By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Edwin Evers would have preferred to be on the water today (or tomorrow or Sunday), trading fish catches with Jeff Sprague as the two settled their season-long duel for the inaugural Bass Pro Tour points title.
Instead, he spent part of his day trying to locate some DVDs that his 10-year-old son, Kade, could watch on the ride from Wisconsin back home to Oklahoma.
“We had an adventure trying to find those,” Evers said.
Ultimately, a six-pack of Spiderman movies did the trick and the shopping trip proved to be a welcome distraction for Evers, who saw his Lake Winnebago Bass Pro Tour come to an end on Thursday with a 21st-place finish in Group A. It was a disappointing outcome, but it preserved his shot at the first points title of his career.
That put the ball in Sprague’s court and set up a pretty simple scenario for the Texan in today’s Group B Elimination Round: Make the Knockout Round and then finish 37th or better on Saturday to win the points title or miss the Knockout Round and cede the crown to Evers.
Sprague began the day 1 1/4 pounds out of the 20th spot and moved into 21st after the first period as he boated nine bass for 12-07. He caught just seven more fish the rest of the day that weighed 12-08 and despite climbing as high as 17th early in the third period, he went nearly the final two hours without a fish catch. As a result, he dipped to 25th and missed qualifying for the Knockout Round for the first time all season, giving the points title to Evers.
The 44-year-old Evers, who had a number of brushes with an Angler of the Year title during this 13-year stint on the Bassmaster Elite Series, tried not to pay much attention to today’s competition. He appeared on a segment of the MLF NOW webcast, but wasn’t glued to event coverage.
“I looked at ScoreTracker a couple of times, but I didn’t want to sit and fret over it,” he said.
The last time he looked, though, Sprague had climbed inside the top 20 and that prompted Evers to not look again.
When the text messages and congratulatory phone calls started rolling in around the time competition concluded for the day, relief set in for Evers.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet,” he said. “I’m super excited. It’s been a lifelong dream of mine. Somebody told me the other day that if I didn’t win it’d be okay because I won a tournament (this year). I think I’d trade that trophy for an AOY title. It’s the ultimate accomplishment in our sport because it means you’ve done well throughout the year in all these states and under all these conditions.”
The only thing he’d have preferred is to have been on the water, with his destiny in his own hands.
“I would’ve liked to have won it being in the ball game,” he said. “If I’d have lost it, I know I would’ve liked to have been fishing to feel like I had some control over it.”
For Sprague, it was a frustrating way to end the regular season, to be not be moving on to Lake Butte des Morts, the 8,800-acre lake connected to Lake Winnebago via the Fox River that will host the Knockout Round on Saturday.
Jeff Sprague had a solid first period today, but couldn't generate many bites down the stretch.
“I fished hard and I did what I could do, but it wasn’t meant to be for me today,” he said. “I had a decent day, but I just fell short of the goal on both days. I got outfished by the field, Edwin got outfished by the field, too, but I didn’t have it figured out good enough.”
Sprague built some momentum with a couple two-pounders in the third period to put him three pounds above the cut line with more than an hour to go.
“I felt like we were rolling in the right direction,” he said. “The water got dirty where I was and I just ran out of water. I think I moved around a little too much, but I felt like I knew where I needed to go.”
Sprague, who will finish 10 points behind Evers, said he’s relieved the chase is over.
“I’m just glad it’s behind me,” he said. “To be in that situation was humbling, but stressful. They don’t mean to put stress on you, but they do. They have a show to put on. It got to me quite a bit, to be honest.”
Nothing seems to get to Jacob Wheeler these days. The Group B leader after the Shotgun Round never relinquished the lead and added 33-11 today to finish the Winnebago portion of the tournament with 84-15 (55 fish).
Andy Morgan caught five more pounds today than he did Wednesday and moved up to second with 74-13 (45 fish) while Russ Lane remained in third with 71-12 after catching 27-10 today.
Cliff Pace (51, 71-03) and Cody Meyer (43, 70-11) rounded out the top 5.
Four anglers came from outside the top 20 to clinch spots in the Knockout Round. Fred Roumbanis made a 16-spot improvement from 24th to 8th, thanks to a 22-13 first period. He led the group with 45-01 today and secured a sixth straight KO Round berth.
Mark Rose (28th to 13th), Fletcher Shryock (26th to 17th) and Justin Lucas (27th to 20th) also extended their stay in Wisconsin with solid Elimination Round showings.
Fred Roumbanis caught the most weight (45-01) of anyone in Group B today and finished eighth.
Lucas used a third-period flurry that saw him catch nine fish for 15 1/2 pounds (more than he’d caught in the first and second period combined), keeping alive his hopes to qualify for the Redcrest.
He’d hoped to target smallmouth in the southeastern portion of the lake this morning, but big waves put a stop to those plans. He ventured to the west side for most of the day, but couldn’t generate consistent bites.
“I was scrambling right from the start,” he said. “I was trying to make largemouth and smallmouth stuff happen over there. I caught nice fish, but it was one here or there. There was nothing going on at any one spot.”
He ran back to the eastern side in the third period and found the conditions had improved. He relied on his Lakemaster maps and 360 Imaging from Minn Kota to locate rock clusters where smallmouth tend to hang out.
“I caught five fish off one spot where they were schooled up,” he said. “The waves had laid down, the sun was out and that was the deal for the smallies.”
Like Lucas, Roumbanis was in a do-or-die predicament today. He was 24th in points entering the week, but found himself 24th in Group B after Wednesday. He couldn’t afford to slip any further.
“I knew if I didn’t catch them, it’d cost me a Cup and the Redcrest,” he said.
A blistering first period got him up to 11th and he continued to climb from there.
“I found them in practice, but when I started there the first day I got sandwiched,” Roumbanis said. “I couldn’t slow down and fish it properly. It got in my head and the other guys caught them and I didn’t. I went back today and slowed down and made it happen.”
A frog was his key producer and even enticed some bites from some smallmouth.
“It was such an awesome day,” he added. “I caught a couple fat ones and I’m thinking a lot of them are spawning, but you can’t see them. It just seemed like areas were replenishing.”
Weather Forecast
> Sat., June 29 – Mostly Cloudy - 87°/65°
- Wind: From the SW at 5 to 10 mph
> Sun., June 30 – Mix of Clouds and Sun - 81°/66°
- Wind: From the E at 5 to 10 mph
Group B – Elimination Round Results
1. Jacob Wheeler -- 33, 51-04 -- 22, 33-11 -- 55, 84-15
2. Andy Morgan -- 21, 34-15 -- 24, 39-14 -- 45, 74-13
3. Russ Lane -- 26, 44-02 -- 14, 27-10 -- 40, 71-12
4. Cliff Pace -- 24, 30-13 -- 27, 40-06 -- 51, 71-03
5. Cody Meyer -- 23, 39-08 -- 20, 31-03 -- 43, 70-11
6. Randall Tharp -- 19, 29-05 -- 25, 40-08 -- 44, 69-13
7. Jason Christie -- 21, 33-03 -- 21, 36-03 -- 42, 69-06
8. Fred Roumbanis -- 16, 23-12 -- 24, 45-01 -- 40, 68-13
9. Bobby Lane -- 27, 43-08 -- 14, 24-13 -- 41, 68-05
10. Takahiro Omori -- 31, 47-14 -- 12, 18-14 -- 43, 66-12
11. Wesley Strader -- 16, 25-10 -- 26, 37-01 -- 42, 62-11
12. Terry Scroggins -- 21, 38-01 -- 14, 21-12 -- 35, 59-13
13. Mark Rose -- 17, 21-09 -- 23, 37-08 -- 40, 59-01
14. Marty Robinson -- 19, 32-14 -- 14, 24-13 -- 33, 57-11
15. James Elam -- 16, 28-04 -- 15, 27-06 -- 31, 55-10
16. Jared Lintner -- 20, 27-12 -- 16, 27-01 -- 36, 54-13
17. Fletcher Shryock -- 17, 23-04 -- 21, 31-03 -- 38, 54-07
18. Zack Birge -- 17, 32-06 -- 13, 19-14 -- 30, 52-04
19. Randy Howell -- 17, 27-04 -- 14, 24-14 -- 31, 52-02
20. Justin Lucas -- 14, 22-02 -- 16, 29-00 -- 30, 51-02
The following anglers missed the cut and will not compete in the Knockout Round.
21. Tommy Biffle -- 15, 24-05 -- 17, 26-01 -- 32, 50-06
22. Jordan Lee -- 14, 19-03 -- 19, 30-06 -- 33, 49-09
23. Britt Myers -- 15, 24-15 -- 17, 24-09 -- 32, 49-08
24. Adrian Avena -- 20, 31-01 -- 13, 18-05 -- 33, 49-06
25. Jeff Sprague -- 16, 23-11 -- 16, 24-15 -- 32, 48-10
26. Aaron Martens -- 14, 24-08 -- 14, 19-00 -- 28, 43-08
27. Chris Lane -- 14, 19-15 -- 14, 22-06 -- 28, 42-05
28. Jason Lambert -- 13, 25-03 -- 8, 12-15 -- 21, 38-02
29. Ish Monroe -- 18, 27-15 -- 6, 9-15 -- 24, 37-14
30. Stephen Browning -- 13, 16-02 -- 12, 20-02 -- 25, 36-04
31. Shin Fukae -- 11, 16-03 -- 10, 17-10 -- 21, 33-13
32. Timmy Horton -- 16, 24-10 -- 6, 8-07 -- 22, 33-01
33. Jacob Powroznik -- 11, 19-04 -- 7, 10-02 -- 18, 29-06
34. Keith Poche -- 12, 18-06 -- 7, 9-02 -- 19, 27-08
35. David Walker -- 6, 9-06 -- 9, 15-02 -- 15, 24-08
36. Shaw Grigsby -- 7, 10-06 -- 10, 12-16 -- 17, 23-06
37. Dean Rojas -- 9, 17-05 -- 3, 4-05 -- 12, 21-10
38. Luke Clausen -- 13, 16-12 -- 4, 4-06 -- 17, 21-02
39. Mike McClelland -- 9, 12-08 -- 5, 8-00 -- 14, 20-08
40. Jonathon VanDam -- 3, 7-02 -- 4, 5-03 -- 7, 12-05
