$6.24 MILLION EVERSTART SERIES TO VISIT POTOMAC RIVER WOODBRIDGE,
Va.
(July 27, 2005) -
The $6.24 million EverStart Series is headed to the Potomac
River near Woodbridge Aug. 17-20 for the season's third Northeast
Division event with a $262,125 tournament. Anglers competing
in the Pro Division will fish for a top award worth as much
as $60,000 while co-angler competitors cast for a top award
worth as much as $35,000. Competitors will also be vying for
valuable points that could earn them a berth into the no-entry-fee
$1 million EverStart Series Championship in Florence, Ala.,
for a shot at $140,000 in the Pro Division and $70,000 in the
Co-angler Division. The Potomac River proved to be quite a surprise
when the Wal-Mart FLW Tour made its final stop of the regular
season June 22-25 for the Chevy Open presented by Kellogg's.
Huge numbers of quality fish were hauled to the scale each day
of the event. When all was said and done, the Potomac River
yielded the third-largest total catch in FLW Tour history. "Those
bass will be snuggled up in grass beds," said pro Rick Lillegard
of Pickton, Texas, a well-respected Potomac River angler. "There's
milfoil in the main river and in the creek mouths. Dipping a
tube or a creature bait down in the grass will be effective,
and there should be a good topwater bite as well." Lillegard
predicted a final-round catch of 10 bass weighing between 32
and 34 pounds as being necessary to win the event. "That's such
an awesome fishery," Lillegard said, "it may take even more."
Anglers will take off from Leesylvania State Park at 6:30 each
morning. Wednesday and Thursday's weigh-ins will also be held
at the marina, which is located at 2001 Daniel K. Ludwig Drive
in Woodbridge, beginning at 3 p.m. Friday and Saturday's weigh-ins
will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 17041 Jefferson
Davis Hwy. in Dumfries beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins
are free and open to the public. Two hundred pros and 200 co-anglers
will compete for two days to determine the top 10 pros and top
10 co-anglers who advance to the final round based on their
two-day accumulated weight. Weights are cleared for the final
round, and anglers compete for two more days to determine the
winner. Winners are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight
from days three and four. The winning pro earns an Evinrude-
or Yamaha-powered Ranger 519VX equipped with Garmin electronics,
a Minn Kota trolling motor and EverStart batteries plus $10,000
cash. If the winner is the original owner of a Ranger boat that
is used during the tournament, the winner also receives a $10,000
bonus from Ranger for a top pro award of $60,000. If the winning
pro is a Ranger Cup participant, Ranger will award another $3,000
cash (or $1,500 to the highest-finishing Ranger Cup participant
if not the winner), and Yamaha will match 50 percent of Ranger
Cup winnings if the angler's boat is powered by a Yamaha outboard.
Garmin will award the winning pro $1,000 if he uses only Garmin
electronics and at least one unit is a qualifying unit, thus
boosting potential winnings for the top pro to $65,500. The
winning co-angler receives $5,000 cash, and if the winner is
a Ranger boat owner, Ranger will award a new Ranger 519VX for
a total prize package worth $35,000. Co-anglers who make the
final round of each regular-season EverStart Series event and
wear an EverStart/Evinrude shirt and cap on stage are also awarded
points toward the EverStart Batteries and Evinrude Outboard
Engines Co-angler Award. The co-angler receiving the most points
by the end of the season receives an Evinrude 225HO Direct Injection
outboard engine rigged on a Ranger boat equipped with a Minn
Kota trolling motor and EverStart batteries. In EverStart Series
competition pros supply the boats, fish from the front deck
against other pros and control boat movement. Co-anglers fish
from the back deck and compete against other co-anglers. Every
angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points
that determine angler standings. Two hundred points are awarded
to the winner, 199 points for second, 198 points for third,
and so on. The top 40 pros and top 40 co-anglers from each of
the EverStart Series' five divisions - Central, Northeast, Northern,
Southeast and Western - will advance to the $1 million EverStart
Series Championship on Pickwick Lake Nov. 2-5. The top 10 pros
and top 10 co-anglers from each division also qualify for the
Wal-Mart FLW Tour, the world's most lucrative tournament series,
where they can compete for a share of $7.6 million in 2006.
Each EverStart Series Division features four regular-season
tournaments. Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats,
Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the EverStart Series
and seven other national tournament circuits offering a combined
$30 million in awards through 214 events in 2005. The 27-year-old
organization is the purveyor of America's largest and most prestigious
fishing tournaments, including the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, EverStart
Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament
Trail, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League,
Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour and Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series.
For more information on FLW Outdoors and its tournament programs,
visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. Wal-Mart and many
of America's largest and most respected companies support FLW
Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as title
sponsor of the FLW Tour in 1997 and today is the title sponsor
of all FLW Outdoors events. For more information on Wal-Mart,
visit Wal-Mart.com
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