MONROE, La. (Nov. 4, 2012) – For the second time in his career and for the first time in FLW history pro Koby Kreiger won the EverStart Championship on the Ouachita River on Sunday with a five bass limit that weighed 9 pounds, 5 ounces. Kreiger of Okeechobee, Fla., had a four-day total of 20 bass that weighed 38 pounds, 5 ounces that earned him $50,000 plus a Ranger Z518 with an Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor and a berth in the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup. Kreiger beat second place Kent Ware of Wadmalaw Island, S.C., by 3 pounds, 15 ounces.
“It took a lot of hard work to get here,” said Kreiger. “I was predominantly fishing the river for as many bites as I could get, it was tough catching anything big. I tried fishing the bayous a little bit but the quantity of bites was not there and knew I would be better off on the river.
“On the last day of practice my partner and I headed towards the Columbia Lock,” Kreiger continued. “You could see the shad on just about any piece of wood. When I figured that pattern out I pretty much had my game plan. I used War Eagle spinnerbaits, CP1 or CP2 crankbaits and a Mini-Frenzy umbrella rig to catch all my fish this week. The river was about 50-feet deep where I was fishing and the bass were suspending in about 7- or 8-feet of water.
“Making next year’s Forrest Wood Cup definitely takes a lot of pressure off,” Kreiger went on say. “It’s a big feat; however, I won’t fish any differently than I normally would during the season.”
Final top-10 pro standings:
1st: Koby Kreiger, Okeechobee, Fla., 20 bass, 38-5, $50,000 plus a Ranger Boat with outboard motor
2nd: Kent Ware, Wadmalaw Island, S.C., 20 bass, 34-6, $16,500
3rd: James Stricklin Jr., Texarkana, Texas, 15 bass, 32-8, $8,500
4th: Joseph Kremer, Osteen, Fla., 20 bass, 32-0, $7,500
5th: Casey Martin, New Market, Ala., 20 bass, 31-13, $6,600
6th: Bill Chapman, Salt Rock, W. Va., 19 bass, 31-11, $5,700
7th: Larry Jones, Acworth, Ga., 20 bass, 31-4, $4,900
8th: Brandon Medlock, Lake Placid, Fla., 13 bass, 30-14, $4,100
9th: Robbie Dodson, Harrison, Ark., 20 bass, 30-14, $3,300
10th: Dan Morehead, Paducah, Ky., 20 bass, 30-9, $2,500
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.