Evers’ Shallow Hunch Paid Off In Historic Way

By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

Ever since winning the 2007 Lake Erie/Niagara River Elite Series out of Buffalo, N.Y., Edwin Evers figured all other Great Lakes smallmouth-dominated tournaments would follow the same general script – finding wads of bait and nearby schools of bass offshore with his electronics and then employing a vertical presentation to trigger bites.

He proved last week at the St. Lawrence River that there’s waaaay more to it than that.

With a berth in next year’s Bassmaster Classic already in his back pocket thanks to his BASSFest victory, Evers knew he had some latitude to roll the dice and try something different. As it turned out, different was the way to go at the massive, scenic river that separates northern New York from Canada.

“If I couldn’t see them on electronics and drop on them like on Erie, every other smallmouth event we’ve had I’d done poorly in,” Evers said. “I’m always trying to duplicate Erie.”

Experience has taught him to expand his thinking, especially two Major League Fishing events last year that featured inland lakes in Michigan and Maine where smallmouth were plentiful.

“I’ve learned a lot,” Evers added. “I may still be stubborn, but after paying attention to MLF and what Kevin (VanDam) has done, I’m starting to expand on what those fish can do.”

Rather than make the lengthy journey from Waddington, N.Y., toward the mouth of the St. Lawrence where he fished during the Elite Series’ 2013 visit to the Thousand Islands region, Evers opted to sample a stretch of river to the east of the launch ramp. It was a slow go at first, but he eventually figured out how to catch behind-schedule smallmouth that were more numerous in the 2- to 10-foot range compared to their usual summer deep-water haunts.

He rolled into the lead after day 2 when he caught 22-09 and never gave it up as he bagged 17-08 on the final day to become the first to win two straight Elite Series events with a 77-10 total.

“It was the same thing last time – guys caught them shallow, but there were so many more good ones out deep,” he said. “On certain smallmouth fisheries, there are always fish shallow. The St. Lawrence is just a big enough place that it spread enough guys out so that you could do it.”

Here’s how won his second straight Elite Series tournament.

Practice

In 2013, the Elite Series came to Waddington in mid-August. The smallmouth were settled into their summertime pattern and stacked up on offshore structure. Catching 40 or 50 fish a day was a regular occurrence for competitors, many of whom couldn’t wait to come back. Some anglers fared pretty well with largemouth, but it was a brown-fish blowout in the end.

Things were much different this time around. Those offshore spots that held a dozen to 15 fish 2 years ago were maybe good for four or five bites last week. With Lake Ontario off limits, it left the 107 pros a daunting puzzle to put together.

For Evers, he figured the bulk of the field would likely end up running toward the mouth of the river by the boundary line. He fished in that direction in ’13 all through practice and the tournament and finished 25th. He figured it’d be tough to do well down there this year.

“I didn’t feel like I could win down there,” he said.

Instead, he headed northeast to comb sections of the river from Waddington to the Moses-Saunders Power Dam that served as the eastern boundary line. He fished many areas within a 15-mile stretch of water.

He played on a hunch the full moon would pull some fish, especially bigger ones, shallow and he spent 16-hour practice days on his trolling motor, searching for anything he thought would have a fish nearby. He also saw several dozen fish in the clear water, so that told him his hunch was right.

“I had seven bites the first day, four the second and seven the third, so I figured it’d be a gamble to catch a limit each day doing what I was doing,” he said. “It happened to work out.”

Once he located some areas with fish, he began trying different baits to see what triggered bites. A swimbait and small jerkbait were key to getting fish to show themselves. If he couldn’t catch them that way, he’d follow up with a wacky-rigged worm or a dropshot.

“I didn’t figure it out until the last part of the first day and start of the second day,” he said. “It all came to fruition in practice.”

Competition

> Day 1: 5, 21-03
> Day 2: 5, 22-09
> Day 3: 5, 16-06
> Day 4: 5, 17-08
> Total = 20, 77-10

Despite a dearth of bites in practice, something he attributed to the speed at which he combed through areas, he made a right turn out of the take-off area each day of the tournament.

“I don’t win tournaments going back to stuff,” he said. “This time I considered it a new tournament because I went the other direction. I like that.”

The first fish he landed on day 1 was a 4-pounder, caught on a dropshot, but it had to go back because it was not hooked inside the mouth. He also had another 4-pound caliber fish come off right at the boat as he reached to land it. Despite those mishaps, he still managed 21-03 that had him in 5th place.

His was one of 10 bags that exceeded 20 pounds on day 1 – there were 13 on day 1 back in 2013. Only three other 20-pound bags were caught over the final 3 days.

He generated more bites (10) on day 2 and had a 5-04 kicker in his 22-09 bag that catapulted him to the lead. He caught some largemouth early in the day, but eventually culled them out in favor of beefier smallmouth.

When the conditions were ideal, Evers could get visual cues on where the fish were or just plainly see them.

“I was sight-fishing, but they were not on beds,” he said. “When it got windy, I had to fan cast more because it was hard to see.”

He did more looking on Saturday, but the quality bites didn’t come as easy and he lost a couple nice fish. Still, his 16-06 kept him the lead, but his cushion had been reduced to less than 2 pounds entering the final day.

He said he felt calm and confident going out on day 4, a product of the surge of momentum he was riding.

“You just make good decisions and trust your confidence and gut instincts,” he said. “Things go better when you’re catching them.”

He caught his first keeper a little after 6:30 a.m. and continued to probe areas with clean sand with little grass patches or rock.

He caught three good fish during the middle couple hours of the day that gave him a good foundation and those helped him get to 17-08 and beat Alton Jones by 3-11.

Winning Gear Notes

> Wacky-worm gear: 6’9” medium-light Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris CarbonLite spinning rod, Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris Signature Series spinning reel (6.1:1 gear ratio), 20-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS braided line (main), 8-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon line (leader), Size 1 Mustad Select Super Fine Finesse hook, Zoom Fluke Stick Jr. (green-pumpkin).

> Swimbait gear: Same rod, same reel, same line, 3/8-oz. unnamed lead-head jig, 4” Megabass Spark Shad (ayu).

> The Spark Shad was a key fish-catcher, but it also attracted followers that Evers was able to later target with finesse tactics.

> Dropshot gear: Same rod, same reel, same line, same hook as wacky rig, Zoom Z Drop (green-pumpkin), 1/8- and 3/8-oz. Bass Pro Shops tungsten dropshot weights.

> Jerkbait gear: 7’ medium-action Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris CarbonLite casting rod, Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris CarbonLite casting reel (7.1:1 gear ratio), 10-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon line, Megabass X-80 Trick Darter (elegy bone).

> He also caught a couple key fish during the morning rainstorm on day 1 on a War Eagle spinnerbait (white with silver/gold blades).

The Bottom Line

> Main factor in his success – “My decision to turn right instead of left and approaching it like a new body of water.”

> Performance edge – “Everybody thinks electronics are great for deep-water fishing, but I couldn’t have done it without the plot trails for when I would be getting close to the waypoints when I was drifting around. I was always looking down to my screen to see how close I was. Also, my Wiley-X sunglasses were huge. I felt like the further away they were, I could still see them and I liked my chances of catching them.”

Notable

> Hear more about how Evers' made history in New York in the embedded video below from the Megabass Facebook page:

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