Revvin’ it up in the Motor City

Detroit River site of final EverStart Series event of season

TRENTON, Mich. – This week’s fourth and final EverStart Series Northern Division event also marks the tournament trail’s final tournament of the year, and the venue – the Detroit River – provides a fitting end to yet another record-breaking EverStart season.

The Detroit River tournament, in which many anglers will opt for Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair or the St. Clair River, is continually one of the highlights of the EverStart season thanks to the abundance of fat bass. However, the Detroit River event is typically held in the summertime, around mid-July, and two-day weights in the mid-30-pound range are common and heavy enough to win.

The last time the EverStart Series visited Detroit in the fall was back in 2002, when Kevin Vida busted a 22-pound-plus sack on day four to win the event. If his win had been based on his combined day-three and day-four weight, it would have exceeded 40 pounds. Could the fishing on this bass factory be even better in the fall?

“A few guys will catch over 20 or 22 pounds,” Michigan pro Tony DeFilippo said. “Seventeen or 18 pounds is probably a good target for most of us.”

Numbers were stellar at the first Detroit River event of the 2005 EverStart season, held in the typical July time frame. Winner Chris Cox hauled in a two-day total of 45-2 and was one of two anglers with a 40-pound-plus stringer on the final two days. He caught those bass on Lake Erie, and DeFilippo fully expects anglers to make longer runs this week as well.

“I bet a lot of guys will make a long run to target deeper current fish,” he said, noting that he believes the St. Clair River to be the week’s hot spot. However, a few will stay right here in the Detroit River while many, as usual, will head out to Lake Erie.

“They will be looking for significant bottom changes on Erie, around the Pelee Islands,” he said. “And there will be a few that specifically target largemouths. Those are good to take the pressure off so you can then go look for some quality smallmouths.”

As always on the big water, anglers are keeping an eye on the weather forecasts. Today’s weather shouldn’t create a problem, but thunderstorms do seem to be on the horizon. Should that occur, expect anglers to take the risk and make the long run anyway if they’re catching fish.

“Most of us are crazy enough to do that,” DeFilippo said.

Logistics

One hundred and thirty-five pros and 135 co-anglers will compete for two days to determine the top 10 pros and top 10 co-anglers who advance to the final round based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for the final round, and anglers compete for two more days to determine the winner. Winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from days three and four.

The winning pro earns an Evinrude- or Yamaha-powered Ranger 519VX equipped with Garmin electronics, a Minn Kota trolling motor and EverStart batteries plus $10,000 cash. If the winner is the original owner of a Ranger boat that is used during the tournament, the winner also receives a $10,000 bonus from Ranger for a top pro award of $60,000. If the winning pro is a Ranger Cup participant, Ranger will award another $3,000 cash (or $1,500 to the highest-finishing Ranger Cup participant if not the winner), and Yamaha will match 50 percent of Ranger Cup winnings if the angler’s boat is powered by a Yamaha outboard. Garmin will award the winning pro $1,000 if he uses only Garmin electronics and at least one unit is a qualifying unit, thus boosting potential winnings for the top pro to $65,500.

The winning co-angler receives $5,000 cash, and if the winner is a Ranger boat owner, Ranger will award a new Ranger 519VX for a total prize package worth $35,000. Co-anglers who make the final round of each regular-season EverStart Series event and wear an EverStart/Evinrude shirt and cap on stage are also awarded points toward the EverStart Batteries and Evinrude Outboard Engines Co-angler Award. The co-angler receiving the most points by the end of the season receives an Evinrude 225HO Direct Injection outboard engine rigged on a Ranger boat equipped with a Minn Kota trolling motor and EverStart batteries.

Anglers take off from Elizabeth Park at 7:30 Eastern time each morning. Wednesday and Thursday’s weigh-ins will be held at Elizabeth Park, which is located at 200 Grosse Isle Parkway in Trenton, beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 7555 Telegraph Road in Taylor beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

Wednesday’s conditions:

Sunrise: 7:19 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 60 degrees

Expected high temperature: 83 degrees

Wind: SSW at 11 mph

Maximum humidity: 60 percent

Day’s outlook: sunny and warm