Photo courtesy of PAA / Fishpaa.com
Nitro Boats pro Edwin Evers of Oklahoma slammed the door on his first win in three years Saturday with a three-day total of 40.71 pounds at Lake Norman in the PAA Bass Pro Shops Tournament Series presented by Carrot Stix.
Evers stuck with three baits all three days: a Booyah buzzbait, and a green pumpkin Booyah jig and Yum Dinger. He caught one on the jig and four on the Dinger on Saturday, including a 5.19-pound largemouth that pushed his catch to 15.70 pounds. That was the largest limit of the tournament and sealed the win.
Alternating between shallow, shady areas with cover and brushpiles in deeper water in front of docks, Evers overtook Megabass pro Shinichi Fukae of Texas and held off strong charges from Bass Pro Shops pro Ott DeFoe of Tennessee and Ranger Boats pro Chris Baumgardner of North Carolina.
Fukae had four bass weighing 7.99 pounds and fell three spots to fourth place. DeFoe continued his climb up the standings – he moved from 34th to second in the final two days – and finished behind Evers with 34.80. Baumgardner was third with 34.63.
Evan Williams Bourbon pro Jason Quinn of South Carolina was fifth with 30.63.
The rest of the Top 10:
6. Takahiro Omori, Texas — 30.60
7. Anthony Gagliardi, South Carolina — 30.34
8. Andy Montgomery, North Carolina — 29.66
9. Aaron Martens, Alabama — 29.52
10. Russ Lane, Alabama — 29.40
