EVERSTART SERIES ACTION KICKS OFF ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (Sept. 22, 2004) – In a day that saw nearly 4,000 pounds of bass brought to the scales, pro Mike Oberski of Ypsilanti, Mich., hauled in a limit of five that weighed 19 pounds, 4 ounces to lead opening day of the EverStart Series Northern Division event on Lake Champlain. The $256,825 tournament, which is presented by Schick Quattro and hosted by the City of Plattsburgh and I Love New York, concludes Saturday with the winning pro earning as much as $61,900 in cash and prizes, including a fully rigged Ranger boat.

Lake Champlain, regarded by many as one of the nation’s premier bass fisheries, presented the anglers with a myriad of choices Wednesday – the fishing was good deep and shallow, and both largemouths and smallmouths were biting. The pristine weather conditions didn’t hurt the bite, either. Oberski went shallow for largemouths and found himself ahead of a pack that includes such heavyweights as Banana Boat pro Kevin Vida of Clare, Mich., who is currently fifth.

“It was a gorgeous day, and that’s helping my fish,” Oberski said. “The winds are laying down, so you’re able to go where you need to go and do what you need to do. I’m fishing shallow water and targeting largemouths, and I’m catching them on a jig. I’m covering a lot of water – catching one here and one there, and not spending a lot of time in any one area. I’m not catching a lot of fish, but the ones I’m catching are big.”

Oberski routinely scouts inland waters of his native Michigan for big bass, and the pattern he’s fishing this week on Champlain is modeled after what he does at home. “I came up here trying to find a pattern that I fish back home in Michigan for largemouths, and I was fortunate enough to come across it and I’ve targeted it ever since,” Oberski said. “I hope it holds up tomorrow.”

Rounding out the top five pros are Chip Harrison of Bremen, Ind. (five bass, 19 pounds, 1 ounce); Jason Knapp of Uniontown, Pa. (five bass, 19 pounds); Fujifilm pro Wesley Strader of Spring City, Tenn. (five bass, 18 pounds, 13 ounces); and Vida (five bass, 18 pounds, 12 ounces).

Pros caught 885 bass Wednesday, including 157 limits, that weighed 2,350 pounds.

Larry Butler of New Haven, Vt., leads the Co-angler Division after day one with a five-bass catch weighing 19 pounds, 5 ounces that was the day’s heaviest weight. Unlike the pro leader, Butler and his pro partner fished deep water for smallmouths.

“We were fishing fairly deep and fishing fast,” said Butler, who is a dairy farmer by day. “We were using crankbaits. The fish are scattered and are not schooled up by any means. We’d catch a couple, and then it would be a half hour before we’d catch another.”

Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Eugene Gagner of Highgate Center, Vt. (five bass, 18 pounds, 2 ounces); Christopher Burns of Durham, N.C. (five bass, 17 pounds, 6 ounces); Ben Hogwood of Virginia Beach, Va. (five bass, 17 pounds, 5 ounces); and Kenneth Witter of Pine Valley (five bass, 17 pounds, 3 ounces).

Co-angler competitors weighed in 690 bass weighing 1,642 pounds, 11 ounces. They caught 95 five-bass limits.

Land O’Lakes pro Jerry Williams of Conway, Ark., earned $750 as Wednesday’s Pro Division big-bass award winner, thanks to a 5-pound, 12-ounce bass. Jerry Thompson of Bemidji, Minn., earned co-angler big-bass honors Wednesday and $250 for a 4-pound, 12-ounce bass.

Mooney Bay Marina, located at 15 Mooney Bay in Plattsburgh, hosts daily takeoffs at 7 each morning. Thursday’s weigh-in will also be held at Mooney Bay beginning at 2:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 25 Consumer Square in Plattsburgh beginning at 4 p.m.

The entire field will compete again Thursday, and the top 20 pros and co-anglers based on two-day accumulated weights will advance to Friday’s semifinal round. Anglers then start at zero Friday, and the top 10 pros and co-anglers will advance to Saturday’s final round, with the winners determined by the heaviest two-day weights.

The winning pro is guaranteed $10,000 cash plus an Evinrude- or Yamaha-powered Ranger 519 VS equipped with Garmin electronics, a Minn Kota trolling motor and EverStart Batteries. 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 $61,900. 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 $5,000 cash, and if he is a Ranger boat owner, Ranger will award him a new Ranger 519 VS for a total prize package worth $35,000.

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.

For more information on the EverStart Series or any of FLW Outdoors’ six tournament trails, visit FLWOutdoors.com. For more information about visiting New York, log on to ILoveNY.com.