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There are five professional level tournaments left in 2008; four FLW Series events, two in the BP Eastern Division, and two in the National Guard Western Division. The fifth professional level event left this year is the PAA Corporate Cup presented by OPTIMA® Batteries.
Set for Alabama’s Pickwick Lake October 9 – 11, 2008, The PAA Corporate Cup presented by OPTIMA® Batteries will provide opportunity for tour level anglers to partner in competition for a change, as opposed to being the individual pursuit that it usually is. The result of the four angler team format will allow for some unique pairings, selected by the anglers themselves.
One of those teams might seem a perfect match to some observers when looking at their shared endorsements are Edwin Evers of Mannsville, Okla. and Matt Reed of Madisonville, Tex. Those observers would be absolutely correct; they are a match made for The Corporate Cup, as there is a lot of history with these two Elite Series pros.
Beside the fact that they both run Nitro boats equipped with Mercury and MotorGuide propulsion, they both represent YUM and the rest of PRADCO’s product line, and they are a part of the Bass Pro Shops Fishing Team. These shared sponsors are no coincidence, as Evers and Reed are friends who travel the Elite Series circuit together, work together during practice, and set up their camps in the same campgrounds.
What some may not know is that these two friendly Elite Series combatants spent three years fishing team tournaments in Texas.
Over the next few weeks, the PAA will distribute several stories highlighting the teams that will be competing in the Corporate Cup presented by OPTIMA® Batteries. The stories will detail how the teams came together, which company they are representing and how they match up against the rest of the teams scheduled to compete.
When researching their collective Elite Series statistics, Evers and Reed are responsible for more than $1.6 million in career BASS earnings, 45 top ten finishes that include five wins and ten trips to the Bassmaster Classic. With this kind of success behind the OPTIMA® Batteries team, how do they feel about their chances at the Corporate Cup?
Evers said that he is looking forward to the Corporate Cup, “I am really looking forward to fishing with Matt in a team format again,” said the past PAA Board Member. “These kinds of events really allow you to have fun in a very low pressure format; the atmosphere is conducive to fishing to win.”
Reed echoed his partner’s anticipation for several reasons. “I love team events like this and the TTBC,” he disclosed. “They really add to the enjoyment of competitive fishing because we get to work together. It also gives me one more high level event to fish in the fall.”
He also thinks that bringing the Elite Series and FLW Tour pros together is a good thing. “When the PAA puts one of these events together, it helps bring us all together which is something we rarely get to do,” Reed said. “Being able to get together with our counterparts is one of the great things about PAA events, and the Corporate Cup will be no different.”
As far as handicapping the OPTIMA® Batteries team, one would think that a Sooner and a Texan would have to focus on shallow water to be successful at Pickwick. However, their records show quite the opposite. Evers’ Elite Series win at Lake Erie last year and a 3rd finish place there this year along with a strong 13th place showing on nearby Wheeler Lake. Reed’s season included an 8th place finish at Wheeler and a 17th place at Kentucky Lake, another Tennessee Valley Authority impoundment.
From all accounts, Pickwick is expected to have two distinct patterns that are capable of producing winning stringers, shallow hydrilla and offshore structure. Evers said that their individual abilities make them effective given the expected conditions. “I think Matt’s biggest single strength as an angler is fishing grass,” Evers said. “I feel like mine is structure fishing, so the pair of us will practice to our strengths and come up with a game plan that we think we can win with.”
Neither angler has ever been on Pickwick Lake before, but neither pro feels that is a disadvantage. “Some of my best tournaments have come on lakes I’d never been on,” he said about his three BASS Tour Level Wins on Lakes Eufala, Norman and Erie in 2003, 2005 and last year. “Fishing new water doesn’t frighten me, and that will help when it comes to being on Pickwick this fall.”
Like his partner, Reed’s history at Pickwick is also scant. “This will be my first time on Pickwick,” Reed said. “But I love fishing the other impoundments in the chain, and I really like that style of fishing, so this being my first time going to the lake doesn’t bother me at all; I really like fishing on three days of practice, anything longer and patterns can run their course and become ineffective.”
When you consider that Evers and Reed are both ranked in the top 100 (5th and 79th respectively) in qualifying PAA points events in 2008, a focused, open approach to practice has produced results for them all year, as well as in the past. One thing is for certain, they both will be at the PAA Corporate Cup presented by OPTIMA® Batteries, and they will have power to burn, as a team and in their boats.
For more information on the PAA and the
Corporate Cup presented by OPTIMA®,
go to www.FishPAA.com.
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