One of the richest bass tournaments on Clear Lake gets under way Thursday morning when the FLW-Outdoors EverStart Series stops in Lake County. The tournament is expected to draw about 100 boats (100 pros and 100 amateurs or co-anglers). The winning pro could take home as much as $30,000 plus a new Ranger bass boat for a total package worth more than $70,000. The winning amateur will win about $3,000 plus a new bass boat.
The pros paid an entry fee of $1,000 and the amateurs $400. The three-day event starts at daylight Thursday and runs through Saturday. The tournament operates out of Konocti Vista Casino in Lakeport.
The full field competes on Thursday and Friday, however, only the top 10 pros and top 10 co-anglers advance to the final round Saturday based on their two-day accumulated weight. The winners of the tournament are determined by the most accumulated weight for all three days. The weigh-ins start at 2 p.m. all three days at Konocti Vista Casino.
The tournament is a true pro/am format during which both the pros and co-anglers fish separately. Each fisherman will be allowed to weigh in five fish per day. The pros supply the boats, fish from the front of the boat and compete against other pros. The co-anglers fish from the back of the boat and compete against other co-anglers. The co-anglers aren”t allowed past the console and most will cast their lures either to the side or behind the boat. The pros also decide where to fish.
Professional fishermen from throughout the West are competing in the event. A list of Lake County fishermen entered in the tournament wasn”t available from FLW-Outdoors but local bass pros Jimmy Reese of Witter Springs, Wayne Breazeale of Kelseyville and Mark Crutcher of Lakeport are three of the pros that should finish near the top of the leaderboard. Without question, Breazeale has to be one of the favorites. He recently won back-to-back tournaments on the lake with some very impressive weights. Few fishermen know Clear Lake as well as Breazeale. He is considered a master at casting a jerkbait. Reese and Crutcher are also threats to walk off with top honors. Both are experienced fishermen and have won a lot of tournaments at Clear Lake.
The bass are moving into the shallows to spawn and the fishing should be nothing short of phenomenal. The pros will be looking for nothing but the quality bass and they should have no trouble finding them. A quality bass at Clear Lake is considered any fish weighing more than 5 pounds. The winner will probably have a kicker fish, which means a bass between 8-10 pounds. Most of the experts say it will take at least 90 pounds for the three days to win the tournament on the pro side. That comes out to average of 6 pounds per fish. Recently the overall average weight per fish for all the fish caught in Clear Lake tournaments has been more than 4 pounds.
The good news is that the approximately 200 fishermen in the tournament are expected to spend more than $200,000 at local motels, gas stations, tackle shops and restaurants.
The EverStart Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Clear Lake is in the Western Division. Each division holds four tournaments and competitors will be vying for valuable points in each division that could earn them the Strike King Angler of the Year title along with $5,000 for the pro and $2,000 for the co-angler.
The top 40 pros and co-anglers from each respective division qualify for the EverStart Series Championship Nov. 1-4 at the Ouachita River in Monroe, Louisiana.
FLW is one of the largest professional bass tournament organizations in the nation. It also sponsors walleye tournaments in the Midwest as well as ocean fishing tournaments. FLW is based out of Brenton, Kentucky.
