MONROE, La. (Nov. 3, 2012) – Koby Kreiger of Okeechobee, Fla., held onto his lead by the narrowest of margins Saturday at the EverStart Championship on the Ouachita River. Kreiger brought in a five-bass limit that weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces giving him a three-day total of 29-0, and an 8-ounce lead over second place Brandon Medlock of Lake Placid, Fla., who has a three-day total of 28-8.
“I have a lot of work ahead of me,” said Kreiger. “Obviously Brandon Medlock is the angler to beat. He is sitting on a good school of fish, the kind that it’s going to take to win and I am not sure my fish will produce a double digit bag, but I’m going to do everything I can.
“I had a lot of bites today,” Kreiger went on to say. “But for some reason they were all short strikes, I don’t know, I think I am going to have to try a different bait presentation to get the bigger ones to bite. I’ve been doing pretty much the same thing all week, starting in the bayous, hitting the river mid-day and then finishing in the bayous. I have been using home-made crankbaits, CP Lures and today I got a couple of keepers on the Alabama Rig.
“I have my work cut out for me tomorrow that is for sure.”
Medlock had a breakdown on day one and only brought in one bass that weighed 1-4. Since then he has been on a tear bringing in the heaviest sack of the tournament yesterday, 14-7, and today his 12-13 sack tied day one leader Stricklin Jr., for the next heaviest sack of the tournament. In what is turning into a game of ounces, it is still anybody’s tournament to win.
Top 10 pros that will fish Sunday on the Ouachita River are:
1st: Koby Kreiger, Okeechobee, Fla., 15 bass, 29-0
2nd: Brandon Medlock, Lake Placid, Fla., 11 bass, 28-8
3rd: Joseph Kremer, Osteen, Fla., 15 bass, 25-4
4th: Kent Ware, Wadmalaw Island, S.C., 15 bass, 25-4
5th: Larry Jones, Acworth, Ga., 15 bass, 25-3
6th: Dan Morehead, Paducah, Ky., 15 bass, 24-12
7th: Bill Chapman, Salt Rock, W. Va., 14 bass, 24-12
8th: James Stricklin Jr., Texarkana, Texas, 11 bass, 24-3
9th: Robbie Dodson, Harrison, Ark., 15 bass, 24-3
10th: Casey Martin, New Market, Ala., 15 bass, 23-0
Daniel Leue of Colusa, Calif., won the co-angler division by 1-pound over Audie Brantley of North Augusta, S.C. Leue had a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 20 pounds, 3 ounces to win a Ranger Z117 with 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard. Brantley took second place with 13 bass weighing 19-3 to win $4,100.
Remaining top-10 co-anglers are:
3rd: Tony Spinks, Springfield, Mo., 10 bass, 18-9, $2,850
4th: Tony Prince, Pulaski, Tenn., 13 bass, 18-8, $2,000
5th: Justin Sward, Birmingham, Ala., 14 bass, 18-8, $1,800
6th: Calvin Hemphill, Rison, Ark., 13 bass, 17-13, $1,600
7th: Chad McClendon, North Richland Hills, Texas, 14 bass, 17-9, $1,400
8th: Ben Dziwulski, Woodbine, Md., 15 bass, 17-8, $1,200
9th: Mike Hardin Sr., Robertsdale, Ala., 14 bass, 17-5, $1,000
10th: Kevin Carter, Spring, Texas, 14 bass, 17-3 , $820
Anglers will take off for the final day from Forsythe Park located at 2401 Sycamore St. in Monroe, La., at 7:30 a.m. Sunday’s final weigh-in will be held at Walmart located at 2701 Louisville Ave. in Monroe beginning at 4 p.m.