Kris Wilson of Montgomery, Texas, is looking forward to his second full year of fishing the Texas EverStart Series which kicks off Jan. 24 on Lake Amistad. He did pretty well in his first year on the circuit in 2012, claiming Angler of the Year honors with a top 20 finish, a top 10 finish and two top fives.

He started off 2012 by placing 18^th in the Amistad tournament in February, then followed that with a second place at Lake Sam Rayburn in April, 9^th at Toledo Bend in May and 4^th at Lake of the Pines last October.

That second place on Rayburn was his second best finish on the lake. He only fished one EverStart tournament in 2011, the Rayburn tournament, and he won it, earning a nice check for $29,639. In fact, Wilson has earned a check in every Texas Division EverStart tournament he has fished, including single tournaments in 2009 and 2010, both on Sam Rayburn.

By being the top angler for 2012 in the Texas Division, Wilson qualified to move up to the FLW Majors, but has opted to stay with the Texas EverStarts for now.

“I’ve got a 3-year-old son and a mortgage so it’s really not feasible for me to go to FLW,” he said. “I work shift work and a lot of weekends so it’s hard for me even to get off to fish the EverStarts. Last year was the first year I was able to fish the whole series.”

Wilson plans to head to Lake Amistad on Saturday to practice for the tournament next week. The first order of business in practice, he said, will be to eliminate some areas.

“That place is so big I will probably just ride around the first day to see where all the grass is and how the lake sets up,” he said. “There is a lot more grass in the lake than in the past so I think the grass will be a factor, depending on the weather. If it’s warm there will be some pre-spawn staging fish, but if it is cold the deep bite might be a factor.”

However, he said, he looks for the bite to be concentrated in or around the grass.

“I think around the grass it will be more of a moving bait bite – a square-bill crankbait, a spinnerbait, possibly some kind of swim bait and maybe a jerkbait bite. Out on the ledges a football jig should be a good way to catch them and maybe a Carolina rig.”

Another factor is the water level, Wilson said.

“The lake is 30-something feet lower than when we were there last year, so it will be a completely different place from then. For the first day and a half I will try to figure out what section of the lake I will concentrate on.”

Wilson may have only limited time to put into his fishing, but his record on the Texas EverStart Division shows he is pretty handy at figuring the fish out with whatever time he has to survey a lake.

FLW EverStart Series – Texas Division

Jan 24-26, 2013

Lake Amistad

Diablo East Access

www.flwoutdoors.com