Robbie Dodson of Harrison, Ark., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 14 pounds, 13 ounces Friday to win the EverStart Series Central Division event on Bull Shoals with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 44 pounds, 1 ounce. For his victory, Dodson earned $22,026 and a Z518 Ranger boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor.
“It’s been a tough week,”said Dodson. “The lake dropped drastically each day and I had to run new water every day. I started in East Sugarloaf on day one, moved to West Sugarloaf on day two and today I fished Shoal Creek, I would start at the mouth of each creek, put my trolling motor down and fish to the back. With the water dropping the way it did my knowledge of the lake was key. I knew that if I didn’t catch fish in these areas I wasn’t going to catch them anywhere.
“I was mostly fishing the fronts of bushes, I could see the bass about 5 to 10-feet in front of the bush so that’s what I was targeting,”Dodson continued. “I used Luck E-Strike Flipping Finesse jigs with 2-1/2 inch Bass Magic Fighting Craw in green bamboo to catch most of my fish. I had to fish real slow and that’s all it was.
“You know sometimes things are just meant to be and there is nothing you can do to change it. That’s how this week was for me, it was just meant to be.
“I had three good partners and we all got along real well. The turkeys were out and we listened to them goblin’ and settled down to fish. It was a fun week.”
Rounding out the top 10 pros were:
| 2nd: | Zach King | Clarksville, Ark. | 15 bass | 39-9 | $7,552 |
| 3rd: | Ray Meredith | Smiths Grove, Ky. | 15 bass | 39-7 | $6,293 |
| 4th: | National Guard pro Justin Lucas | Guntersville, Ala. | 15 bass | 39-0 | $5,664 |
| 5th: | Rich Dalbey | Greenville, Texas | 15 bass | 38-7 | $5,035 |
| 6th: | Shane Long | Springfield, Mo. | 15 bass | 37-14 | $4,405 |
| 7th: | Robert Dodson | Harrison, Ark. | 15 bass | 37-10 | $3,776 |
| 8th: | Lance Williams | Billings, Mo. | 15 bass | 35-6 | $3,147 |
| 9th: | Frank Clark | Benton, Ill. | 14 bass | 35-3 | $2,517 |
| 10th: | Dave Crisenbery | Flippin, Ark. | 13 bass | 34-12 | $1,888 |
Keith Williams caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Friday – a 5-pound, 13-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s EverStart Series Big Bass award of $154.
David Gillham of Heath, Texas, won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger boat with an Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 33 pound, 12 ounces.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:
| 2nd: | Jon Paulovich | Bryant Ark. | 12 bass | 29-15 | $3,127 |
| 3rd: | Thomas Loeffelman, Jr. | Valles Mines, Mo. | 13 bass | 29-9 | $2,779 |
| 4th: | Jeff Johnson | Ash Flat, Ark. | 15 bass | 28-14 | $2,432 |
| 5th: | Tony Spinks | Springfield, Mo. | 13 bass | 28-1 | $2,084 |
| 6th: | Steve Gregg | Florissant, Mo. | 11 bass | 23-12 | $1,737 |
| 7th: | Randy Rose | Gainesville, Mo. | 11 bass | 23-3 | $1,390 |
| 8th: | Steve Kumke | Belleville,Ill. | nine bass | 20-6 | $1,042 |
| 9th: | Ben Due | Mauston, Wis. | 10 bass | 19-2 | $695 |
| 10th: | Mark Howard | Mesquite, Texas | nine bass | 17-8 | $556 |
Tommy Lowery caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Friday – a 4-pound, 5-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s EverStart Series Big Bass award of $102.
The EverStart Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Each division consists of four tournaments and competitors will be vying for valuable points in each division that could earn them the Strike King Angler of the Year title along with $5,000 for the pro and $2,000 for the co-angler. The top 40 pros and co-anglers from each respective division will qualify for the EverStart Series Championship that will be held on the Ouachita River in Monroe, La., Nov. 1- 4, 2012.
The next EverStart Series Central Division tournament will be May 10-12 at Kentucky/Barkley lakes in Gilbertsville, Ky., and is hosted by Marshall County Tourist Commission.
For complete details and updated information visit the FLWOutdoors website. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the EverStart Series on Facebook at Facebook/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter/FLWFishing.
ABOUT FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing unparalleled fishing resources and entertainment to our sponsors, fans and host communities. FLW is offering anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2012 over the course of 191 tournaments across five tournament circuits, each providing an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW is committed to providing a lifestyle experience that is the “Best in Fishing, On and Off the Water,”through a variety of platforms including tournaments, outdoor expos and the world’s richest fantasy sports game – FLW Fantasy Fishing. For more information about FLW and FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit the FLWOutdoors or FantasyFishing websites and look for FLW on Twitter and Facebook.By: Julie Huber,
