Jeremy Starks Wins On Wheeler
*photo credited: ESPN/BASS
“If you want to win than you are going to have to catch 25 lbs. tomorrow”, Jeremy Starks told Kevin VanDam after the day three weigh-in. Starks who was sitting in 2nd before the final day was less than 2 lbs behind KVD and feeling confident that he had saved enough fish for the final day to put together a winning sack for his 1st BASS Elite Series win and he was right.
Starks steped onto the stage with KVD sitting in the hot seat after weighing in 20 lbs for a 78-2 lb total. After Starks totals were announced, it was less than 1/2 a pound that separated the two with Starks weighing in 21-15 lbs for a 4 day total of 78-10 lbs.
Starks had found a spot that he doesn’t know how all of the other pros missed. “I was fishing a small ditch in a creek mouth that a ton of other guys were fishing”, Starks said. “The key area within the ditch was a small bend with a shell bed laying inside”, he said. Starks used a 10 inch Berkley Power Worm to catch most of his bigger fish. After limiting out early on day 1 in his area with around 17 lbs, Starks backed off of his spot so he didn’t have to start throwing 3 lbr’s back. “Everybody was assuming it was going to take around 14 to 15 lbs a day to make the cut. After I had 17 lbs. I didn’t want to exhaust the area so I backed off and left the fish alone until today. Saving the best for last and obviously it worked”, Starks said.
KVD slipped from 1st on the final day to second and little to say about the statement given to him by Starks. “He (Starks) didn’t need to say anything to motivate me, but it didn’t hurt neither”, KVD said after being asked whether or not the statement by Starks motivated him before their day of fishing. KVD’s 4 day total of 78-2 lbs was accounted for by Strike Kings Series 5 crankbaits in Sexy Shad and Chartreuse Shad.
The Angler of the Year points race lead again changed hands as Mike McClelland slipped up giving way for Todd Faircloth to re-assume the lead he once had. Todd finished the event with a 4th place finish and again showed the same silent consistancy that he has shown throughout his career. Faircloth’s finish was also helped out by the big bass of the tournament weighing 7-13 lbs.
Most of the anglers in the field were keying in on grass with shell beds around the Decatur Flats area. With most anglers reporting catches of up to 100 fish a day, Terry scroggins said,”After catching over 200 fish this weekend I think I finally ran out today”. That pretty much summarizes the type of fishing that was going on all weekend long on Lake Wheeler in Alabama during the Sothern Challenge.
The top 12 finishers are as follows:
Jeremy Starks - 78-10
Kevin VanDam - 78-2
Terry Scroggins - 67-1
John Murray - 66-0
Matt Sphar - 65-2
Todd Faircloth - 65-1
Morizo Shimizu - 61-3
Matt Reed - 61-2
Corey Waldrop - 58-7
Shaw Grigsby - 54-5
Kotaro Kiriyama - 53-14
Mark Menendez - 51-11
For a complete list of results visit:
http://proxy.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/members/ldr/leaderboard?tournamentId=836
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POSTED IN: BASS, BASS Elite Series, Miscellaneous
4 opinions for Jeremy Starks Wins On Wheeler
Rich
Jun 9, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Maybe now that he had a good tourney he will update his Blog… LOL!
Tim
Jun 9, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Hey, Don … happen to have any good audio feeds of the smack talk that took place surrounding Starks and KVD?
Don Zaegel
Jun 11, 2008 at 7:22 am
Unfortunatley not. It was just a remark Starks made to KVD concluding day 3.
Nope, still no update on Starks website.
Jeff Holland
Jul 19, 2008 at 5:12 pm
On Wheeler Lake what kind of rods and reel was he using?
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