Kerr Northeastern Stren
Evans Wins By 14 Ounces

Saturday, June 17, 2006

He finished 14 ounces ahead of Vermont's Curt Tindall, who weighed in the biggest sack of the day (14-11) and finished with 28-08. South Carolinians occupied the next two positions – Todd Auten was 3rd (13-11 today, 27-05 total) and Andy Montgomery was 4th (12-14, 16-04). Pennsylvania's Ryan Park (13-05, 24-05) rounded out the Top 5.

Here's how the bottom half of the Top 10 field finished:

6. Tim McDonald: 24-02
7. Jacob Powroznik: 23-08
8. Ray Griffin: 22-07
9. Cavin Young: 19-00
10. Keith Monson: 14-12

McDonald, an FLW Series pro, and Powroznik, who fishes both the Tour and Series, were deadlocked with Evans after day 3. Both caught limits today, but they were small – McDonald's weighed 8-08 and Powroznik's checked in at 7-14.

Eight of the 10 anglers caught limits on another bright, sunny day in the Henderson, N.C. area. Young (three fish for 6-06) and Monson (one for 2-03) were the only exceptions.

Heaven for Evans

How did Evans feel at the moment he realized he'd won?

"I was in heaven," said the 48-year-old construction company owner who grabbed the final cut position (20th) on day 2. "I could have jumped off the stage and touched the sky.

"I've won a lot of little tournaments and local stuff, but nothing like this. A lot of the best fishermen in the East were here. I'm proud of this."

He caught all 20 of his weigh-in fish on jigs and won despite losing a 7-pounder today.

"That really would have sealed the deal," he said. "I hit her hard and brought her about 10 feet, and then she came flying out of the water and did a somersault and just came unbuttoned. There wasn't anything I could have done differently – it just wasn't meant to be, but I sure would've liked to hold her up on the stage."

He said he had an excellent practice. "I tried to establish three or four patterns. That way, if one of them died, I wouldn't be lost."

Details of his winning pattern will be posted soon.

3rd: Auten Lost Good One

Auten wasn't unhappy about his finish, but he wasn't thrilled either.

"I did about as good as I could, I guess," he said. "I lost one fish this morning that cost me – it was about a 5-pounder. You're going to lose some fish on topwaters."

He said he caught about 16 keepers, and the biggest was 4 pounds.

"Right after I missed that first big fish, I caught the (4-pounder)," he said. "If I could have had both of those in the boat early, I might have had a chance. It could have been a day to catch 15 pounds."

He fished on top for about the first hour, then ran shallow docks and stumps the rest of the day.

"If I caught a good one off a dock, I'd go back to it later in the day," he said. "There'd usually be another one back up in there in a couple hours."

He caught his dock fish on an Outlaw jig with a Zoom Vibe Chunk trailer (green-pumpkin).

4th: Montgomery High and Low

Like his good friend Auten, Montgomery had mixed emotions about his final placement.

"It feels pretty good," he said. "You don't like to get into the Top 10 and not win, but you ought to feel good anytime you make the Top 10 to begin with."

He caught "10 or 12" keepers today, but lost his best bite. "It was about 5 (pounds)," he said. "The rest were all just 2-pounders.

"I was culling by 8:00, but I just couldn't cull enough."

He spent the first day dragging a jig for deep fish, but resorted to flipping shallow docks, trees and stumps over the next 3.

"On the second day I was struggling and I told my non-boater that I needed to go shallow to try to catch a limit," he said. "The first one I caught was over 5. I think the big ones pulled up with the water coming up.

"The key was the areas I was in. There was a lot of baitfish in there."

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 10 anglers, 8 limits, no zeroes.

> Evans is in just his second year as a Stren boater. His highest previous FLW Outdoors finish was 10th as a co-angler in the 2004 Stren Championship at Kentucky's Lake Cumberland.

Day 4 (Final) Standings

1. Larry Evans -- Southpoint, Oh -- 5, 15-10 -- 5, 13-12 -- 10, 29-06 -- $10,000 + boat

2. Curt Tindall -- Brandon, Vt -- 5, 13-13 -- 5, 14-11 -- 10, 28-08 -- $10,000

3. Todd Auten -- Lake Wylie, SC -- 5, 13-10 -- 5, 13-11 -- 10, 27-05 -- $8,950

4. Andy Montgomery -- Blacksburg, SC -- 5, 13-06 -- 5, 12-14 -- 10, 26-04 -- $7,950

5. Ryan Park -- Elizabethtown, Pa -- 5, 11-00 -- 5, 13-05 -- 10, 24-05 -- $7,450

6. Tim McDonald -- Hagerhill, Ky -- 5, 15-10 -- 5, 8-08 -- 10, 24-02 -- $6,450

7. Jacob Powroznik -- Prince George, Va -- 5, 15-10 -- 5, 7-14 -- 10, 23-08 -- $5,450

8. Ray Griffin -- Henderson, NC -- 5, 11-10 -- 5, 10-13 -- 10, 22-07 -- $4,950

9. Cavin Young -- Prince George, Va -- 5, 12-10 -- 3, 6-06 -- 8, 19-00 -- $4,450

10. Keith Monson -- Burgin, Ky -- 5, 12-09 -- 1, 2-03 -- 6, 14-12 -- $3,950