Evers Showed Courage To Explore New Water

In the current state of the sport, it's tough to define any tour event as "classic" anymore. It's been a few years since fall events took place, which has forced the anglers to fish a tight pre-spawn and spawn window.

In turn, a lot of tournaments have been won by spot-sitting and sight-fishing. And the occasional 7- to 8-pounder has played huge. But the Norman Bassmaster was different.

It was an event that could easily be classified as pro fishing at its best.

Few anglers had much experience on Norman, which leveled the playing field. Brutal day 1 conditions delivered sleet and snow, which taxed everyone's mindset. And there was no single group of fish, honey hole or bedding-bank that could hands-down deliver a victory.

Instead, patterns reigned king and consistency mattered most. Anglers fished fast, covered water and culled through a lot of keepers to upgrade by ounces at a time. And as the tournament wore on, the final 12 (then six) anglers faced the ultimate decision: Stick with what they had, or take a chance on new water.

Edwin Evers took that chance. He was the steadiest stick of the tournament and caught a decent limit every day. His limit counted most on day 4, when he fished new water and beat day 3 leader and local favorite Jason Quinn. Evers braved the time limit and fished past the safety zone to catch a key 3-pounder.

He made it back with 90 seconds to spare and his five fish – to Quinn's four – put him on top by 13 ounces.

The win capped an amazing comeback by Evers. After the season-opener at Toho, he was 121st in the Bassmaster Angler of the Year (AOY) race. But he followed up that bomb with a 15th (Harris Chain), 3rd (Guntersville) and 34th (Clarks Hill). And his win here pushed him to 3rd in the AOY points – a mere 12 points behind leader Marty Stone.

But before all eyes turn to next week's Table Rock Bassmaster – and the AOY showdown – here's an in-depth look at how Evers won Norman.

Practice

Lake Norman is a lowland reservoir in North Carolina on the Catawba River. It's a heavily developed lake and boat docks line every bank. It's relatively grassless, so the fish relate more to the docks, rocks and clay banks.

"It was a practice where I caught lots of fish," Evers said. "But there was no rhyme or reason to where or why. That's why I was so frustrated, and I just kept junk-fishing.

"I couldn't find a group of fish where I could say they were staging, or something like that. As I look back, I realize now it's a resident fishery. I believe I was catching a lot of resident fish. That's why I had to fish new water every day."

He used practice to narrow his choice down to two major creeks, but he only fished one of those – a "mid-lake creek" – in the tournament.

"It was a huge creek that was pretty flat," he said. "What I noticed was it had a lot of stumps, rocks and lots of little stuff out off the shore, and off points. In practice, my bites were a little bigger in there than anywhere else in the lake."

Day 1

> Day 1: 5, 13-01

Evers knew the creek he wanted to focus on, but he didn't start the tournament there. Instead, he targeted some release fish from a team tournament the weekend before.

"I started out doing a little deal to catch a limit on some released fish. I thought I could catch a limit, but I wound up only catching two, and I culled both of those out by the end of the day.

"After I caught those two, I ran to my creek and caught a limit on a crankbait. That was pretty much day 1. The wind was blowing, and it was cloudy, and I caught lots of fish on a crawdad-pattern crank.

"I wasted way too much time (on the release fish). Really, it was not a good decision."

Day 2

Day 2: 5, 10-03 (10, 23-06)

Evers didn't mess around on day 2. "I went straight to my creek and started fishing," he said. "I caught a limit early cranking a point, then I went to flipping docks and caught a couple of bigger Kentuckys (spotted bass).

"It was weird. I caught a few Kentuckys on day 1, but they were all Kentuckys on day 2.

"I tried to focus on docks that were shallower than 8 feet on the outside. And I tried to focus on both the first docks going into the bigger pockets, and docks in really small pockets.

"I was fishing a big creek arm, so if I pulled into a big pocket, I'd fish the first five or six docks on each side of it, and the point itself. The docks had to have depth, but not too much depth. If the water was real deep, I didn't catch them."

