Steve Floyd of Leesburg, Ohio, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 19 pounds, 8 ounces Saturday to win the Costa FLW Series Central Division event on Kentucky Lake presented by Lowrance on April 30, 2016 with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 51 pounds, 2 ounces. For his win, Floyd earned $95,000, including a new Ranger Z518 bass boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard engine.
“I ran south and fished a 10-mile area around the I-40 bridge,” said Floyd, who earned his fourth career win in FLW competition. “I was flipping shallow bushes all week, in 1½-feet of water. I caught around 20 keepers each day, all on a green-pumpkin Berkley Havoc Pit Boss.
“To win at Kentucky Lake you have to get at least one big bite each day, and that happened for me this week,” Floyd continued. “I was able to catch a 5-pounder on Thursday, another on Friday and an 8½-pounder today. My son fishes for the Bethel University fishing team and was following me on the water today and got to see me catch the big one. That was pretty special.”
Although Floyd resides in Ohio, he has plenty of experience on Kentucky Lake and owns a cabin near Paris. He said that his favorite way to fish was flipping bushes and when he saw the Kentucky Lake event was scheduled for April this year, he knew that he could have a chance to win.
“I won a BFL tournament here last year in early May flipping bushes, and it’s just my favorite way to fish,” Floyd said. “The first two days of the tournament the fish were biting better later in the day, but today they bit right away this morning. To come away with a win against this level of competition feels really, really good.”
The top 10 pros on Kentucky Lake were:
1st: Steve Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 15 bass, 51-2, $95,000
2nd: Ramie Colson Jr., Cadiz, Ky., 15 bass, 50-13, $20,500
3rd: Walmart pro Mark Rose, West Memphis, Ark., 15 bass, 48-15, $14,500
4th: Chris Miranda, Russellville, Ark., 15 bass, 48-9, $12,500
5th: Travis Fox, Rogers, Ark., 14 bass, 48-8, $11,800
6th: Daniel Kweekul, Bryant, Ark., 15 bass, 47-9, $9,250
7th: Todd Schmitz, Goshen, Ind., 15 bass, 46-2, $8,000
8th: Christopher Jones, Bokoshe, Okla., 15 bass, 43-8, $7,000
9th: Jeff Ritter, Prairie du Chien, Wis., 14 bass, 40-14, $6,000
10th: Kelly Readhimer, Beech Bluff, Tenn., 13 bass, 39-4, $4,500
Complete results will be posted at FLWFishing.com.
Sam Lashlee of Camden, Tennessee, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division Thursday – a largemouth weighing 8 pounds, 7 ounces to earn him the day’s Big Bass award of $300.
Steve Keller, Jr., of Bethel, Ohio, won the co-angler division and $28,250, including a Ranger Z117 with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor, with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 34 pounds, 7 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers on Kentucky Lake were:
1st: Steve Keller Jr., Bethel, Ohio, 15 bass, 34-7, $28,250
2nd: Frank Divis, Farmington, Ark., 13 bass, 33-9, $6,250
3rd: Damian Dobrinich, Staunton, Ill., 11 bass, 31-5, $5,000
4th: Scott Parsons, Bentonville, Ark., 11 bass, 30-3, $4,000
5th: Gary Brookshear, Lavaca, Ark., 12 bass, 30-1, $3,500
6th: Justin English, Owensboro, Ky., 10 bass, 28-6, $3,000
7th: Dustin Roberts, Clarksville, Ark., 12 bass, 28-3, $2,500
8th: Brandon Bridger, Jackson, Tenn., 12 bass, 27-6, $2,000
9th: Carl Hemken, Walshville, Ill., seven bass, 26-13, $1,600
10th: Clint Long, