OAKLEY, Calif. (May 8, 2004) – Local pro Mike Saso of Elk Grove caught a five-bass limit Saturday to give him a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 36 pounds, 2 ounces to win the $208,605 EverStart Series Western Division event on the California Delta near Oakley. For the victory, Saso was awarded $8,000 cash plus a Yamaha-powered Ranger 519 VS equipped with Garmin electronics, a Minn Kota trolling motor and EverStart Batteries.
Saso, an EverStart Series rookie fishing in his first FLW Outdoors tournament, performed like a veteran professional angler. He remained consistent in both rounds, weighing 35 pounds, 4 ounces in the first round and 36 pounds, 2 ounces in the final round. Saso actually caught his smallest limit of the tournament Saturday, but a 5-pound lead going into the final day helped secure the victory.
“I lost a 10-pound bass at the boat this morning and thought my day was over,” Saso said. “You don’t loose fish like that and win.
This win was just sheer luck. Going into the last hour, I had a really small limit. But we were able to cull most of our fish in the final hour, and that saved me. My biggest bass today was only about 3 1/2 pounds.
“Most of the fish yesterday and today came on a Sweet Beaver bait made by (Wal-Mart FLW Tour pro) Andre Moore. I was really just fishing bedding bass, although I couldn’t actually see the fish. I just new the bass were on the beds that were scattered in the grass, and I threw to the beds.
“This was just an awesome tournament. I’d love to fish more EverStarts next year.”
Rounding out the top five pros were Clifford Perch of Payson, Ariz. (10 bass, 34 pounds, 8 ounces); Mike Folkestad of Yorba Linda (10 bass, 34 pounds, 4 ounces); Bernie Gaunt of West Sacramento (10 bass, 30 pounds, 2 ounces); and Gary Howell of Stockton (10 bass, 30 pounds, 1 ounce).
This week’s most consistent co-angler, Reese Randall of Payson, Ariz., won the Co-angler Division thanks to a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 33 pounds, 14 ounces. Randall earned $4,200 for the victory.
“I didn’t choke today,” Randall said. “I’ve been good at choking lately. With about half the day remaining, I only had about 4 pounds in the boat. But I just kept fishing hard and ended up with a good limit.
“All four of my partners this week fished completely different areas. I tied on new baits every day. Today I threw six different baits, and all my keepers came on a different bait. But my productive bait this week was a Fluke with a toothpick weight in it. I threw that instead of a Senko because these fish have seen so many Senkos. Plus you can cover more water with the Fluke. I just let it fall in beds for bedding fish, and then pull it through the weeds for postspawn fish.
“I also need to give some credit to Clifford Perch. He’s from my hometown of Payson, Ariz., and is my partner in team tournaments. He finished second today in the Pro Division, and he has taught me everything I know about bass fishing.
“This has been a great week. The Western Division of the EverStart Series is the best tournament trail I’ve ever fished. The payouts are great, it’s run great, Chris Jones (EverStart Series tournament director) is just awesome and it’s a lot of fun to fish.”
Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Pat Wilson of Petaluma (10 bass, 30 pounds, 2 ounces); Judy Chaney of Tucson (10 bass, 19 pounds, 10 ounces); Kirk Beardsley of Huntington Beach (10 bass, 19 pounds, 9 ounces); and James Gross of Kingman, Ariz. (10 bass, 18 pounds, 2 ounces).
Anglers weighed 90 bass Saturday, including 16 five-bass limits, that weighed 227 pounds, 5 ounces.
The field competed for two days to determine the top 20 pros and 20 co-anglers who advanced to Friday’s semifinal round based on their two-day accumulated weight. Weights were cleared for the semifinal round, and anglers competed for one day to determine who advanced to Saturday’s final round. Only the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers competed Saturday, and the winner was determined by the heaviest two-day weight.
The winning pro is guaranteed $8,000 cash plus an Evinrude- or Yamaha-powered Ranger 519 VS equipped with Garmin electronics, a Minn Kota trolling motor and EverStart Batteries, based on a 145-boat field. 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 $59,900. 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), 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.
The winning co-angler is guaranteed $4,200 cash based on a 145-boat field, and if he is a Ranger boat owner, Ranger will award him a new Ranger 519 VS for a total prize package worth $34,200. 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 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 a 2004 Evinrude 225HO Direct Injection outboard engine rigged on a Ranger boat equipped with a Minn Kota trolling motor and EverStart batteries.
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 $6.8 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the world’s most lucrative bass-tournament series, the $3.88 million EverStart Series features four divisions – Eastern, Central, Northern and Western – with four regular-season events each. The season culminates with the $335,975 EverStart Series Championship presented by Energizer, which will be held Nov. 3-6 on Lake Cumberland near Somerset, Ky. The event will be broadcast to 65 million subscribers of the Outdoor Life Network on the “FLW Outdoors” television series. Western Division anglers who finish in the top 30 in the final points standings are eligible to compete in the championship.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors is the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing. FLW Outdoors-sanctioned tournament trails are the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, EverStart Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour and Wal-Mart RCL Walleye League. EverStart Batteries, the best-selling batteries in the world, are marketed exclusively by Wal-Mart stores.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its six tournament trails. Wal-Mart has been the title sponsor of FLW Outdoors since 1997.
Advertising