RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA’S GROVER WINS COSTA FLW SERIES TOURNAMENT ON CLEAR LAKE PRESENTED BY RANGER BOATS
California Pro Catches 26-Pound Final-Day Limit, Wins $80,303
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LAKEPORT, Calif. (May 18, 2019) – Pro Kyle Grover of Rancho Santa Margarita, California, caught a five-bass limit weighing 26 pounds, 2 ounces, Saturday – the heaviest limit weighed in the three-day tournament – to win the Costa FLW Series on Clear Lake presented by Ranger Boats. Grover’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 66 pounds, 13 ounces, was enough to earn him the victory by an 8-pound, 13-ounce margin and the top prize of $80,303, including a new Ranger Z518L boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.
Grover said he started out the tournament Thursday flipping tules with jigs and wacky-rigged, green-pumpkin-colored Yamamoto Custom Baits Senkos. Friday he started at an area he’d fished only a couple of times on Thursday, and caught a 7-pounder within the first few casts.
“I didn’t realize the area’s potential, but when I caught the 7-pounder on my second cast that made me hunker down,” said Grover, who earned his first win in FLW competition. “I ended up staying there all Saturday today, too. I think on my second cast I caught a 6-pounder and then a 3¾ right after that.
“I was catching them on jigs the past two days,” continued Grover. “The area we were fishing had so many in there. I caught 40 yesterday, and probably 30 today. You’d just rattle off 2½- to 3¾-pounders, and then you’d catch a big one.”
Grover said his key area was a 300-yard stretch called Henderson Point, near Soda Bay.
“It’s a popular community hole, but I think the weather made it difficult to fish,” said Grover. “I stuck it out though, and had a special day out there today.”
Grover said he primarily used a 3/8-ounce, brown with green-pumpkin-colored Phoenix football jig with a 3-inch, green-pumpkin Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw, as well as a ½-ounce version of the jig with a Falcon Lake Craw-colored Strike King Rage Bug. He also had some key bites on a Chili Bowl-colored Norman DD22 crankbait.
The top 10 pros on Clear Lake finished:
1st: Kyle Grover, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., 15 bass, 66-13, $80,303
2nd: Gary Collins, Upper Lake, Calif., 15 bass, 58-0, $13,099
3rd: Joe Uribe Jr., Surprise, Ariz., 15 bass, 56-13, $10,456
4th: David Valdivia, Norwalk, Calif., 15 bass, 56-9, $8,551
5th: Andrew Loberg, Rocklin, Calif., 15 bass, 56-8, $7,606
6th: Ryan German, Fairfield, Calif., 15 bass, 53-8, $6,761
7th: Lane Olson, Forest Grove, Ore., 15 bass, 53-4, $6,031
8th: Bryant Smith, Roseville, Calif., 15 bass, 51-15, $5,070
9th: Travis Archer, Covington, Wash., 15 bass, 48-13, $4,225
10th: Jim McLaughlin, Bakersfield, Calif., 15 bass, 48-7, $4,880
A complete list of results will be posted at FLWFishing.com.
Uribe and Olson both weighed in 8-pound, 11-ounce bass on Thursday – the heaviest fish of the tournament in the Pro Division. The each shared the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $230.
Logan Huntze of Discovery Bay, California, won the Co-angler Division with a three-day total catch of 15 bass weighing 57 pounds, 15 ounces. For his win, Huntze took home a $27,000 prize package, including a Ranger Z175 with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.
The top 10 co-anglers on Clear Lake finished:
1st: Logan Huntze, Discovery Bay, Calif., 15 bass, 57-15, $27,000
2nd: Andrew Wallar, Lakeport, Calif., 15 bass, 50-0, $4,564
3rd: Jesse Parks, Avondale, Ariz., 15 bass, 49-3, $3,779
4th: Joe Bolen, Durham, Calif., 15 bass, 46-1, $3,288
5th: Tom White, Costa Mesa, 15 bass, 45-4, $2,697
6th: Austin Bonjour, Broken Arrow, Okla., 15 bass, 44-13, $2,206
7th: Jack Farage, Discovery Bay, Calif., 15 bass, 44-2, $1,865
8th: Bailey Hurst, Placerville, Calif., 15 bass, 42-7, $1,544
9th: Tara Borofka, Salinas, Calif., 15 bass, 41-10, $1,324
10th: Dominic Amato, Las Vegas, Nev., 14 bass, 39-2, $1,103
Wallar caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Friday, a fish weighing 7 pounds even. Wallar earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $152.
The Costa FLW Series on Clear Lake presented by Ranger Boats was hosted by the Konocti Vista Casino Resort & Marina. It was the second Western Division tournament of the 2019 regular season. The next tournament for FLW Series anglers will be the Costa FLW Series at Grand Lake presented by T-H Marine, held June 13-15 in Grove, Oklahoma. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.
The Costa FLW Series consists of five U.S. divisions – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western – along with the International division. Each U.S. division consists of three regular-season tournaments with competitors vying for valuable points that could earn them the opportunity to compete in the season-ending Costa FLW Series Championship. The 2019 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Oct. 31 – Nov. 2 on Lake Cumberland in Burnside, Kentucky.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Costa FLW Series on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagra