After a layoff from fishing major tournament series for a few years Kent Ware was hoping to make a little noise when he returned to the Southeast Division EverStart Series this year. He did that and more, finishing the season as the Southeast Division’s EverStart Strike King Angler of the Year.

“I had a good, solid season,” said Ware, whose professional career is in saltwater, rather than freshwater. As manager of the Bears Bluff National Fish Hatchery on Wadlamaw, Island, S.C., Ware works with redfish, sturgeon, cobia, American shad and even oysters. But his passion is bass fishing, especially bass tournament fishing.

“It was nice to be able to fish four weeks this year. I don’t get to fish a whole lot, but I was able this year to take leave and be off four or five days and practice – and I had a good season as a result.”

Ware, who will lead Southeast Division anglers in the FLW EverStart Series Championship on the Ouachita River near Monroe, La., next week, earned a check in every tournament in the division this year, finishing the season with $20,878 in win money.

He finished 6^th at Lake Okeechobee in the season opener Jan. 19, 19^th at Lake Seminole March 22, second at Santee Cooper April 19, and, even though he dropped to 46^th at Lake Guntersville in the final event May 3, he tallied enough points to earn the AOY title.

“I’ve made one short trip over there and spent two days on the water,” said Ware. “I was able to learn a little bit about the fishery, but not a whole lot. It is hard to get around with the low water level and there is the potential for a lot of equipment to get torn up in the tournament because of the stumps.”

Ware said the water is too low and there are too many stumps to access the backwaters off the main river.

“On top of that it looks like we are going to have the first major cold front of the year coming through that area,” he added.

However, although he is primarily a shallow water angler, he said he feels pretty comfortable going into the championship.

“Being a shallow water fisherman, a cold front is not conducive to my kind of fishing, but it looks like it will be a shallow water fishery,” he said. “I found numbers of fish, but did not get on any quality fish so that is my concern. I should be able to fish four days in practice before the tournament so I will cover as much diverse water as I can and try to locate and build on whatever quality fish I can find.”

Ware said he will fish mainly with jigs and soft plastics and use faster moving baits such as spinnerbaits and crankbaits to locate fish.

“I’ll start out with the fast-moving baits and if that does not work I will have to slow down. Fall tournaments are notoriously tough, at least the ones I’ve been involved in,” he said.

Ware’s work with saltwater species has been very productive the last few years. Last year the lab spawned sturgeon for only the second time that has ever been done in captivity. The redfish program has gone really well, he said, and the cobia program has reached a milestone.

“We had a good season with cobia. We produced the first fingerling cobia we’d ever done. Now we are starting to focus more on habitat than in the past, both in saltwater and with some native aquatic grass restoration in the Santee Cooper System.”

Ware said he also plans to fish the EverStart Series next year, if he can make his fishing schedule fit into his work schedule.

“I had a great time this year and got to fish more than I have in years. I really enjoyed it. Most of the fisheries were shallow water fisheries. I told myself a long time ago I would focus on what I am good at and stay shallow. That seemed to work out for me this year, but there is no telling about next year,” he said.

 

FLW EverStart Series Championship

Nov 1-4, 2012

Ouachita River near Monroe, LA

Forsythe Park

www.flwoutdoors.com