EverStart Series Texas Division Continues on Lake Texoma, Texas
OutdoorHub 04.09.13
The EverStart Series is headed to Lake Texoma April 18-20 for a tournament presented by Evinrude when as many as 300 pros and co-anglers take to the water for the third of four stops in the Texas Division.
“They are catching fish down there pretty well right now,” said Chevy pro Jimmy Houston of Cookson, Okla. “They are catching them on spinnerbaits, jigs, crankbaits, and a few of the guys are even catching them on umbrella rigs. It’s a good crankbait lake because there is a tremendous amount of rock in it. Crawfish-colored and fire tiger-patterned baits seem to work the best down there. There is a good likelihood that some of the bigger fish could be caught slow rolling a spinnerbait in 5 to 8 feet of water as well.
“We have had some really bad weather the past few weeks,” Houston continued. “We even had some temperatures in the 20’s in April. That is unheard of down here. But the weather is supposed to be getting better. Things are getting green, and it’s starting to look like springtime. The water has warmed up and the fish have started moving in. Actually, a few of the fish have been on beds and a couple of weeks from now, there might be quite a few more going onto beds. The fish will be in the spawning areas back in the tail ends of pockets and creeks.
“There will definitely be some 18 to 22 pound stringers, but putting weights like that together for three days in a row is pretty difficult to do,” Houston went on to say. “It’s a pretty good lake, and it has got a lot of smallmouth in it too. I would expect to see several nice smallmouth weighed in at that tournament, with some going over 5 pounds. The smallmouth like to hang around the area down around the dam. There are also a lot of striped bass in the lake, so anglers will inevitably catch some of those while they are fishing as well.”
Anglers will take off from Highport Marina located at 120 Texoma Harbor Drive in Pottsboro, Texas, at 7 a.m. each day. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will be held at the take off site beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart, located at 401 N. U.S. Highway 75 in Denison, Texas, beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Pros will fish for a top award of $40,000 plus a Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard if Ranger Cup guidelines are met. Co-anglers will cast for a top award consisting of a Ranger Z117 with 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $5,000 if Ranger Cup guidelines are met.
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, which allows them to fish the 2014 Forrest Wood Cup.
The EverStart Series tournament on Lake Texoma is being hosted by the Denison Area Chamber of Commerce.
