MARBURY, Md. -– John Hutchins of Warrenton, Va., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 11 pounds, 3 ounces Saturday to lead wire-to-wire and win the EverStart Series Northern Division event on the Potomac River with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 46 pounds, 12 ounces. For his victory, Hutchins earned $31,695.
“I have seven years of tournament fishing experience,” said Hutchins. “This is definitely the biggest event that I have ever fished. I really had to stay focused out there. I came in with the mindset that I was not competing against any other anglers, but against the fish. I told my wife before the tournament that if I could boat the fish that would I knew would bite for me, I would have a real good shot at winning.”
The weather conditions were brutal Saturday – heavy winds, rain and severe thunderstorm watches and warnings. Hutchins decided that his best strategy was to return to the same areas that he had fished on day 1, and headed north into the wind-protected bays. Hutchins methodically fished hard cover, throwing a shaky-head trailered with a plum apple-colored Yamamoto Senko.
“I fished as shallow as 2 feet and the deepest I fished all day was 8 feet,” Hutchins went on to say. “I only lost three fish throughout the tournament, and two of them were right away this morning on my first two casts. And they were big. I knew I just had to stay calm, and fish. I just kept grinding and was able to get a fish about every two hours. I ended up with eight bites and a limit, so it still worked out.
Hutchins said his experience on the Potomac River has been a huge key to his tournament success. He now has two tournament wins on the Washington, D.C. fishery, as he tied for first place at a Walmart BFL Shenandoah division event earlier this year.
The top 10 pros finished the tournament in:
1st: John Hutchins, Warrenton, Va., 15 bass, 46-12, $31,695
2nd: Cory Johnston, Peterborough, Ont., 15 bass, 44-11, $10,867
3rd: Walter (Mike) Snider, Mount Airy, Md., 14 bass, 44-3, $9,056
4th: Jimmy Kennedy, Plainfield, Vt., 15 bass, 39-11, $8,150
5th: Micah Frazier, Newnan, Ga., 15 bass, 37-9, $7,245
6th: Matt Greenblatt, Port St. Lucie, Fla., 15 bass, 37-6, $6,339
7th: William Shelton III, La Crosse, Va., 14 bass, 36-4, $5,433
8th: Christiana Bradley, Bealeton, Va., 14 bass, 35-10, $4,528
9th: Chris Dillow, Waynesboro, Va., 13 bass, 34-14, $3,622
10th: William Kramer, North Potomac, Md., 12 bass, 32-7, $2,717
Complete results can be found at http://FLWOutdoors.com.
Hutchins also caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro Division Thursday – a 5-pound, 7-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s EverStart Series Big Bass award of $258.
Marvin Reese of Gwynn Oak, Md., won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger Z117 with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 35 pounds, 8 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers were:
1st: Marvin Reese, Gwynn Oak, Md., 15 bass, 35-8, Ranger Z117 with 90-horsepower outboard
2nd: Russ Hamilton Jr., Manassas, Va., 15 bass, 33-4, $4,163
3rd: Robert Wedding, Welcome, Md., 15 bass, 32-15, $3,700
4th: Ben Dziwulski, Woodbine, Md., 14 bass, 29-1, $3,238
5th: Safulla Rana, Warrenton, Va., 14 bass, 28-1, $2,775
6th: Thomas Shafer, Pine City, N.Y., 12 bass, 26-15, $2,313
7th: Kermit Crowder, Matoaca, Va., 10 bass, 26-1, $1,850
8th: David Williams, Fredericksburg, Va., 12 bass, 26-6, $1,388
9th: Richard McRory, North Hero, Vt., 12 bass, 25-0, $925
10th: Bob Tickell, Germantown, Md., eight bass, 20-14, $740
Stephen Semelsberger Jr.of Mount Airy, Md., caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday – a 5-pound, 5-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s EverStart Series Big Bass award of $172.
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.