MASSENA READIES FOR COSTA FLW SERIES AT THE ST. LAWRENCE RIVER PRESENTED BY REALTREE FISHING
MASSENA, N.Y. (Sept. 11, 2019) – The 2019 Costa Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) Series Northern Division presented by Gajo Baits will continue their season next week at the St. Lawrence River, Sept. 19-21, with the Costa FLW Series at the St. Lawrence River presented by Realtree Fishing. Hosted by the Town of Massena, the three-day tournament will feature more than 240 of the best regional bass-fishing pros and co-anglers casting for a top prize of up to $85,000, including a brand new Ranger Z518L boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard in the pro division.
“I’m really excited for this tournament – it’s my favorite smallmouth fishery in the entire country,” said FLW Tour pro A.J. Slegona of Pine Bush, New York, who has three top-10 finishes on the fishery in FLW competition. “We’re going to see a ton of big bags of smallmouth – every time you set the hook, it could a 3-pounder, it could be a 6½- or 7-pounder.”
Slegona said that anglers would catch fish on a variety of baits, but he expects that those near the top of the leaderboard will be throwing tubes and drop-shot rigs.
“We’re going to see a lot of green-pumpkin-colored goby-style baits,” Slegona said. “For a guy to do well, I think they’ll need a combination of both shallow schools and deep schools. Timing and rotation will be key – if you get in the wrong rotation, you can miss the active bite and be in trouble real quick.
“I think that it’ll take a three-day total of 68 to 72 pounds to win,” Slegona went on to say. “I definitely think we will see a few largemouth weighed in and they could play a role, but I don’t think that largemouth can win the tournament. We’re going to be catching giant smallmouth from Massena all the way to the lake. It’s going to be a lot of running, but we’re going to see some real big limits brought to the scale.”
Anglers will take off from the Massena Intake Boat Launch, located at 1415 State Hwy. 131 in Massena at 7 a.m. EDT each day of competition. The weigh-ins will be held each day at the Boat Launch beginning at 3 p.m. All takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
In Costa FLW Series regular-season competition, payouts are based on the number of participants competing in the event. At the St. Lawrence River, pros will fish for a top prize of up to $85,000 including a brand new Ranger Z518L boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard if Ranger Cup qualified. Co-anglers will cast for a brand new Ranger Z175 boat with a 115-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard, and $5,000 if Ranger Cup qualified.
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