We had 7 boats competing today on Leesville lake in a one stop mart Leesville lake tournament Trail tournament
1st place – Jesse Coughlin / Brian Hall – 5 fish – 14.50 lbs and big fish of the day – a 5.35 lb largemouth
2nd place – Matt Atkins /Chris Atkins – 5 fish – 14.09 lbs
JEREMY LAWYER WINS COSTA FLW SERIES CENTRAL DIVISION FINALE ON LAKE OF THE OZARKS PRESENTED BY EVINRUDE
Sarcoxie’s Lawyer wraps up 2018 Costa FLW Series Central Division season with win, earns $88,500
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OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (Oct. 13, 2018) – FLW Tour pro Jeremy Lawyer of Sarcoxie, Missouri, brought a five-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 12 ounces, to the scale Saturday to win the Costa FLW Series Central Division finale on Lake of the Ozarks presented by Evinrude. Lawyer’s three-day total of 15 bass totaling 46 pounds, 3 ounces, was enough to earn the win by a 3-pound, 3-ounce margin and the top prize of $88,500, including a brand new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.
“I spent the first two days of the tournament fishing between the Toll Bridge and the Gravois Arm,” said Lawyer, who earned his first career victory on Lake of the Ozarks after 10 prior top-10 finishes on the lake in FLW competition. “I tried to not fish any waypoints or history and just rely on my fishing instinct. If there’s one thing on the Tour that I have learned that has really helped me, it’s visiting a bunch of new lakes and not having waypoints. I feel more confident and comfortable fishing like that, and that is something that I really tried to do this week.
“I started out on the same stretch this morning and ran back into some creeks that I hadn’t been to yet,” Lawyer continued. “I had a limit in the first 45 to 50 minutes – including a 4½-pounder – and that settled me down a bit. I pulled the plug around 10:30 and went to the Hurricane Deck area and ended up culling up three more times.”
Lawyer credited a Zoom Magnum Trick worm and a Freedom Tackle Swing Buzz buzzbait as being his key baits throughout the week that, “helped me get five each day.” Saturday he caught one good one on the Magnum Trick worm and the rest came on a River2Sea Whopper Plopper, custom-painted by Fall Creek Lures.
“They’ve got a color – midnight shad – that I’ve got a lot of confidence in,” Lawyer said. “I also threw the original bone color this week as well.
“So many guys had the opportunity to do well this week with that Plopper and they just lost them,” Lawyer continued. “I was fortunate enough to not lose them when they bit. I really credit my Lew’s Heavy Cover Carbon Pro rod for that. It’s a heavy-duty rod, but still parabolic. It takes a little bit of the shock out of them when you initially set the hook.”
Lawyer bested a stacked final-day field that included some of the top Lake of the Ozarks anglers of all-time. He was extremely humbled and proud of his accomplishment Saturday.
“I still can’t believe it happened for me today,” he went on to say. “I grew up watching Stacey (King) fishing on television and he has been the man here for many years. Dennis Berhorst wins everything. I told my wife back when I started that if I could compete with Dennis, Roger (Fitzpatrick) and Marcus Sykora that I could survive anywhere. And that was back in 2005. I have so much respect for all of those guys. It feels good to be on top this week, but next week I’m sure one of those guys will be on top again.”
The top 10 pros on Lake of the Ozarks finished:
1st: Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 15 bass, 46-3, $88,500
2nd: Garrett Paquette, Canton, Mich., 14 bass, 43-6, $16,500
3rd: Dennis Berhorst, Holts Summit, Mo., 15 bass, 43-5, $12,700
4th: Stacey King, Reeds Spring, Mo., 13 bass, 43-3, $10,800
5th: Austin Brown, Benton, Ky., 12 bass, 40-14, $9,600
6th: Jason Vance, Battle Ground, Ind., 15 bass, 40-11, $8,250
7th: Arnold Payne Jr., Kokomo, Ind., 14 bass, 39-11, $7,200
8th: James Watson, Lampe, Mo., 14 bass, 39-8, $6,200
9th: Shawn Kowal, Linn Creek, Mo., 14 bass, 39-7, $5,200
10th: David Ryan, Levasy, Mo., 11 bass, 36-13, $4,100
Complete results for the remaining field can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Will Yelverton of Hazel Green, Alabama, caught a 7-pound, 1-ounce fish on Thursday that earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $300. King won the Boater Big Bass award on Friday with a 6-pound, 13-ounce bass worth $300.
