Late Penalty Drops Evers Into Deadlock With Fukae

Edwin Evers' timing on the water today was just about spot-on. It was his judgment of distance that was a little bit lacking.

The Oklahoman caught an exceptional sack that was just shy of 16 pounds on day 1 of the Norman PAA Tournament Series in North Carolina, but he incurred a 1-pound penalty for being a minute late for check-in. That dropped him into a tie for the lead with Shinichi Fukae, who absorbed a quarter-pound setback of his own for one dead fish. Both anglers were credited with 14.96.

In 3rd is 70-year-old home-laker Guy Eaker, who caught 14.29 but had to settle for 13.79 after bringing two dead fish to the scale. Boyd Duckett and J.T. Palmore, who were both penalty-free, rounded out the Top 5 with 12.87 and 12.33, respectively.

Here's a peek at the Top 10 after opening day:

1. (tie) Edwin Evers: 14.96
1. (tie) Shinichi Fukae: 14.96
3. Guy Eaker: 13.79
4. Boyd Duckett: 12.87
5. J.T. Palmore: 12.33
6. Dave Wolak: 11.32
7. Mark Rose: 11.25
8. Matt Herren: 10.86
9. Bobby Lane: 10.56
10. Aaron Martens: 10.37

There appeared to be no dominant theme to the day other than both the air and the water were hot and virtually still. Mixed bags of spotted bass and largemouths were common and both deep and shallow patterns proved effective.

Eighteen of the 99 anglers caught at least 10 pounds, although some of the individual totals don't reflect that after the penalty adjustments (28 dead fish were weighed). At the other end of the spectrum, a near-equal number (19) caught one keeper or none.

Tomorrow's weather forecast for the Charlotte area predicts isolated thunderstorms with a daytime high of 95 degrees and a slight breeze out of the east/northeast to 6 mph.

The full field will field will fish again tomorrow, with a cut to the Top 30 after the weigh-in. The winner will be determined Saturday by highest 3-day weight.

Evers Surprised

Evers started the day with some confidence, but he couldn't have anticipated hanging such a big number on the leaderboard.

"I'm surprised big-time," he said. "I had a pretty good practice, but I didn't think I was going to catch 15 pounds."

He weighed all largemouths – some from deep water and some from shallow. He lost a couple of good ones and culled at least five times, and his biggest fish was about 4 pounds.

"I'm just junk-fishing and covering water. Can I duplicate this tomorrow? I don't see how. I'd be tickled just to catch 10 pounds.

"I'm just going fishing and I'll catch all I can catch. I'll have to fish some new water."

He said he got the 1-pound penalty because he underestimated the distance back to the launch.

"I just thought I was a lot closer to the weigh-in than I was and I wasn't really paying attention. I was just fishing and I said, 'Okay, I'd better leave while I've still got plenty of time.'

"Then I got out on the water and it was a long ways back."

'Miracle' for Fukae

Like Evers, Fukae had no inkling that his first-day bag would be so big.

"He was surprised – kind of like a miracle happened," said his wife, Miyu, who translated BassFan's questions. "He got the one big one that was over 6 pounds. If he couldn't catch that one, he would've had 9 or 10 pounds."

It was questionable whether he'd even box a limit – he didn't catch his fifth keeper until 2:00. The big one bit about an hour before that.

He ended up with two largemouths and three spots and culled once.

"He has some waypoints from past tournaments and he's trying to run and gun as much as he can," Miyu said. "Lake Norman is not so big, but still he used 30 gallons of gas. If he had any other kind of motor besides a Yamaha SHO, he would've had to fill gas today.

"He'll try the same thing tomorrow – running and gunning. He got three of the six keepers at the same spot at different times, so he'll try to fish it tomorrow and then go back to it again later."

3rd: Eaker Right at Home

Eaker had three different patterns to choose from today, and he opted for the one that required the least amount of running. He fished a marina that's not far from the launch and also a rock wall out in front of it, and caught his fish on a dropshot rig with a 5-inch Berkley PowerBait Hand Pour finesse worm.

"I fished 1 day before the (off-limits period) and went in there and caught a 5-pounder and a couple 3s," he said. "Then I waited until yesterday afternoon to go back and check on those fish, and they were still in there."

He culled several times and his bag, which contained both spots and largemouths, was topped by a 4 3/4-pounder. He lost one big one when it wrapped his line around a deep cable.

"I'll do the same thing tomorrow, and I've got two more places where I think I can catch them."

4th: Duckett Likes it Hot

Duckett fell upon a pattern on the final day of practice that seems to work under the hot, still conditions.

"I'm catching fish in deep brush, and now I hope the weather stays the same," he said. "I just fished what I found yesterday and I've got maybe four more places that I didn't fish today. After that I'll have to go find some similar stuff."

He fished the first 2 1/2 hours of the day without a bite, but eventually ended up culling once. He weighed four largemouths and a spot and the biggest was a 3-pounder.

"I had a really tough start (on the lower end of the lake) and then I cashed that in and went to the top. I lost one in the brush that was pretty heavy-feeling, but I didn't see him, and then I lost another one that chased my big worm up and bit it at the surface.

"I like the pattern I've found and it's proved to be consistent, but I'm going to have to find more of it. I'm not catching big numbers, so I'm at a little disadvantage there."

5th: Late Fish Boosts Palmore

Palmore, who was a rookie on the FLW Tour this year, caught a 5-pound largemouth off a dock during the final minutes of the day to push himself up among the leaders.

"It was a place I'd fished one time before and it looked like a good dock," he said. "I guess you have to put yourself in position to have that kind of luck."

He weighed three largemouths and two spots, and all but the big one bit a finesse worm. The 5-pounder was enticed by a jig.

He plans to play it a little bit conservatively tomorrow.

"This was my rookie year on the FLW Tour and I didn't cash a check, so I don't want to do something stupid. I'm not going to go out there and throw the jig for 3 hours."

9th: Lane Staying Shallow

Bobby Lane only weighed four fish, but one was a 4 3/4-pounder and he had a couple of other solid chunks. He fished shallow water exclusively.

"It's tough to get bites up there, but I knew if I could catch one, it would be a good one," he said. "I caught one on a Senko, one on a buzzbait and two on topwaters.

"I had some schooling fish and I thought I could catch one or two spotted bass early in the morning on a walking bait, but that didn't happen. I also had one follow my bait up that was at least 2 pounds bigger than the biggest one I caught."

He's a lifelong Floridian, but even he didn't enjoy today's sultry conditions.

"I had to re-tie a couple of times and that normally takes me about 5 seconds, but it was taking me a minute or 2. All the sweat dripping down on my hands screwed the whole thing up."

Notable

> Day 1 stats – 98 anglers, 36 limits, 6 zeroes.

Day 1 Standings

1. Edwin Evers -- 5, 14.96

1. Shinich Fukae -- 5, 14.96

3. Guy Eaker -- 5, 13.79

4. Boyd Duckett -- 5, 12.87

5. J.T. Palmore -- 5, 12.33

6. Dave Wolak: 5, 11.32

7. Mark Rose -- 5, 11.25

8. Matt Herren -- 5, 10.86

9. Bobby Lane -- 4, 10.56

10. Aaron Martens -- 5, 10.37

11. Anthony Gagliardi -- 5, 10.32

12. Andy Morgan -- 5, 10.18

13. Chris Baumgardner -- 5, 10.15

14. Jeff Kriet -- 5, 10.14

15. Dave Lefebre -- 5, 10.11

16. Zell Rowland -- 5, 10.03

17. Mark Menendez -- 5, 9.84

18. Steve Kennedy -- 5, 9.78

19. Craig Dowling -- 5, 9.70

20. Justin Rackley -- 5, 9.49

20. Greg Vinson -- 5, 9.49

22. Kelly Power -- 5, 9.18

23. Todd Fairlcoth -- 5, 9.14

24. Shaw Grigsby -- 5, 8.92

25. Russell Cecil -- 5, 8.86

25. Jason Quinn -- 5, 8.86

25. Bryan Thrift -- 5, 8.86

28. Mike McClelland -- 5, 879

29. Brian Snowden -- 4, 8.71

30. Russ Lane -- 4, 8.63

31. Casey Ashley -- 5, 8.71

32. Woo Daves -- 5, 8.55

33. Andy Montgomery -- 5, 8.39

34. Ott DeFoe -- 5, 8.38

35. Tommy Biffle -- 4, 8.12

36. Todd Auten -- 5, 8.11

37. Rob Digh -- 3, 8.05

38. Takahiro Omori -- 5, 7.80

39. Russ Clark -- 5, 7.75

40. Randy Howell -- 3, 7.75

41. Jeff Hager -- 4, 7.74

42. David Hendrick -- 5, 7.65

43. Pete Ponds -- 5, 7.51

44. Matt Reed -- 4, 7.25

45. Brian Travis -- 4, 7.23

46. Sean Hoernke -- 3, 7.10

47. Lendell Martin Jr. -- 4, 7.09

48. Harold Allen -- 4, 6.92

49. Pat Tierney -- 3, 6.92

50. Terry Butcher -- 3, 6.86

51. Patrick Pierce -- 4, 6.48

52. Chris Russell -- 4, 6.39

53. Gene Eisenmann -- 3, 6.03

54. Charles Bebber -- 3, 5.77

54. Stephen Browning -- 3, 5.77

56. Tommy Martin -- 2, 5.64

57. Jami Fralick -- 3, 5.59

58. Jason Reyes -- 3, 5.49

59. Randall Tharp -- 3, 5.44

60. Wil Hardy -- 3, 5.43

61. Jason Christie -- 3, 5.39

62. Kevin Early -- 2, 5.30

63. Burton Bryan -- 3, 5.16

64. Ronnie Wagner -- 3, 4.98

65. Rob Burns -- 3, 4.91

66. John Crews -- 3, 4.70

67. Fred Roumbanis -- 3, 4.69

68. Billy McCaghren -- 2, 4.69

69. Bradley Hallman -- 2, 4.38

70. Chris Daves -- 2, 4.09

71. Dave Mansue -- 2, 4.05

72. Wes Thomas -- 2, 4.01

73. Charlie Hartley -- 2, 3.96

73. Charlie Ingram -- 2, 3.96

75. Stacey King -- 1, 3.95

76. Brent Long -- 2, 3.90

77. Duke Jenkel -- 1, 3.72

78. Robert Stiltner -- 2, 3.56

79. Derek Yamamoto -- 2, 3.52

80. Tim Horton -- 1, 3.43

81. Harley Brigman -- 1, 3.40

82. Keith Caka -- 2, 3.31

83. Chad Morgenthaler -- 2, 3.17

84. Stuart Arthur -- 1, 3.09

85. Parks Jones -- 1, 2.59

86. Chris Brasher -- 1, 2.49

87. Paul Elias -- 1, 2.27

88. Gary Clouse -- 1, 2.05

89. Rick Morris -- 1, 1.99

90. Sandy Melvin -- 1, 1.96

91. Kevin Johnson -- 1, 1.85

92. Lance Vick -- 1, 1.60

93. Ray Brazier -- 0, 0.00

93. Les Foster -- 0, 0.00

93. Brian Mathis -- 0, 0.00

93. Brian Penso -- 0, 0.00

93. Jason Seaton -- 0, 0.00

93. J.B. Young -- 0, 0.00