Okfbfa06 11 20

THE WORLD’S BIGGEST CAB NOW COMES WITH A $500 CASH ALLOWANCE FOR FARM BUREAU® MEMBERS > RAM MEGA CAB™ > It’s that big > More rear-seat leg room than anything in its class* > Rear seats that actually recline > Largest rear-door opening angle in its class* > Powerful Cummins® Turbo Diesel engine or 5.7L HEMI® V8 available > PLUS Farm Bureau members get an extra $500 cash allowance† > Contact your state Farm Bureau for details > For more info, visit dodge.com/mega_cab or call 800-4ADODGE. *Based on full-size, crew cab pickups. †Must be a Farm Bureau member for at least 30 days. Farm Bureau is federally registered collective membership and a registered service mark of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Cummins is a registered trademark of Cummins, Inc. Dodge and HEMI are registered trademarks of DaimlerChrysler Corporation.

Oklahoma Country • Fall 2006 • 9

By Mike Nichols

YOU GET A LINE, I’LL GET A POLE AND WE’LL GO DOWN TO THAT FISHING HOLE. . .

AND SEE WHO CAN CATCH THE BIGGEST ONE. Right: Terry Butcher Sr., center, has been hooked on fishing for years. It took a concerted effort by him to get his son, Terry Jr., left, interested. Now the veteran fisherman has a son and son-in-law, Edwin Evers, right, on the professional Bassmasters fishing tour.

10 • Oklahoma Country • Fall 2006

Left: Edwin Evers is a transplanted Oklahoman. He came to Oklahoma via Missouri, Texas and Illinois after being introduced to his wife, Tuesday, by his Bassmaster tour buddy Terry Butcher Jr. Tuesday is Terry’s sister. Edwin and Tuesday have a daughter, Kylee.

Right: Terry Butcher Jr. resides in Talala in Rogers County with his wife, Kandase, and their two daughters, Jessie, 11, and Josie, 6.

HEY GREW UP LEARNING TO COMPETE. Edwin Evers strapped on the football pads. He was a star Illinois high school football running back that regularly pounded linemen and linebackers, and earned a scholarship to play college ball.

Terry Butcher Jr. used a mat and a bull rigging. He was a tough-asnails Oklahoma high school wrestler and cowboy. He stayed on the rodeo circuit two years after high school, taking on massive, horned monster bulls without batting an eye.

Now members of the thirty-something generation, Edwin and Terry are no less the competitors each became in his high school days.

And now, there is an “all in the family” factor added to the mix.

The two are brothers-in-law, creating a friendly, yet nonetheless bedlam-like atmosphere for family members who support both but sometimes must choose.

“Blood is thicker than water,” says a smiling Edwin when asked specifically who father-in-law Terry Sr. pulls for.

Edwin and Terry are competitors, the only brothers-in-law plying their trade as members of the professional Bassmasters fishing circuit.

“We get along real well,” says Edwin of his professional and family relationship with Terry. “We help each other out as much as we can.”

“Yeah, there’s plenty of competition. For the most part, everybody socializes on the bank but it’s different on the water,” says Terry.

Edwin and Terry met first on the professional fishing circuit and became friends – good enough friends for Terry to introduce Edwin to his sister, Tuesday, who now is Mrs. Evers.

“That man,” says Edwin pointing at Terry, “introduced me to his sister. That’s how I got here.”

Here for both Edwin and Terry is the small Rogers County town of Talala. Both have homes and their own families there – places and people they don’t see nearly as much as they’d like as they traverse the country going to fishing tournament after fishing tournament.

“You’re gone so much,” says Edwin, who was ranked number four on the tournament circuit in late August. “Being gone from home is the hardest thing.”

“We travel 40,000 to 50,000 miles per year,” explains Terry. “We travel all over the country.”

The Bassmasters circuit the two compete on has an “Elite Series” of 11 regular season tournaments where anglers vie for the opportunity to qualify for the super bowl of bass fishing – “The Bassmasters Classic.”

The tournament season sends the pros – bass boats in tow – across the United States in hopes of taking home grand prizes ranging from $100,000 to $250,000. Tournaments are held from California to New York, from Missouri to Florida and from Texas to Washington, D.C., as well as other stops.

“You’re on the road for about two weeks for each tournament,” says Oklahoma Country • Fall 2006 • 11

Edwin Evers’ bass boat bears the advertising logos of many of his sponsors.

Terry. “I pull a fifth wheel and my boat, so I can camp at all the tournaments.

“We think camping is the only way to go. You’re right there at the lake. Everybody’s there. It’s lots of fun.”

Despite his lofty ranking in this year’s standings, Edwin still tows his own boat and gear to all the tournaments.

It’s a far cry from when he started in sport in 1998.

“I lived in my truck. It was tough, but I wasn’t married, didn’t have any expenses, no family.” dwin, 31, was born in Missouri, then moved with his dad to Texas. He started fishing for fun in Texas. His junior year in high school, he and his dad moved to Illinois where Edwin’s attention turned to football. His skills on the gridiron earned him scholarship offers, and Edwin’s choice was made to take him to a university that had a lake nearby since he still was hooked on fishing.

“Southeastern (at Durant) met the bill with Texoma nearby.”

He played football at Southeastern, but honed his fishing skills on Lake Texoma in several pro-am tournaments. He won three of those tournaments and three decked out bass boats.

“I sold them. I needed the money. I worked lots of odds and ends jobs to make it.”

Edwin graduated Southeastern with a major in communications and minors in management and marketing in 1997. By 1998, he was in his rookie year on the Bassmasters tour. erry, 35, didn’t get the fishing bug as a boy growing up despite his dad’s best efforts.

“Terry was into rodeo,” says Terry Sr., an avid fisherman. “Me and his mom didn’t like that. We thought it was dangerous. I finally got him to go (with me) to a fishing jackpot tournament.

“It worked,” declares the proud poppa. “We won a little money and that really got him motivated, and after that you couldn’t hold him back. Now he’s put me out of the boat.”

Terry Sr. also gives credit to his wife, Coweta, the Rogers County Farm Bureau office secretary.

“He is like Coweta. Now, she is competitive. He got being competitive from his mother. She doesn’t want to lose at nothing.”

“Dad got me started fishing at a jackpot tournament in Oologah. I just started out fishing here and then went into weekend tournaments and then into the pro-ams and eventually on to the elite level.

“It took me a while,” says Terry. “I started in jackpots in 1992. It’s now my second year on the tour.”

Terry is ranked 40th in the Bassmasters standings. His best finish in 2006 was third at one of the series events in New York. With only one qualifier left before the Bassmasters Classic, he still has an opportunity to finish in the top 36 and join Edwin at fishing’s super bowl. The winner of the Classic takes home $500,000.

“There is,” says Terry, “a lot of money it in. You can make a good living. I’m not where I want to be yet, but I’m well on my way. It’s just my sophomore year, so I’m still the new guy on the block.

“If I wanted to make a sure living, I’d stay here and work. I just like competing. The competition kind of sucked me in.”

While Terry still helps out with the family oil-related business when he’s not on tour, Edwin makes his living fishing.

“It’s all I do. I’ve been doing it (full time) ever since 2000, the first year I made it to the Bassmasters Classic. That enabled me to obtain sponsorships to go full time. I have incentives in all my contracts.”

His sponsors are the elite of the bass fishing world – Bass Pro Shops,

12 • Oklahoma Country • Fall 2006

Nitro Boats, Mercury Outboards, Lance Truck Campers, AES Optics, Lowrance Electronics, Motor Guide Motors, Premier Power Sports and Optima Batteries, among others.

“That’s not enough,” declares Edwin, whose boat is emblazoned with the decals of those sponsors. “I could have some more. They supply equipment and a monthly salary. I’m really fortunate, and I’m making a good living. It’s not bad for fishing.”

The sponsorships come with a variety of duties when he’s not on the lake. Edwin does television shows, personal appearances, seminars and instructional videos, just to name a few.

Despite only being in his sophomore year on the tour, Terry has accumulated several sponsors. His boat and tournament shirts are plastered with decals and emblems of businesses such as Ranger Boats, Bass Zone, Red River Tackle, American Eagle Rods and Mercury.

“Sponsors – you do it yourself, and it’s real tough to solicit companies,” he says. “You work for the sponsors, do services for them, and your boat is a billboard. We go places, meet people, do television – basically whatever they want you to do.”

Terry Butchers tows his brightly adorned bass boat 40,000 to 50,000 miles each year to lakes across the United States competing on the Bassmasters professional tour.

oth Edwin and Terry have websites, fishing sports cards and a rather large fan base. Bass fishing fans even have created a fantasy fishing league; and the Talala pair receives regular email notes encouraging them from the players who’ve put them on their teams.

Despite their chosen profession being a dream job for many enthusiasts, both professional anglers say it’s difficult, and sometimes, tiring work.

“All people say ‘I wish I could do that’,” says Edwin.

“People don’t realize how much work it is,” chimes in Terry.

They reiterated that each tournament requires about two weeks of their time. Hitting the road – with a travel trailer and boat in tow – with a destination like Washington, D.C., New York or California is an arduous task.

The host lakes are “off limits” to all the pros for 30 days prior to the start of practice for the tournaments. Anglers have three days to practice on the lakes, with long days spent hunting “the spot” believed to hold the fish, reading maps and peering at the screens of depth/fish finders.

“We go our separate ways when we scout out a lake,” says Edwin, “but we compare notes at night in camp.”

The pros draw numbers on opening day of the tournament for take off times.

“There have been some tournaments delayed by weather every now and then, but once you take off you’re out there,” says Edwin. “We had one guy hit by lightning.”

The typical day at a tournament is about eight to nine hours. That’s not all fishing time, however.

Travel time to their “spot” can be considerable, despite the speed generated by the 225 horsepower outboards anchored firmly to the bass boat’s stern. Round trips sometimes can approach triple digit miles.

Each angler must check in with his day’s catch at weigh-in at a specified time or face substantial penalties.

“I caught the biggest fish of the day on my very last cast in a tournament last year and made it to the weigh-in with only seconds to spare,” says Edwin. “I won $100,000 with that fish. I remember it like it was yesterday.”

At most tournaments, all pros fish the first two days. The third day the contestants are reduced to the top 50 weights. The fourth day, the field is reduced to the top 12.

Oklahoma Country • Fall 2006 • 13

Edwin Evers is all smiles as he shows this mammoth black bass to the enthusiastic crowd at a Bassmaster Tournament weigh-in.

14 • Oklahoma Country • Fall 2006

“You’re basically out daylight ’til dark,” says Edwin.

Edwin and Terry stow enough equipment and tackle in their boats, travel trailers and pickups to make many fishing stores envious.

Edwin keeps 27 rigs in his boat on tournament days, and has another 40 or so in his camper.

“My truck, camper and boat are full. If I have a certain situation arise, I’ll have the equipment with me that I need.”

“We can take whatever we can get in that boat. I usually have 15 rigs in my boat on tournament days,” says Terry.

Terry’ favorite lure is Red River Tackle’s spinner bait with a white or chartreuse skirt. But, he also fishes tubes and jigs.

“Whatever catches them,” answers Edwin when pressed for a favorite. If he could take only one lure with him, it would be a crank bait in a blue gill pattern – that’s despite landing his largest tournament fish, a 10-pounder, on a Bass Pro Stik-O weightless worm.

The pros put their daily catch in aerated live wells and cull down to a specific number of fish before weigh-in. It’s important to keep the fish alive, since penalties are levied for dead fish. All fish are rehabbed and released after weigh-in.

Most weigh-ins are glitzy extravaganzas, with the angler and his boat loaded on a trailer and paraded before thousands of cheering fans. Drama builds when the angler – day’s catch in hand – exits and strolls to the

waiting scales. The suspense builds until each flopping bass is placed on the scales and the total weight is revealed.

“The quarry we’re pursuing and the variables we can’t control make it pretty tough,” says Edwin. “But I enjoy the puzzle of trying to catch fish, and the competition.”

“Most people can catch a fish if you get around them,” says Terry.

“We don’t do a lot differently than the typical fisherman. The key is finding the fish first and putting them in the boat.”

While the competition of the professional tour is the biggest lure for Edwin and Terry, both say there are other attractive benefits. Being outdoors and seeing all parts of the country as they travel and compete in tournaments are perks not available to most.

“You can do this for a long time,” says Terry. “There are no age limits.”

“I’ve never thought about retiring,” adds Edwin. “I want to do this as long as I’m having fun and having success.”

Since fishing is their job, neither does it as a leisure activity. Both make spending time with their families a top priority when they’re not on the tournament trail.

“I enjoy golf,” says Edwin. “I enjoy it quite a bit. I’m horrible, absolutely no good.”

“I like golf as much as anything. I’m not any good. But,” adds a smiling Terry, “I can beat my brother-in-law at that.”

Terry Butcher Jr. shows the crowd at a Bassmaster Tournament weigh-in two of the lunker black bass in his day’s catch.

Oklahoma Country • Fall 2006 • 15

Live

AFTER 10 YEARS OF WORKING TOGETHER, IT’S PRACTICALLY ONE OF THE FAMILY.

16 • Oklahoma Country • Fall 2006

100 95 75 50 5

25

50

75

95

100

5

25

50

75

95

100

5

25

50

75

95

100

5

25

BLACK YELLOW

BROPHY MAGENTA CYAN

FARM BUREAU® MEMBERS CAN GRAB A $500 CASH ALLOWANCE ON DODGE TRUCKS. Dodge is proud to be part of the Farm Bureau family. Our partnership has supported farmers and their families with scholarships and truck giveaways for over a generation. The American Farm Bureau Federation, powered by Dodge. Contact your state Farm Bureau for details. Visit dodge.com or call 800-4ADODGE. Must be a Farm Bureau member for more than 30 days. Farm Bureau is a federally registered collective membership and a registered service mark of the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Chrysler Financial is a business unit of DaimlerChrysler Financial Services.

Oklahoma Country • Fall 2006 • 17

Salt Fork isn’t much more than a dot on a map, but this little northern Oklahoma town doesn’t let conventional economics get in its way.

18 • Oklahoma Country • Fall 2006