“The tournament, at this point, has been delayed until midmorning,” EverStart Series tournament director Chris Jones announced to anglers and spectators at approximately 7 a.m. Thursday. “A strong wind advisory has been issued. And right now, that wind has created dangerous waters for our anglers.”
At approximately 9:45 a.m., Jones announced that the day’s activities were officially cancelled and that the tournament would resume Friday morning at 6:30 a.m. with the start of the semifinal round.
Due to a three-way tie for 19th place in the Co-angler Division, the semifinal round will feature 21 pros and 21 co-anglers instead of the customary 20 pros and 20 co-anglers. Wednesday’s results will be used to determine the top 21 anglers in each division who will advance.
The top five pros from Wednesday are Brian Gates of Mendon, Vt. (five bass, 19 pounds, 3 ounces); Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wis. (five bass, 18 pounds, 11 ounces); Thomas C. Lavictoire of West Rutland, Vt. (five bass, 17 pounds, 14 ounces); Sam Newby of Pocola, Okla. (five bass, 17 pounds, 14 ounces); and Patrick Martin of Carver, Minn. (five bass, 17 pounds, 10 ounces).
The top five co-anglers are Johnathan Dingle of South Meriden, Conn. (five bass, 19 pounds); Troy Sprague of Lincoln, Neb. (five bass, 18 pounds, 4 ounces); Dean Meckes of Clayton, N.Y. (five bass, 15 pounds, 9 ounces); Bob Melanson of Springfield, Mass. (five bass, 15 pounds, 8 ounces) and Philip Borsa of Redford, Mich. (five bass, 15 pounds, 6 ounces).
Friday’s weigh-in at Mooney Bay Marina will start at 2:30 p.m. Saturday’s action starts at Mooney Bay at 6:30 a.m. followed by the final weigh-in at 3:30 p.m. at the City of Plattsburgh parking lot adjacent to the Farmer’s Market on Durkee Street. The community is encouraged to attend daily takeoffs and weigh-ins.
Weights will be cleared for Friday’s competition, and the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers will advance to Saturday’s final round based on Friday’s total weight. Weights will again be cleared for Saturday’s competition, and anglers will compete for the heaviest one-day weight.
The winning pro will take home a guaranteed cash award of $10,000 plus a new Ranger 519VS Comanche equipped with Garmin electronics and powered by an Evinrude or Yamaha outboard. If the winner is the original owner of a Ranger boat, he will receive an additional $10,000 cash bonus from Ranger for a total of $61,900 in cash and prizes. Ranger will also award an additional $3,000 to the winner if he is a Ranger Cup participant, and Garmin will award $1,000 to the winner if his boat is equipped with a fixed-mount Garmin Fishfinder or combination GPS/Sounder.
The winning co-angler is guaranteed $5,000 cash. If the winning co-angler is a registered Ranger owner, he will also receive a new Ranger 519VS Comanche for a total of $27,800 in cash and prizes.
Lucrative payouts aside, anglers are also fishing for crucial points in the year-end standings. Pros and co-anglers who finish in the top 40 in the regular-season standings earn an automatic berth into the no-entry-fee $335,975 EverStart Series Championship, which will be held on Old Hickory Lake near Gallatin, Tenn., Oct. 29-Nov. 1
Four divisions – Eastern, Central, Northern and Western – comprise the 2003 EverStart Series, and each division stages four regular-season tournaments leading up to the championship.
In EverStart Series competition, pros supply the boats, control boat movement and fish from the front of each boat against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back of each boat and compete against other co-anglers.
FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing, administers the EverStart Series. Other FLW Outdoors-sanctioned tournament trails include the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, the Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail, the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour and the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye League. FLW Outdoors will award as much as $20 million through 175 tournaments in 2003.
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. For a complete list of FLW Outdoors sponsors and for more information about the premier products and services they offer, please visit FLWOutdoors.com.
FLW Outdoors is named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood.
Advertising