Edwin Evers Takes Early Lead

Edwin Evers brought the lone limit to the scales from Day 1 of B.A.S.S. All Star Week and took an early lead in the competition. B.A.S.S. Photo by Seigo Saito.

With the first round of B.A.S.S. All Star Week halfway in the books, Edwin Evers and Ott DeFoe (who places 2nd and1st in last year's all stars) have stepped ahead of the pack. Evers and DeFoe weighed 13-1 and 11-3, respectively, yesterday, with the other 10 competitors each bringing 7-7 or less to the scales. All 12 All Stars will fish again today at Illinois' Lake Shelbyville, and then only the top four will move on to Lake Decatur, where they will fish head to head in a two-day seeded elimination tournament. Tomorrow's semi-final round will include two one-on-one match-ups, and the two winners of those matches will compete for the All Star title on Sunday.

Neither Evers nor DeFoe opted to say much about yesterday's patterns. Today's competition is on the same waters, which fished tough yesterday. Evers brought in the lone limit, and only DeFoe and Aaron Martins, who is currently in 3rd place, brought in four fish. Six of the 12 anglers brought in one or less fish from the first day of competition.

B.A.S.S. All Stars Begin Today

Tennessee pro Ott DeFoe, who won last year's All Star Week event, qualified again this year and therefore will get the opportunity to defend his title.

Twelve All Stars, two lakes, four days and a unique format that includes head-to-head elimination rounds. On Sunday one All Star champion will be crowned. The action begins in a little less than three hours.

The field of 12 includes the top eight finishers in the 2012 B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year standings, plus four anglers chosen by fan voting, and it's definitely a star-studded cast and promises plenty of drama.

Top eight includes last year's All Star champ and the 2011 Rookie of the Year Ott DeFoe, so he has the opportunity to defend. Other pros who made the event by virtue of season standings were 2012 Angler of the Year Brent Chapman, Terry "Big Show" Scroggins, Todd Faircloth, Randy Howell, Matt Herron, Kevin VanDam and Edwin Evers.

No surprises in the fan picks -- Mike Iaconelli, Gerald Swindle, Skeet Reece and Aaron Martens. In fact, if you somehow could have removed  the Top 8 from consideration and held the vote before the first tournament was even held this year and without any of the angler campaigning for votes, I suspect the results would have been exactly the same. Those guys have earned fan favor and respect over the years.

The split venue of Illinois' Lake Shelbyville for the semi-finals and Lake Decatur for the finals provides plenty of mystery for pros and fans alike. Although both are locally popular waterways that host a lot of tournament, neither has much of a name nationally nor has played  host to such a marquis event. Tweets and facebook posts I've seen from the competitors suggest that it's fishing pretty tough. We'll know more soon!