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Shumpert Wins EverStart Series Tournament
On
Santee Cooper Lakes, Collects $50,000 in Cash and Prizes
MANNING, S.C.--(BW SportsWire)--March 31, 2001--Ricky
Shumpert,
40, of Lexington, S.C., landed a new EverStart Series final round
weight record and $50,000 in cash and prizes Saturday on the
Santee
Cooper Lakes with five bass weighing 28 pounds, 2 ounces. The
record
tops the previous mark of 21 pounds, 3 ounces set on the lakes
last
season by William Smith of Moncks Corner, S.C.
Shumpert, who also competes on the Wal-Mart FLW Tour and is
currently one point behind Land O'Lakes Angler of the Year points
leader, Rick Clunn of Ava, Mo., caught his limit Saturday fishing
the
shallow backwaters of Lake Marion. He used a combination of tactics
including flipping pearl white and green pumpkin-colored tubebaits
and
casting buzzbaits to catch the bass as the weather shifted
intermittently between bright sunshine and light rain.
Shumpert survived four days of competition on the lakes before
claiming victory over 165 competitors in the Pro Division. He
made the
semifinal round cut to the top 30 pros Thursday in eighth place
with a
two-day total of nine bass weighing 35 pounds, 13 ounces. He
then made
the final round cut to the top 10 Friday in third place with
five bass
weighing 17 pounds, 14 ounces. Catch weights were cleared for
all
competitors at the start of the semifinal and final rounds.
"I was confident that I could catch a good solid limit,"
Shumpert
said after winning $15,000 and a new Ranger boat. "I figured
I could
catch 18 to 19 pounds fairly easily, but I never really thought
I
would bust a 28-pound sack. Everything just played out perfectly."
Second through fifth place in the Pro Division went to Koby
Kreiger of Osceola, Ind., with five bass weighing 21 pounds,
8 ounces
worth $10,000; Billy Bowen Jr. of Ocala, Fla., with five bass
weighing
20 pounds, 11 ounces worth $9,000; David Dudley of Manteo, N.C.,
with
five bass weighing 18 pounds, 7 ounces worth $8,000; and Greg
Pugh of
Cullman, Ala., with four bass weighing 17 pounds, 9 ounces worth
$7,500.
Tom Burks, 67, of Okeechobee, Fla., claimed first place in
the
165-person Co-Angler Division and collected $6,000 with five
bass
weighing 21 pounds, 9 ounces.
"I had a good feeling about today," said Burks,
whose first bass
of the day was a 7 1/2-pounder. "I just outdistanced the
field by so
much that I was pretty sure I had it won, but you're always a
little
nervous until weigh-in time."
The tournament began Wednesday with 330 anglers taking off
from
the John C. Land III Boating and Sportfishing Facility near Summerton
to claim a piece of the event's $185,000 purse. Kerr Lake near
Henderson, N.C., will be the next Eastern Division EverStart
Series
stop May 30-June 2.
For complete results, visit www.everstartseries.com.
Bowen Leads Field into Final Round of $185,000
EverStart Series Tournament on Santee Cooper Lakes
MANNING, S.C.--March 30, 2001--Billy Bowen Jr. of
Ocala, Fla., claimed the No. 1 qualifying spot Friday going into
the
final round of the $185,000 EverStart Series tournament on the
Santee
Cooper Lakes with five bass weighing 22 pounds, 1 ounce.
Bowen, who finished 18th at the season opener on Lake Okeechobee
in Florida and again on Lake Eufaula in Alabama, will be competing
Saturday against nine other finalists in the Pro Division for
a top
award of $15,000 and a new Ranger boat. All the finalists start
on
equal footing as weights from previous rounds of competition
are
erased, and the winner is determined by the weight of Saturday's
catch. The original field of 165 pros was whittled to the top
30
Thursday and cut again to the top 10 Friday.
"The biggest thing about the final round is that I'll
have the
area to myself," said Bowen, a newcomer to the EverStart
Series. "I
have a lot of confidence, and today's weight helped. I'll just
have to
work hard and put them in the boat."
Bowen caught a two-day total of nine bass weighing 30 pounds,
4
ounces to make the semifinal round cut in 23rd place Thursday.
Most of
his bass during the first two days of competition were caught
in Lake
Marion using a 1/2-ounce spinnerbait, but Friday's clear skies
prompted him to start pitching a 1/2-ounce Ninja jig to trees
and
bushes. Bowen credits this tactical change for his success on
a day
when the bite slowed considerably.
Rounding out the top five pros were Vince Ingle of Maryville,
Tenn., with five bass weighing 19 pounds, 12 ounces; Ricky Shumpert
of
Lexington, S.C., with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 14 ounces;
David
Lauer of South Bend, Ind., with five bass weighing 17 pounds,
12
ounces; and Koby Kreiger of Osceola, Ind., with five bass weighing
16
pounds, 12 ounces.
David Geeter of Augusta, Ga., proved that his opening round
performance was no fluke as he retained his place on top of the
Co-Angler Division with five bass weighing 16 pounds, 15 ounces.
He
first claimed the top spot Thursday with a two-day total of six
bass
weighing 33 pounds, 2 ounces. Geeter caught the majority of his
bass
Friday in Lake Moultrie using a handcrafted spinnerbait.
Like their pro counterparts, co-anglers start from zero Saturday
and compete for one day to determine the winner. The winning
co-angler
will receive $6,000.
Saturday's action begins at 6:30 a.m. at the John C. Land
III
Boating and Sportfishing Facility located near Summerton. The
final
weigh-in begins at 3:30 p.m. at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located
at
481 West Boyce Street in Manning.
Feb 2001
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