Steve Freeman of Eddyville, Kentucky, won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger Z175 with a 90-horsepower outboard motor plus a $5,000 Ranger Cup bonus with a three-day total catch of 13 bass weighing 33 pounds, 12 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers on Lake of the Ozarks finished:
1st: Steve Freeman, Eddyville, Ky., 13 bass, 33-12, $27,350 + Ranger Cup ($5,000)
2nd: J.P. Sims, Cookeville, Tenn., 13 bass, 30-15, $5,250
3rd: Phil Williams Jr., Jamestown, Ky., nine bass, 28-14, $4,250
4th: Scott Parsons, Rogers, Ark., 11 bass, 28-14, $3,600
5th: Max Wilson, Everton, Mo., 11 bass, 28-0, $3,100
6th: Mike Youngblood, St. Louis, Mo., 11 bass, 25-9, $2,600
7th: Brad Hostetler Jr., Franklin, Ind., nine bass, 24-6, $2,100
8th: Jason Sandidge, Centerton, Ark., 10 bass, 23-7, $1,800
9th: Joshua Dyrland, Imperial, Mo., eight bass, 22-2, $1,520
10th: Tyrone Phillips, Little Rock, Ark., 10 bass, 20-1, $1,270
Ray Larson of Springfield, Illinois, caught a 6-pound, 1-ounce bass on Thursday that won the day one Co-angler Big Bass award worth $200. Rick Parker of Kaufman, Texas, won the Co-angler Big Bass award on day two with a 5-pound, 9-ounce fish worth $200.
The Costa FLW Series on Lake of the Ozarks was presented by Evinrude and hosted by the Tri-County Lodging Association. It was the third and final FLW Series Central Division tournament of the 2018 regular season. The next Costa FLW Series tournament will be the the season-ending Costa FLW Series Championship, held Nov. 1-3 on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama, and hosted by the Marshall County Convention and Visitors Bureau. 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.
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
Clear water bass fishing can be intimidating but once you find the right presentations and techniques it can be an absolute blast. Imagine a picture-perfect day for fishing. The sun is high, but not too hot. There are a few scattered clouds and the lake is perfectly clear. You see bass swimming everywhere from the shallows to the deep weed edge. But what do you throw to try and catch them?
This is a situation faced by countless anglers each and every year. Clear water can offer some of the most exciting, visual fishing available, but can be as equally frustrating. So, the question becomes, what are the best baits to fish in clear water for bass?
This rig took the fishing world by storm a few years back. It was a long-kept secret of many veteran fishermen. The Ned Rig is about as basic as it gets. It consists of an open jighead style hook threaded with a small (or bit off) senko or straight-tailed worm style bait.
It fishes just as simple as it looks. Cast out and let it fall on a semi-slack line. Oftentimes fish will bite the Rig as it falls. If not, the bait can be fished in a deadstick fashion, like a shakey head with a small shaking action, or more aggressively as conditions permit. It is a great option for finicky, clear water fish because of its nonintrusive appearance and its ability to be cast a country mile away from the boat. Black or Green Pumpkin colors are mainstays for the Ned Rig.
The drop shot is another staple for clear water. This setup, which consists of a small baitholder style hook tied anywhere from 6 inches to 3 feet above a small weight, is great for all depth ranges. It can be long cast or dropped vertically and fished with a wide array of soft plastic lures. Typically, minnow, craw, or worm style plastics are used on this rig.
Like the Ned Rig, a drop shot is easy to fish. Simply cast (or drop) the rig towards weedlines, deep boulders, or other individual pieces of cover and let it sink to the bottom. Maintain and semi-slack line and keep your finger on the line to detect bites. Picture what the plastic is doing underwater as you softly make the slack line dance slightly. This drives bass crazy in gin-clear water.
Last, but certainly not least, on our list of fish-catching clear water baits is a tube. This soft plastic bait is versatile as it can be used as both a power fishing and finesse bait in both warm and cold water. It can be flipped and pitched, long cast, deadsticked, ripped, yo-yoed, crawled, and the list goes on.
The bait is also highly effective because of what it imitates. In any given circumstance, it could be used to imitate both baitfish and crawfish. When crawled along the bottom a tube looks like a scurrying crawfish. If flipped in heavy vegetation or to weedlines it can look like either a baitfish or a crawfish, depending upon what the bass want to eat. This trait is particularly useful in clear water situations where bass are more visual feeders.
Bassmaster Opens Championship Will Decide Classic Berths At Table Rock Lake
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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A year-long tournament circuit that included eight events in eight states and thousands of anglers from across the country will reach its conclusion next week with the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens Championship on Table Rock Lake.
