Cashing in
Northern Division anglers set EverStart limit records at Lake Vermilion; Cox leads all pros
TOWER, Minn. – While the opening tournament of the 2003 Northern Division is being hosted by Fortune Bay Resort and Casino, all of the real cashing in is happening 300 yards out the casino’s backdoor on Lake Vermilion. Wednesday, anglers unofficially set EverStart Series limit records by catching a total of 318 five-bass stringers in both divisions combined.
In the Pro Division, 178 pros out of the total field of 189 weighed in full, five-bass stringers. That’s an unprecedented 94-percent limit rate. In fact, just two pros posted zeroes Wednesday.
In the Co-angler Division, anglers caught 140 limits for an unreal 74-percent limit rate. Just three co-anglers didn’t weigh in a fish, which is also extraordinary.
The entire Pro Division weighed in a collective 918 bass for 2,042 pounds, 1 ounce, and the Co-angler Division notched 807 bass for 1,345-4. These, too, are exceptional single-day tournament numbers, and official verification of all possible records is still pending.
“This has got to be some kind of record,” EverStart tournament director Chris Jones said with a hoarse voice following Wednesday’s three-hour-long weigh-in.
Cox tops the heap
Coming out on top with the heaviest sack of the plentiful day was second-year Northern Division pro Chris Cox of Appleton, Wis. His limit weighed 17 pounds, 15 ounces, but he was closely followed by second-place Mark Zona of Sturgis, Mich., with 17-14 and third-place Daniel Welch of New Martinsville, W.Va., with 17-12.
“This feels great. It’s my first time here (at Lake Vermilion),” Cox said. “I was just nervous because I wanted to make the cut. My wife will be proud.”
While Cox has positioned himself nicely to make Thursday’s cut, he knows the fishing won’t be as easy as it was for him today. The reason for all the limits is that this waterway is absolutely packed with smallmouth bass, and right now many of them are in shallow water – about 2 to 5 feet – for the spawn. However, it’s a young bass population, and many of the fish are of the smaller variety. The trick to catching the bigger ones, Cox said, is simply getting to the right fishing holes first. Wednesday, Cox took off in an early flight in boat No. 33.
“These fish are on the beds,” he said. “I owe it all to my Garmin GPS. I just started marking (the spawning beds) in practice, and I had my limit by 7:30 this morning, which I caught all on Venom tubes. I caught three fish before other boats even started coming in. I only caught about 10 keepers, but I didn’t fish after 9 o’clock.”
Thursday, however, Cox is taking off in a later flight, and that means many of his primary fishing holes will be likely be occupied by the time he gets there. Still, his leading weight and the fact that Vermilion simply has so many bass means that he’s still in the catbird seat.
“I’ll probably need close to 10 more pounds. There are more (spawning holes) out there. I found a few more that I checked on. We’ll see what happens,” he said.
Rest of the top five pros
Many anglers agreed that catch weights will likely drop Thursday despite Wednesday’s record output. Since so many beds were mined on opening day, competitors expect fewer available fish on day two.
“A lot of good (areas) got picked through today,” said Zona. “I know my weight will go down.”
While many anglers are using tubes to catch their smallmouths, the stylishly mustached Zona turned in his dandy performance using a different technique.
“I’m fishing old-school: a jig-and-pig,” he said
Following the top three pros were Edward Rogers Jr. of Grand Rapids, Mich., with a limit weighing 17 pounds, 5 ounces and past EverStart champion Kevin Vida of Clare, Mich., also with a limit weighing 17-5. They tied for fourth place.
“This is smallmouth bed-fishing. It reminds me a lot of Lake Champlain,” said Vida, who won the last Northern Division tournament of 2002 at the Detroit River in his home state. He caught his fish Wednesday at Vermilion on a green-pumpkin Mizmo tube. “In practice, I went looking for bed fish specifically for three days. Everything I caught today I caught two to three days ago.”
While just a handful of sacks containing largemouth bass were weighed in Wednesday, the $750 pro big-bass award went to sixth-place Koby Kreiger of Okeechobee, Fla., for a 5-pound, 5-ounce largemouth.
“I caught it off the bed,” said Kreiger, the 2002 EverStart Championship winner who is known for his sight-fishing prowess, especially for largemouth. “I saw it three days ago; it was just sitting on a log. There was another one about 3 1/2 pounds with it that I left lay there for tomorrow.”
Struif leads co-anglers
Eric Struif of Lake Villa, Ill., led the surge of co-anglers who caught limits by weighing in his five bass for 13 pounds, 14 ounces.
Fishing in his first-ever EverStart tournament, Struif credited his pro partner, Butch Dobransky, for his success Wednesday.
“My partner is an incredible fisherman,” said Struif, who used a combination of tube jigs and a 4-inch worm to land his quarry. “I was just fortunate enough that he left some for me.
“It’s my first time here, and this is a beautiful body of water. I can’t even describe what it feels like at this point.”
In second place in the Co-angler Division is Richard Wyrick of Frankfort, Ill., who caught a limit weighing 13 pounds, 1 ounce. Wyrick is fresh off a Central Division victory at Kentucky Lake in early May and likes what he sees at Vermilion.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence right now and I feel good about what I’m doing,” he said. “With the weather warming up, I think we’re hitting a lot of similarities with what we saw at Kentucky Lake.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Phil Rose of Spring Valley, Ohio, (third place) with a limit weighing 12 pounds 10 ounces; Troy Schwab of Elk River, Minn., (fourth) with a limit weighing 12-7; and Allen Hogenson of West Fargo, N.D., (fifth) with a limit weighing 12-6.
The $250 co-angler big-bass award went to Schwab for a 4-pound, 2-ounce smallmouth.
Thursday’s fishing action ensues at 6 a.m. at Fortune Bay Resort as the full field takes off for the second half of opening-round competition. The top 20 anglers in both divisions following tomorrow’s fishing will advance to Friday’s semifinal round.
Click here for a preview of day two.
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