The longest fog delay in the history of FLW took place today at the
EverStart Series Southeast Division event presented by Evinrude on
Santee Cooper – nearly five hours. That only delayed Ken Ellis of
Bowman, S.C., from weighing in a five-bass limit totaling 20 pounds even
Saturday to win the Southeast Division event. Ellis finished with a
three-day total of 15 bass weighing 56 pounds, 5 ounces. For his
victory, Ellis earned $32,913 and a Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower
Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor.
“I think the fog delay really gave me an advantage today,” said
Ellis. “I was able to hit a few key areas quickly that I knew from
having fished this lake extensively. My local knowledge definitely
helped me. A lot of these guys were making long hauls across the lake,
but I was able to catch my limit within my first two hours on the lake
today. We went out late, and when the storm rolled in around 11 a.m. it
really slowed down out there.
“Earlier this week I caught fish using Senkos and Reaction
Innovations Skinny Dippers,” continued Ellis. “But today I only threw a
watermelon-colored Zoom Trick Worm. You had to fish it real patiently,
and I was fishing light too – only using eight-pound test line. I was
fishing in 3 to 5 feet of water, and I believe all of my bass that I
caught were post-spawn. I caught nine fish on the day today, and my
total weight of 56 pounds for the tournament was pretty close to what I
had expected coming in. I had told a friend that the winner was probably
going to have just under 60 pounds – I was close.”
Rounding out the top 10 pros were:
2nd: Kent Ware, Wadmalaw Island, S.C., 15 bass, 55-14, $11,285
3rd: Mark Hutson, Moncks Corner, S.C., 10 bass, 51-9, $9,404
4th: Lex Costas, Daniel Island, S.C., 13 bass, 50-1, $8,463
5th: Brent Riley, Ridgeville, S.C., 11 bass, 49-1, $7,523
6th: Currey Holley, Pulaski, Tenn., 10 bass, 43-15, $6,583
7th: J.T. Kenney, Palm Bay, Fla., 13 bass, 42-13, $5,642
8th: Keith Pace, Monticello, Ark., 11 bass, 37-8, $4,702
9th: Jason Smith, Albany, Ga., 10 bass, 36-4, $3,762
10th: Troy Gibson, Eufaula, Ala., nine bass, 32-6, $2,821
Hutson caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro
Division Thursday – an 8-pound, 10-ounce bass – that earned him the
day’s EverStart Series Big Bass award of $274.
Cal Clark of Pulaski, Tenn, won the Co-angler Division and a
Ranger 177TR with an Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor with a three-day
total of 10 bass weighing 24 pounds, 4 ounces.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:
2nd: Justin Sward, Birmingham, Ala., eight bass, 23-15, $4,282
3rd: Albert Pieper, Summerville, S.C., seven bass, 21-14, $3,806
4th: Joe Ventrello, Orlando, Fla., seven bass, 20-8, $3,331
5th: Ray Winans, Manning, S.C., seven bass, 20-5, $2,855
6th: Brent Chitty, Moultrie, Ga., seven bass, 20-2, $2,379
7th: Jeffrey Ware, Rixeyville, Va., seven bass, 17-13, $1,903
8th: David Alfonso, Valrico, Fla., five bass, 17-9, $1,427
9th: Don Ross, Lizella, Ga., seven bass, 16-13, $952
10th: Wayne Frierson, Manning, S.C., eight bass, 16-8, $761
Alfonso caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the
Co-angler Division Thursday – a 9-pound, 1-ounce bass – that earned him
the day’s EverStart Series Big Bass award of $182.
