“It took a lot of hard work to get here,” said Kreiger. “I was predominantly fishing the river for as many bites as I could get, it was tough catching anything big. I tried fishing the bayous a little bit but the quantity of bites was not there and knew I would be better off on the river.

“On the last day of practice my partner and I headed towards the Columbia Lock,” Kreiger continued. “You could see the shad on just about any piece of wood. When I figured that pattern out I pretty much had my game plan. I used War Eagle spinnerbaits, CP1 or CP2 crankbaits and a Mini-Frenzy umbrella rig to catch all my fish this week. The river was about 50-feet deep where I was fishing and the bass were suspending in about 7- or 8-feet of water.

“Making next year’s Forrest Wood Cup definitely takes a lot of pressure off,” Kreiger went on say. “It’s a big feat; however, I won’t fish any differently than I normally would during the season.”

Final top-10 pro standings:

      1st:        Koby Kreiger, Okeechobee, Fla., 20 bass, 38-5, $50,000 plus a Ranger Boat with outboard motor

      2nd:      Kent Ware, Wadmalaw Island, S.C., 20 bass, 34-6, $16,500

      3rd:        James Stricklin Jr., Texarkana, Texas, 15 bass, 32-8, $8,500

      4th:        Joseph Kremer, Osteen, Fla., 20 bass, 32-0, $7,500

       5th:        Casey Martin, New Market, Ala., 20 bass, 31-13, $6,600

      6th:        Bill Chapman, Salt Rock, W. Va., 19 bass, 31-11, $5,700

      7th:        Larry Jones, Acworth, Ga., 20 bass, 31-4, $4,900

       8th:        Brandon Medlock, Lake Placid, Fla., 13 bass, 30-14, $4,100

       9th:        Robbie Dodson, Harrison, Ark., 20 bass, 30-14, $3,300

       10th:      Kettle Brand Chips pro Dan Morehead, Paducah, Ky., 20 bass, 30-9, $2,500

A complete list of results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.

Daniel Leue of Colusa, Calif., won the co-angler division by 1 pound over Audie Brantley of North Augusta, S.C. Leue had a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 20 pounds, 3 ounces to win a Ranger Z117 with 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard. Brantley took second place with 13 bass weighing 19-3 to win $4,100.

The EverStart Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Each division consists of four tournaments where competitors earn valuable points to help them qualify for the EverStart Championship. The top 40 pro and co-anglers from each respective division qualified for this event. Pros were competing for a top award of $50,000 plus a Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard if Ranger Cup guidelines were met. Co-anglers were fishing for a top award consisting of a Ranger Z117 with 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $5,000 if Ranger Cup guidelines were met. The EverStart Pro and Co-Champion also earned a berth in the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup being held on the Red River in Shreveport-Bossier City, La., Aug. 15-18.

The EverStart Championship which was held on the Ouachita River was hosted by the Monroe/West Monroe Convention & Visitors Bureau and was the final EverStart Series tournament of the 2012 season. The EverStart Series will kick-off the 2013 season again when the Southeast Division visits Lake Okeechobee in Okeechobee, Fla., Jan. 10-12.

Coverage of the EverStart Championship will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs Jan. 6, 2013, from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. “FLW” is hosted by Jason Harper and is broadcast to more than 559 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.