Catch-22 Has Evers On Top Of Group B

By MLF Communications Staff

Edwin Evers of Talala, Okla. caught 22 largemouth bass Saturday totaling 72-14 to jump out to the early lead for Group B’s initial Qualifying Round at the MLF Bass Pro Tour event at Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tenn. Evers will take an 18-03 lead over 2nd-place Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., who boated 22 bass worth 56-11.

The 40 anglers in Group B will have the day off on Sunday, while the 40 anglers in Group A will complete their two-day Qualifying Round of competition. Group B will conclude their Qualifying Round on Monday.

“Man, what a day. I just love offshore fishing,” said Evers, who finished in 7th place when the BPT last visited Lake Chickamauga in 2019. “I just kept bouncing around and covering water. We worked hard today and it worked out good.

"I’m not married to one particular spot. I feel like there are fish everywhere and they are constantly moving, so you just have to keep moving around until you find a school that’s active.”

Evers caught all of his bass offshore in 14 to 20 feet of water. He credited his Lowrance electronics as being the key to his success, and said he caught his fish on two baits.

“The two main baits for me today were a (Berkley) Dredger 20.5 crankbait – I threw it on a 7-foot, 6-inch Bass Pro Shops Mag-Heavy Cranking rod with a 6:8:1 (Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris) Platinum reel with 12-pound Bass Pro fluorocarbon line and just really blistered them on that,” Evers said. “A lot of fish this morning came on a 7-inch (Berkley PowerBait) MaxScent Hit Worm. I fished it on a Profound Outdoors Stand Up head on a 7-foot, 3-inch, heavy-action (Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris) CarbonLite rod with a high-speed reel.

“I’m super excited about my start today. I just need to do it one more day, catch all that I can catch and put them on that ScoreTracker. I’m looking forward to getting back out here on Monday."

Also having a great day on the water Saturday was bass-fishing superstar VanDam, who had his best day of the season so far.

“For the kind of year that I’ve had up to now, it was a pretty solid day,” VanDam said. “I’ve had some really close calls this season – I’ve missed two cuts that I should have been in. This sport is all about decision-making, so it feels good to have a good start to this one. I’m going to try to not blow this opportunity.

“This tournament is setting up to be an incredible event. I think it’s going to be a really, really fun week. If you’re a fan of professional bass fishing, you’re going to see some fireworks at Lake Chickamauga this week. These fish are just coming out to the right areas and it’s going to be a shootout come Championship Wednesday. I just hope I can make it there, because if I do, I will have a good chance."

Evers won Saturday’s $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Award, weighing in an 8-09 largemouth caught on the Berkley Dredger crankbait during Period 1. Berkley will award $1,000 to the angler who weighs the biggest bass each day and a $3,000 bonus to the angler who weighs the largest bass of the tournament.

After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers WHO finish in 2nd through 20th place from both groups advance to Tuesday’s Knockout Round, while the winner of each group advances directly to Wednesday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed and the remaining 38 anglers compete to finish in the Top 8 to advance to the Championship Round, where weights will again be zeroed and the highest one-day total wins the top prize of $100,000.

Anglers will take off from the Dayton Boat Dock, located at 175 Lakeshore St., in Dayton, at 6:30 a.m. ET each day of competition. Takeouts will also be held at the Dayton Boat Dock beginning at 3:30 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend all takeoff and takeout ceremonies.

The MLF NOW! broadcast team of Chad McKee, Marty Stone and J.T. Kenney break down the extended action on all six days of competition from 6:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. CT. MLF NOW! will be live-streamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

Group B Qualifying Round – Day 1

(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler's heaviest fish for the round)

1. Edwin Evers -- 74-14 (23) -- 8-09

2. Kevin VanDam -- 56-11 (22) -- 5-13

3. Dustin Connell -- 53-14 (15) -- 7-08

4. Jacob Wheeler -- 41-10 (15) -- 6-03

5. Shin Fukae -- 34-12 (13) -- 3-08

6. Josh Bertrand -- 32-14 (11) -- 5-07

7. Britt Myers -- 31-08 (11) -- 5-06

8. Michael Neal -- 29-07 (12) -- 3-13

9. Brent Ehrler -- 27-03 (11) -- 3-15

10. Casey Ashley -- 26-07 (9) -- 3-12

11. Stephen Browning -- 23-02 (8) -- 3-05

12. Takahiro Omori -- 20-03 (7) -- 6-01

13. Jeff Kriet -- 19-14 (7) -- 4-10

14. Randy Howell -- 17-08 (5) -- 5-11

15. Alton Jones Jr. -- 17-07 (6) -- 3-10

16. Todd Faircloth -- 16-15 (6) -- 5-03

17. Jeff Sprague -- 16-05 (5) -- 4-01

18. Brandon Coulter -- 14-03 (6) -- 3-09

19. Cody Meyer -- 13-15 (6) -- 2-11

20. Shaw Grigsby -- 13-15 (4) -- 5-08

21. Terry Scroggins -- 13-07 (4) -- 5-09

22. James Elam -- 12-05 (5) -- 3-02

23. Jared Lintner -- 11-12 (5) -- 3-01

24. Brett Hite -- 10-14 (4) -- 3-07

25. Mark Daniels Jr. -- 10-12 (3) -- 4-00

26. Boyd Duckett -- 10-06 (4) -- 3-02

27. Greg Vinson -- 10-01 (4) -- 3-01

28. Randall Tharp -- 9-00 (3) -- 4-01

29. Bradley Roy -- 8-15 (4) -- 2-13

30. Brent Chapman -- 8-08 (3) -- 3-06

31. Dave Lefebre -- 8-01 (3) -- 3-15

32. David Dudley -- 7-04 (3) -- 3-03

33. Cliff Crochet -- 7-00 (2) -- 3-11

34. Dean Rojas -- 6-14 (3) -- 2-12

35. Paul Elias -- 6-11 (3) -- 2-05

36. Tai Au -- 4-11 (2) -- 2-06

37. Marty Robinson -- 4-10 (2) -- 2-07

38. Jonathon VanDam -- 4-09 (2) -- 2-08

39. Fred Roumbanis -- 4-08 (2) -- 2-05

40. David G. Williams -- 2-12 (1) -- 2-12