Foggy Florence

Fog delay stymies day-one takeoff at EverStart Championship

FLORENCE, Ala. – The top 40 pros and top 40 co-anglers from five different EverStart Series divisions – 400 anglers in all – descended on McFarland Park on Pickwick Lake Wednesday morning for day one of the EverStart Series Championship.

But McFarland Park was a little hard to find thanks to a thick Tennessee Valley fog that lodged itself between the high cliffs of Pickwick Lake.

In all, anglers lost about 50 minutes of fishing time as EverStart Tournament Director Chris Jones held up the official 7 a.m. takeoff time until the fog lifted, revealing brilliant blue skies and warm temperatures.

Although the fog delay cut into the first hour of the fishing day, anglers seemed more discouraged by the beautiful weather that followed.

“These Tennessee River lakes always seem to fish better when the weather is nasty,” commented pro Clark Wendlandt, who qualified for the championship through the Northeast Division. “The water is as clear as I’ve ever seen it here, and a bright blue sky with no wind doesn’t help the cause much, especially for shallow fish.”

Anglers have free reign on all of the Tennessee Valley lakes connected to Pickwick, including Wheeler and Wilson, but no one has indicated that any particular lake is fishing better than another.

“I visited all three lakes in practice, and they’ve all been about the same,” Wendlandt said. “I really think it could be won anywhere.”

Pro Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky., who won the Lake of the Ozarks Central Division EverStart this year, believes fish are still in more of a summer pattern.

“It hasn’t really been cold enough to get the shad moving and the fish feeding up for winter,” Morehead said. “The weather has been warm for this time of year – it’s been in the mid-70s every day. The main-river temperature is still 64 to 66 degrees, and the water is superclear. I think a lot of fish are still suspended, feeding on shad schools in open water. We had some clouds and wind on the last day of practice, and that helped a few guys get a few more bites, but it’s supposed to go right back to being clear, blue and windless for the tournament.”

Practice has been so tough for Morehead, he plans to do something he does not normally do in tournaments.

“I’ve got a shaky head and drop-shot rigged up,” he said. “I’ll be fishing for spotted bass.”

Largemouth and smallmouth bass must be 15 inches to be ruled legal keepers during the event, but spotted bass only need to be 12 inches.

“That’s what I’m doing!” announced the ever-gregarious pro Wesley Strader of Spring City, Tenn. “Spotted bass all the way, baby. I’d take 6 pounds of spotted in this tournament every day of the week right now.”

Pro Joe Balog, who won the last EverStart Championship on Pickwick in 2001, also thinks fish are still in a summer pattern.

“The shad haven’t really moved back up onto the flats like they normally do this time of year in the Tennessee River system,” Balog noted. “I don’t think it’s been cold enough. I’ve spent most of my practice fishing out deep with crankbaits, trying to find an isolated glory hole like I found in 2001. The shad still seem to be out on the ledges, so that’s where I’ve been spending my time.”

And what about the hot spot that garnered him a win in 2001?

“Of course I’ve checked it, along with everyone else,” he said. “I caught one bass off it, but it’s not like it was several years ago.”

Logistics

Anglers will take off from McFarland Park at 7 each morning. Wednesday and Thursday’s weigh-ins will also be held at McFarland Park, which is located on James M. Spain Drive in Florence, beginning at 3 p.m.

Friday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 3100 Hough Road in Florence beginning at 5 p.m. Saturday’s weigh-in will also be held at Wal-Mart beginning at 3 p.m.

Two hundred pros and 200 co-anglers (the top 40 based on points standings from each of the EverStart Series’ five divisions) 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 co-angler competition concludes on day three with the winner determined by the day’s heaviest catch. Pro competition concludes on day four, with winners being 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 $50,000 cash. If the winner is the original owner of a Ranger boat powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard that is used during the tournament, he will also receive a $25,000 bonus from Ranger and an additional $25,000 Evinrude/Yamaha bonus for a total of $140,000. The winning co-angler receives a fully rigged Ranger 519VX plus $15,000 cash.

Wednesday’s conditions

Sunrise: 6:12 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 42 degrees

Expected high temperature: 71 degrees

Water temperature: 58-64 degrees

Forecasted winds: light and variable

Day’s outlook: sunny