NEW YORK’S SMITH WINS COSTA FLW SERIES NORTHERN DIVISION OPENER ON POTOMAC RIVER PRESENTED BY PLANO

NEW YORK’S SMITH WINS COSTA FLW SERIES NORTHERN DIVISION OPENER ON POTOMAC RIVER PRESENTED BY PLANO

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MARBURY, Md. (June 18, 2016) – Casey Smith of Macedon, New York, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds, 8 ounces Saturday to win the Costa FLW Series Northern Division opener on the Potomac River presented by Plano with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 51 pounds, 6 ounces. For his win, Smith took home $39,208.

“I feel absolutely phenomenal right now,” said Smith, who earned the win fishing in his first-ever Costa Series event. “I’ve wanted to step up to this level of competition for a long time now. A lot of work went into getting here.

“The key for me this week was the area I concentrated on,” Smith continued. “I found a ditch in the mouth of the Aquia Creek that connected a large grass flat to a deep hole. The fish were using the ditch as a highway and I was able to snatch them out of it. On Day One, I had four bass for 13 pounds by 8:15 a.m.

“The morning bite on Day Two was strong and I had 14 pounds fairly quickly,” said Smith. “In the afternoon I culled out everything in the incoming tide. We just sat there with the Power-Poles down and smashed them for six hours.”

Smith said he caught the majority of his fish throughout the event on a Bluegill Flash-colored Keitech Swing Impact FAT Swimbait as well as a couple of key fish on a green-pumpkin and purple-colored Gambler Southern Swim Jig.

“I dragged the Keitech through the grass as slow as I could,” said Smith. “When it got hung up, I knocked it with the reel. I didn’t yank it, but I give the crank a half-turn and popped it out of the grass. The bait would fall and after a couple of full cranks, they’d bite. It was a reaction bite, but it was very slow.”

Smith said he returned to the ditch on Day Three and hit a flurry around 9:15 a.m. to seal the deal.

“My biggest fish today came on a white ChatterBait,” said Smith. “Luckily I had the ditch to myself this week. We caught a lot of fish, and there’s definitely some more big ones left there.”

The top 10 pros on the Potomac River were:

1^st:          Casey Smith, Macedon, N.Y., 15 bass, 51-6, $39,208

2^nd:         Charlie Machek, Midlothian, Va., 15 bass, 49-11, $15,481

3^rd:         Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 15 bass, 48-2, $11,763

4^th:         Aaron Hastings, Middletown, Md., 15 bass, 47-0, $9,802

5^th:         Bryan Schmitt, Deale, Md., 15 bass, 45-12, $9,110

6^th:         Gregory Wilder, Millersville, Md., 15 bass, 45-5, $7,842

7^th:         Chris Baumgardner, Gastonia, N.C., 15 bass, 45-0, $6,861

8^th:         Joseph Wood, Westport, Mass., 15 bass, 43-8, $5,881

9^th:         Jeff Coble, Manson, N.C., 15 bass, 43-7, $4,901

10^th:       Bill Chapman, Salt Rock, W. Va., 14 bass, 37-8, $3,921

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Machek and Schmitt each caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 6 ounces – the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division – that earned them each a Big Bass award of $288.

David Williams of Fredericksburg, Virginia, won the co-angler division and a Ranger Z117 with a 90-horsepower Mercury outboard motor. Williams earned his win with a three-day total catch of 15 bass weighing 44 pounds, 15 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers on the Potomac River were:

1^st:          David Williams, Fredericksburg, Va., 15 bass, 44-15, $27,000

2^nd:         Michael Bahnweg, Union Dale, Pa., 15 bass, 39-12, $5,101

3^rd:         Eric Correll, Birdsboro, Pa., 15 bass, 37-2, $3,927

4^th:         Derek Brown, Charlottesville, Va., 15 bass, 36-15, $3,436

5^th:         Brett Holmes, Hudson, N.Y., 14 bass, 36-13, $2,945

6^th:         Tyler Sheppard, Hermitage, Pa., 15 bass, 36-4, $2,455

7^th:         John Duarte, Middle River, Md., 14 bass, 34-13, $1,964

8^th:         Kevin Hesson, Polk, Pa., 13 bass, 33-14, $1,718

9^th:         Brett Ewing, Waldorf, Md., 13 bass, 33-5, $1,473

10^th:       Rickey Farris, Forest, Va., 12 bass, 28-3, $1,227

Doug Jenkins of Saint Leonard, Maryland, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division Thursday, a bass weighing 5 pounds, 5 ounces that earned him the day’s Big Bass award of $192.

The Costa FLW Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western. Each division consists of three tournaments with competitors vying for valuable points that could earn them the opportunity to fish in the Costa FLW Series Championship. The 2016 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Nov. 3-5 on Table Rock Lake in Branson, Missouri.

The Costa FLW Series on the Potomac River was hosted by the Charles County Board of Commissioners. It was the first Northern Division tournament of 2016. The next Costa FLW Series tournament will also be a Northern Division event, held July 21-23, on 1000 Islands in Clayton, New York. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Costa FLW Series on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.