway to the $5.76 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the world’s most lucrative bass-tournament series, the EverStart Series features four divisions – Central, Eastern, Northern and Western – with four regular-season events each. The season culminates with the $335,975 EverStart Series Championship, which will be held Oct. 29-Nov. 1 on Old Hickory Lake near Gallatin, Tenn. The event will be broadcast to 55 million subscribers of the Outdoor Life Network on the “FLW Outdoors” television series. Eastern Division anglers who finish in the top 40 in the final points standings are eligible to compete in the championship.
Links: