Veteran tour pro and local Dan Morehead won the EverStart Championship at Kentucky Lake today with a 19-05 limit. And no surprise: He caught 'em on an Alabama Rig.
The umbrella-style rig that's sweeping the bass-fishing nation claimed a victory last week at the Guntersville FLW Tour Open, and Morehead's win is sure to stoke the Alabama Rig's red-hot flames even further.
Morehead weighed 61-04 across the 4 days of competition and pocketed $50,000 plus a Ranger 198VX powered by a 200-hp Evinrude or Mercury.
"I've been waiting since 10:30 to weigh my fish," Morehead said. "I'm 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. This is just awesome to be able to win in front of all my friends and family.
"I caught most of my fish with the Alabama rig," he added. "Let me tell you, nothing triggers suspended fish quite like this rig. I've never felt the bass strike the way they do on an Alabama rig. I had three rods on my deck. Two had the Alabama rig. One had four 4-inch Berkley Hollow Belly swimbaits surrounding a 5-inch swimbait. On the other I had five 5-inch Berkley swimbaits and would switch to the bigger-bait rig after I'd 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."
Jeff Hippert from Hamburg, N.Y., who led after day 3, finished 2nd. The Alabama Rig was the dominant presentation.
