Goals Will Force Evers To Be More Consistent

There might not be such a big deviation in Edwin Evers' finishes on the Bassmaster Tour in 2006. The 31-year-old Oklahoman has a couple of important objectives to meet, and consistency will be more important to him than ever.

For the past several years, he's had his Bassmaster Classic berth locked up before the tour season even began, courtesy of the Bassmaster Opens. He'd previously qualified for the 2006 Classic, but he'll have to fish his way into the 2007 event through the tour. Also, he fervently wants to win the Angler of the Year (AOY) title.

"It's very, very, very important to me," he said of the AOY. "It's something I want more than anything. I want that trophy in my hip pocket because I think it's the hardest thing to get."

Highs and Lows

Evers fished eight events in 2005 and his average finish was just above 50th place. This despite a win at Norman, three other Top 10s (including the Classic, where he was 6th) and a 15th.

Two big bombs sent his average in a southerly direction. He was 121st at Toho to begin the season and 111th at Table Rock. "It was an up and down year," he said. "I had some real good things happen, but I also fell flat on my face a couple of times. But overall it was pretty good and it's something I want to continue to build on."

With a Classic berth already in the bag, he had the freedom in the past to hunt for big fish on tour and not worry so much about points. He'll have to go about things a little differently this year.

"I double-qualified for the Classic every year for the past 3 or 4 years, and that took a lot of pressure off the tour to already have that out of the way," he said. "Now I'm going to have to go back to more of a consistency deal, and catching a limit will be real important. There will be times to go 'toad-slinging,' but most of the time I'm going to have to take care of getting a limit."

Stubbornness is Out

Evers' tank jobs have often stemmed from an unwillingness to adapt his strategy to the current conditions. Versatility is one of his strengths, but he sometimes won't let himself use it.

"It's pure stubbornness," he said. "Sometimes I want to make fish be in an area where I think they should be, or I only want to catch them a certain way. Like at Table Rock, I went out and swung for the fences trying to catch giant fish, and I didn't need to. I should have pulled out the finesse stuff and caught limits, but I refused to do that. I wanted to catch them power-fishing."

Sometimes his memory is his worst enemy. "It comes from past experience of having caught them that way in practice or in previous years," he said. "All my bad finishes, I've had a preconceived notion of how I was going to catch fish, and the tournaments where I've done the best were ones where I didn't have that.

"I'm very versatile – it's just that sometimes I don't want to be. I've improved on that quite a bit over the last 2 or 3 years, but I've still got a ways to go."

Altered Schedule

Evers opted to sit out the Opens last fall after a career-best 11th-place finish in the tour points, primarily because he thought he needed some time away from the water. It ended up being an eventful off-season anyway.

He married Tuesday Butcher, the sister of fellow tour pro Terry Butcher, in late October. They'd been engaged since July.

"Last fall I got worn down, so I decided to spend some time at the house and get some projects done and I ended up getting married," he said. "I guess that's what happens when you take some time off."

He's also in the process of adopting his wife's 7-year-old daughter, so this year will present travel challenges that he's never faced before. "I'm not looking forward to the travel schedule," he said. "I'll have to fly home as much I can between tournaments, or they'll fly to meet me somewhere. It'll be pretty hectic."

Notable

> He was 121st and 139th in his last two tour events at Toho, but he's still confident about his chances at the 2006 Classic next month. "A dog can only get kicked so many times before it gets up and fights back," he said. "It's time for me to get up and do something there and get that monkey off my back."

> When he looks at the 2006 Elite Series schedule, he's particularly excited about the first five tournaments (Amistad, Rayburn, Santee-Cooper, Guntersville and Clarks Hill). "They're all toad-slinging events. After that, it kind of changes."