The Top 28 pro and co-anglers from the regular-season standings will fish Oct. 18-20, with daily takeoffs at 7:15 a.m. CT from Long Creek Marina. Weigh-ins the first two days will be back at the marina at 3:15 p.m., with the final-day weigh-in shifting to the Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, Mo., at 4:30 p.m.
All three bass species — largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass — could play a role in deciding the seven berths that are at stake for the Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods.
“The lake is full of fish, but it’s like fall fishing anywhere else,” said Brock Mosley, a Bassmaster Elite Series pro from Collinsville, Miss. “You can expect a lot of bites. But with the 15-inch minimum size limit, it can be hard to find keepers.
“You’ll catch a mixture of all three species — and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some 15-pound bags that have at least one of each.”
That diversity in the bass population will force competitors to make difficult choices, and no one can say for sure which anglers’ strengths will play best.
If smallmouth and spots are the dominant species, deep-water specialists could locate big schools of offshore fish and grab center stage. But shallow-water anglers might also dial in a largemouth bite that gives them an advantage.
Another wild card could be the weather. Fall is trying to take hold in the area with temperatures expected to be in the low 30s Monday night, but then back into the mid-60s by Saturday.
“This is not going to be a straight, down-the-line, this-is-what-will-happen kind of tournament,” said Carl Jocumsen, an Australian-born angler who now lives in Texas. “The lake is going to change every day at this time of year. Keeping an open mind and keeping an eye on the conditions is going to be a massive part of this tournament.”
The regular-season Opens circuit included four tournaments each in the Central and Eastern divisions. The Top 10 from the season points standings in each division qualified for the championship, along with the winners of all eight events.
When the dust settles at Table Rock, the overall winner of the Opens Championship will receive a Classic berth, plus $10,000 cash and a Triton 19 TrX with Mercury 200 Pro XS package worth $45,000. The Top co-angler receives a Nitro Z18 with a Mercury 150 Pro XS outboard.
The Top 3 pro anglers in points from each division following the championship will also be invited to the Classic.
Frank Talley, Brad Whatley and Toby Hartsell currently occupy the Top 3 spots in the Central Division standings, while Bobby Lane, Brandon Lester and Garrett Paquette lead the Eastern Division.
John Cox, a Florida pro who finished the regular season fourth in the Eastern standings, said a Classic berth is his main objective — and he doesn’t believe it’ll happen unless he hoists the Opens Championship trophy.
“The way the standings line up, there’s no way I’m going to make it into the Top 3 in points,” Cox said. “So really, the only way I’m going to make it into the Classic is if one of the guys in front of me wins or if I win.
“So, it would be nice to take some of the mystery out of it and just win.”
Jocumsen said he’ll be working from a similar game plan.
“This is the best tournament I’m ever going to fish because it’s win or nothing,” he said. “I have to win to get that Classic berth. There’s no other option. There’s no risk in doing that. I have to do that.
“That makes it fun.”
Learning how to Texas rig a soft plastic is part of bass fishing 101. And, as the saying goes, there is more than one way to skin a cat. The same goes for bass fishing. On any given day, there are many ways to catch these fish. Some are just better than others. One of the most popular and consistent ways to catch these fish is with a Texas rig. This rig has caught bass for decades and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
The secret to the rig’s success is its simplicity. It is nothing more than a hook, line, and sinker (see what I did there) with some slight rigging magic. If you don’t know how to rig the plastic or need clarifying on the rig’s setup, a simple YouTube search will reveal all.
One of the options of the Texas rig is whether to use a weight. Knowing when to add that tiny piece of metal or keep it in the box could be the difference between one bite or one hundred.
Perhaps the most classic ways how to Texas rig is with a bullet-style weight above the hook. This setup is used for most conditions and circumstances. Long-casting, punching vegetation, pitching, and flipping are the typical styles of fishing that require a weight, the size of which depends on cover thickness, depth, desired action, wind, and a host of other variables.
The effectiveness of weighted Texas rigs also depends on water temperature and clarity. Typically, when the water is warmer bass are more active and willing to chase a lure. Thus, a heavier weight works well in these conditions. Likewise, in dirty water bass rely more heavily on their lateral line which detects vibrations and movements in the water. This is also an ideal time for a quicker, heavier Texas rig.
