With the Bassmaster Elite Series opener on Texas’ Lake Amistad complete, YUM pro Edwin Evers finds himself in a familiar place. Finishing in eighth place, the Oklahoma angler made yet another Top 10 in a major event.
The winner of three BASS tournaments in his young career, Evers also has notched three second-place finishes and four thirds - and he has finished in the top 10 in an amazing 27 of 98 BASS events he has entered.
Evers, who jointed the YUM Bait Company pro staff during the offseason, used two main baits throughout the four-day tournament. His No. 1 bass producer, was a 4.25-inch YUM Vibra King Tube, which he flipped into bushes.
However, Evers also caught a couple big fish each day on an XCalibur Xr75 Rattle Bait, a not-yet-released big brother to the highly popular Xr50 Rattle Bait. The new Xr75, which weighs 3/4-ounces, will be out late spring or early summer.
Interestingly, Evers said that he did not have a particularly good practice. He essentially
"went fishing" anew each day – continuing to fish new water each day. Nevertheless, he was able to bring 87 pounds, 2 ounces to the scales over the course of four days.
The Battle on the Border at Lake Amistad is the first of 11 Bassmaster Elite Series events, where the nation’s top pros compete four days for a top prize of $100,000 and a total purse of more than $650,000. The field of 108 pros is cut to 50 after two days of fishing then cut to 12 for the final day of competition.
Next on the Elite Series schedule are California’s Clear Lake and the legendary California Delta, and then the pros head east for some Deep South fishing.