BUCHANAN, Tenn. (Oct. 30, 2011) – Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 19 pounds, 5 ounces Sunday to win the EverStart Series Championship bass fishing tournament on Kentucky Lake with a four day total of 20 bass weighing 61 pounds, 4 ounces. For his victory, Morehead earned $50,000 plus a 198VX Ranger boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor.
“I’ve been waiting since 10:30 to weigh my fish,” said an overzealous Morehead who was looking for his first championship title. “I am tickled to death with what I did. A lot of people thought this tournament would be won down south, but Kentucky Lake is Kentucky Lake and I had to go north to my home waters.
“I caught most of my fish with the Alabama rig,” Morehead continued. “Let me tell you, nothing triggers suspended fish quite like this rig. I have never felt the bass strike the way they do as on an Alabama rig. I had three rods on my deck. Two had the Alabama rig. One had four, 4 ½ inch Berkley Hollow Belly Swimbaits surrounding a 5 ½ inch swimbait. On the other I had five, 5 ½ inch Berkley swimbaits and would switch to the bigger bait rig after I had caught my limit and wanted to go for the bigger bass. On the first day when the weather was so nasty I caught two of my better fish using a Zara Spook. But for the rest of the tournament it was all Alabama rig.
”This is just awesome to be able to win in front of all my friends and family,” Morehead added.
2nd: Jeff Hippert, Hamburg, N.Y., 20 bass, 56-14, $16,800
3rd: Lendell Martin Jr., Nacogdoches, Texas, 19 bass, 55-12, $8,450
4th: Kellogg’s pro Jim Tutt, Longview, Texas, 20 bass, 55-2, $7,600
5th: Koby Kreiger, Okeechobee, Fla., 20 bass, 54-14, $6,750
6h: Chad Prough, Chipley, Fla., 20 bass, 52-13, $5,900
7th: Brad Knight, Wartburg, Tenn., 20 bass, 52-7, $5,050
8th: Jess Caraballo, Danbury, Conn., 18 bass, 51-6, $4,200
9th: Todd Castledine, Nacogdoches, Texas, 20 bass, 51-2, $3,400
10th: Mike McDonald, Randleman, N.C., 18 bass, 46-11, $2,600
Troy Anderson of Galesville, Wis., won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger boat with an Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor plus $5,000 with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 42 pounds, 3 ounces.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:
2nd: Richard Peek, Centre, Ala., 14 bass, 35-6, $4,200
3rd: Hale White, Franklin, Tenn., 14 bass, 35-2, $2,950
4th: Beecher Strunk, Somerset, Ky., 10 bass, 34-2, $2,100
5th: Russell Lohman, Pineville, La., 11 bass, 33-10, $1,875
6th: Eric Richey, Paradise, Texas, 13 bass, 30-12, $1,675
7th: Vince Denina, Willis, Texas, 12 bass, 30-8, $1,475
8th: Doug Caldwell, Kane, Pa., 11 bass, 29-1, $1,275
9th: Jeff McCarnan, Henderson, Ky., 11 bass, 28-2, $1,075
10th: David Underwood, Waco, Texas, 10 bass, 27-4, $875
The EverStart Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Each division consists of four qualifying events. The top 40 pros and co-anglers from each respective division qualified for this championship event and were fishing this week on Kentucky Lake