Lastly, a small (1/16 or 1/32 oz.) weight is sometimes used when fishing the Texas rig with lures like a swimming worm or frog. This does many things. Firstly, it enables the lure swims with its head in proper position to enable the appendages of the plastic to move. Second, it increases casting distance of these smaller lures. Lastly, this bullet-style addition can even reduce vegetation buildup and help to avoid hang-ups in cover like timber, docks, and lily pads.
Although less common, learning how to Texas rig without a weight should still have its place in your fishing arsenal. By not adding the weight to your rig, it gives the bait a different appearance. The first obvious observation is that the rig does not fall as quickly. Depending upon the plastic you choose for your weightless Texas rig, the bait typically glides or flutters on its way to the bottom. This is particularly useful in clear or cold water where fish may be more finicky. The bass can see the bait from a greater distance and won’t likely be spooked as easily.
Weightless Texas rigs are also great for sight fishing in calm, shallow water or fishing holes in vegetation. The weightless property of the rig allows an angler to keep the bait in the water column longer before coming to a gentle rest on the bottom. This, coupled with deadsticking (literally letting the bait sit on bottom and do nothing), can be a highly effective technique when the bite is tough.
Idaho angler Chris Harvey shows off a nice largemouth during the 2018 B.A.S.S. Nation Western Regional on Clear Lake. The 2019 B.A.S.S. Nation schedule, which was released today, includes another stop in California — this time at Lake Shasta. B.A.S.S. Nation events will also be held on Alabama’s Lake Guntersville, Sebago Lake in Maine and South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell.
Oct. 10, 2018
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — B.A.S.S. officials announced Thursday that the B.A.S.S. Nation, the popular grass-roots organization with affiliated clubs in 47 states and 10 nations worldwide, will once again hold three regional events and a year-end championship in 2019.
The Nation will visit Alabama’s Lake Guntersville for the Central Regional on April 17-19, California’s Lake Shasta for the Western Regional on May 8-10 and Sebago Lake in Maine for the Eastern Regional on Sept. 11-13.
The season will then culminate with the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship, which will be held on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell at a date to be determined — most likely in October.
“We’re excited to have a schedule that includes well-known bass-fishing havens like Lake Guntersville, Lake Shasta and Lake Hartwell,” said B.A.S.S. Nation Director Jon Stewart. “Obviously, the tradition that B.A.S.S. has with those three lakes speaks for itself.
“But we’re also really excited about holding a B.A.S.S. Nation Regional event at a great site like Sebago Lake. It’s a place that we’ve visited for smaller divisional tournaments before, but a place that maybe a lot of people aren’t as familiar with as some of the others.”
The timing of the Guntersville event — right in heart of spring — should make for good weather and excellent fishing on a 69,000-acre Tennessee River fishery that is known for producing giant largemouth. The tournament will feature a field of 190 boats with 418 anglers, including alternates.
Guntersville has hosted 22 major B.A.S.S. tournaments, including the 1976 and 2014 Bassmaster Classics and Bassmaster Megabucks events in 1990 and 1992.
“All you have to say is ‘Guntersville,’ and bass fishermen perk up,” Stewart said. “Bass anglers of all skill levels understand what an opportunity it is to fish a lake like Guntersville, especially during the spring.”
The Lake Shasta tournament, which will be held in Redding, Calif., will have a field of 110 boats with 242 anglers — and history says it could be a spotted bass slugfest.
“When we were out there for the Nation Regional in 2017, anglers were saying you could pull up to any place you wanted to, throw any bait you wanted to throw and expect to catch fish,” Stewart said. “We had some incredible fish weighed in, mostly big spots. We hit it just right — and hopefully we will again.”
The final regional of the year, on Sebago Lake, will feature 180 boats with 396 anglers leaving from Point Sebago, Maine. The 30,000-acre fishery, which is the state’s second-deepest lake at 316 feet, has excellent populations of largemouth and smallmouth bass as well as landlocked salmon and lake trout.
Unlike 2018, when the site of the Nation Championship was announced well after the regional lineup, Lake Hartwell has already been identified as the site of the 2019 year-end event. The 56,000-acre fishery on the Georgia/South Carolina border has hosted three Bassmaster Classics, including the 2018 event that drew a record total attendance of 143,323.
The event will be hosted by Visit Anderson.
“Our team at Anderson county could not be more excited about hosting the 2019 B.A.S.S. Nation Championship again at Green Pond Landing and Lake Hartwell,” said Neil Paul, executive director of Visit Anderson. “Our community enjoys a tremendous amount of success whenever we’re hosting the great folks at B.A.S.S. We owe a great deal of credit to B.A.S.S. for their part in helping to make Lake Hartwell a championship fishery and Green Pond Landing one of the top facilities in the nation.
