Crunch time at Pleasant

EverStart Western finals under way

PEORIA, Ariz. – Clouds have rolled in for Saturday’s final round of the EverStart Series Western Division season opener at Lake Pleasant. The top 10 pros and co-anglers took off at safe light from Pleasant Harbor Marina optimistic about today’s bass bite but also realistic about their chances of landing a difference-making fish.

“They could bite better with this cloud cover,” said pro Marcus Clouse of Henderson, Nev., who, in fourth place, sits just under a pound behind the leader, Jim Lyon of Reno, Nev. “What’s been the biggest fish caught so far?”

Officially, the biggest bass caught the first three days was Art Berry’s 4-pound, 11-ounce largemouth on day one. Berry, of Ramona, Calif., sits in third place with 1 ounce more than Clouse. He’s looking to better his second-place performance at Lake Pleasant last year.

Lyon leads the Pro Division with a weight of 8 pounds, 15 ounces, and Rick Klassen of Spring Valley, Calif., leads the Co-angler Division with 8-10. The competition among the pros is still relatively tight; just 4 pounds, 5 ounces separates Lyon from the 10th-place qualifier, Derek Yamamoto of Mesa, Ariz., who has 4-0 coming into Saturday.

But 4 pounds has proven to be a big gap this week under Lake Pleasant’s tough fishing conditions. On the other hand, anglers say that there are large, Florida-strain female bass lurking in the channels out there somewhere. It’s just a matter of finding them.

Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 18551 N. 83rd Ave. in Glendale beginning at 4 p.m. Mountain time. Friday’s weights carry over to Saturday, and each division’s winner will be determined by two-day combined weight.

The winning pro is guaranteed $8,500 cash plus a Ranger 519 VS. If the winner is the original owner of a Ranger boat, he will receive a $10,000 bonus from Ranger for a top pro award worth $60,400. If he is a qualifying participant in the Ranger Cup incentive program, Ranger will award another $3,000 cash (or $1,500 to the highest-finishing Ranger Cup participant if not the winner). Garmin will award the winning pro $1,000 if he uses only Garmin electronics and at least one unit is a qualifying unit.

The winning co-angler is guaranteed $4,500 cash, and if he is a Ranger boat owner, Ranger will award him a new Ranger 519 VS for a total prize package worth $34,500.

Saturday’s conditions:

Sunrise: 7:27 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 48 degrees

Expected high temperature: 67 degrees

Water temperature at the ramp: 51-53 degrees

Wind: from the southwest at 14 mph

Maximum humidity: 44 percent

Day’s outlook: partly cloudy