He noted shade was important with the docks. "Once the sun got up, I focused on the backsides of the docks – the shade. That really developed on the third and fourth days."

He also noted a distinction in the points he chose to crank. "I was cranking shallow, flat, clay points. I'd put the boat in 7 to 8 feet and throw to the bank. The fish were in 3 to 4 feet of water."

Day 3

> Day 3: 5, 12-15 (15, 35-21)

Evers entered day 3 in 10th place – 5-03 behind the leader Quinn. He started the day by cranking a point where he caught fish early the day before.

"I didn't catch any off the point where I'd been catching some first thing, so I just went to fishing. I kind of fished through areas where I had some bites on day 2, but I really didn't catch anything.

"I continually moved further back into the pockets and I ran into two largemouths. I caught one real good bass in the back of a small pocket." It was a 3-05 – the day's big bass.

"I noticed the water was warming up, so I started fishing the backs of the pockets a little more."

Day 4

> Day 4: 5, 10-03 (20, 46-06)

Evers entered the final day in 3rd – only 2-05 in back of leader Quinn. He started day 4 like he started day 3.

"On the morning of day 4 I caught two Kentuckys off that same point," he said. "It was the only point that produced fish on multiple days.

"Then I went and tried some stuff (docks) where I caught fish on day 3, but got no bites. At about 11:30 I pulled into a pocket I'd never been to and caught three. That gave me my limit."

With his limit in the well, he decided to gamble again and fish some more new water. "I ran new water and culled a few times.

"Then, at the end of the day, I went to the very back of a bigger creek arm. I'd never had a bite in there, but when I moved in, I saw a 4-pounder come up and eat something in front of the boat.

"I had 20 minutes left to fish, and it was a 5-minute idle to the back, then a 5-minute idle back out. Well, I got back there and fished two or three docks. Then I thought, I have time to fish one more. Actually, I fished three more (docks) past it.

"I should have left, but as I was trolling out to start the big motor, I pitched to the backside of one more dock and caught a 3-06, which won the tournament for me."

He said he got back to the weigh-in with exactly a minute and a half left to check in. "It was about a 15-minute ride back, and there was some major boat traffic out there," he said. "It was bone-jarring."

Winning Gear Notes

> Cranking gear: 7' medium-heavy Bass Pro Shops (BPS) Rick Clunn signature rod, BPS Pro Qualifier casting reel (6.2:1), 10-pound BPS monofilament line, Rapala Shad Rap crankbait. "When it was cloudy, I fished a No. 7 or 8 Shad Rap, and on calm mornings I fished a No. 5. I fished a red color the first day, then I switched to shad. I also put a red hook on the front (No. 4)."

> Jig (dock) gear: 7' medium-heavy BPS Pro Qualifier rod, same reel, 12-pound BPS XPS Fluorocarbon line, 1/4-ounce homemade jig (green pumpkin), unnamed crawdad trailer (green pumpkin). "It was a little hand-tied 1/4-ounce finesse jig with a round head and silicone skirt."

> He said friends gave him both baits – the crank and the jig. "My buddy Brian Snowden gave me the jig. It was the only one I had of that size. I broke it off at the end of the second day, and that night, he gave me all he had. I thanked him for it. And that No. 5 Shad Rap – Terry Butcher gave that to me. They're both good friends I travel with."

Notable

> Main factor in his success – "Having an open mind and covering a tremendous amount of water. Growing up on Texoma (Texas/Okla.) had a lot to do with it, because this lake fished a lot like Texoma. I fished one stump here, one dock there. I was just fortunate enough that it was spring, and there was enough fish up that I could make that pattern work. If it was any other time of year, Jason Quinn would have probably won hands-down."

> Evers on the courage to fish new water: "Fishing new water was key, and not being scared to fish some place I'd never seen before. I don't think a lot of people have the gumption to fish where they've never practiced. I followed my instincts."

> This win helped push him into the Top 10 in the State Farm-BassFan World Rankings. He's currently ranked No. 8 (he started the year No. 16).