“We look forward to welcoming the anglers, their families and the entire B.A.S.S. Nation in 2019.”
The Top 3 finishers from the 2019 Nation Championship will earn a spot in the 2020 Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods, and the overall Championship winner will receive an invitation to fish the 2020 Bassmaster Elite Series.
“When we refer to the B.A.S.S. Nation as a grass-roots organization, we mean exactly that,” said B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin. “It’s an organization that gives anglers from all walks of life an opportunity to fish at the highest level of professional bass fishing.
“That’s what makes it truly special — and that’s why it’s still growing after 50 years.”
Kelly Logan wins $10,480 on Lake Norman in Area 4 Championship
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ATHENS, Ala. –Kelly Logan of Morganton North Carolina won the American Bass Anglers Open Series Area 4 Championship held on Lake Norman on October 6&7 2018. Running out of Blythe Landing in Huntersville NC, Logan weighed in a day one five-bass limit weighing 9.52-pounds. Going into day two in 13th place Logan caught another five-bass limit weighing 13.11-pounds which was the largest five-bass caught by a boater. Logan’s two-day total was 22.63-pounds. Logan anchored is catch with a bass weighing 3.84-pounds which also gave him big bass honors for the boaters. For his win and big bass, Logan took home a total of $10,480.00.
“I caught all my fish shallow on topwater, jigs and a creature bait,” said Logan. When asked what he changed up from day one Logan just smiled and said, “I got them in the boat today”.
Coming in second place, day one leader Michael Fox of Statesville, North Carolina, finished with a two-day total weight of 21.26-lbs. He took home a check for $700.00 for the effort.
“I caught all my fish on topwater and a jig. I had problems losing fish today and that cost me the win,” said Fox.
Taking third for the boaters, Eddie Whitten of Townville, South Carolina finished with a two-day total weight of 21.06-pounds. Whitten took home $500.00 for his catch.
“I caught my fish on docks with a jig head and a fluke,” said Whitten.
In fourth place for the boaters, Michael Stephens of Gastonia, North Carolina weighed in two five-bass limits for a total weight of 20.99-pounds. Rounding out the top five, Greg Glouse of Liberty, South Carolina Carolina, weighed in two-five bass limits for a total weight of 19.81 pounds.
In the Co-Angler division, Damon Phillips of Anderson, South Carolina weighed in a co-angler limit of three bass weighing 9.06-pounds on day one. Going into day two in the lead, Phillips weighed in another co-angler limit weighing 6.58-pounds giving him a two-day total of 15.64-pounds and securing the win. For his win, Phillips took home a check for $5000.00.
“I have to thank both of my boaters. The had me around the fish. I caught most of my fish on topwater, but I did catch one deeper on day one that helped. I guess the highlight of my day was catching two three pounders at one time,” said Phillips.
Taking second for the co-anglers, Simeon O’Meara of North Augusta, South Carolina weighed in a two-day total of six bass for 11.05-pounds. He took home $350.00 for the effort.
“I had two good boaters. I caught all my fish on a jig. On day two I had to downsize to get the bites,” said O’Meara.
Taking third for the co-anglers, Dwayne Parton of Townville, South Carolina weighed in a total of six bass for 10.46-pounds. He took home $300.00 for his catch.
“I had two great boaters. I caught my fish on day one with topwater and on day two with a shaky head,” said Parton.
In fourth for the co-anglers Dale Surrett of Midland, South Carolina weighed in two three-bass limits for 10.40-pounds. Rounding out the top five, Kevin Dye of West Union, South Carolina weighed in two co-angler limits weighing 10.12-pounds.
The big bass for the co-anglers was a 5.28-pounder weighed in on day one, caught by Gary Hopper of Hickory, North Carolina. Hopper took home a check for $235.00, and for having the largest bass of the tournament Hopper also took home an ABU Garcia SX reel valued at $160.00.
About American Bass Anglers: American Bass Anglers is committed to providing low cost, close to home tournaments for the weekend angler and at the same time offer each competitor an upward path for individual angler progression. For more information about American Bass Anglers, the Open Series, the American Fishing Tour or the American Couples Series, visit www.americanbassanglers.com.
American Bass Anglers Inc. is supported by Triton Boats, Mercury Outboards, Geico, Berkley, ABU Garcia, T-H Marine, Maui Jim, Garmin, Sirius XM Marine weather and Optima Batteries.
American Bass Anglers can be contacted at (256) 232-0406 or by visiting americanbassanglers.com
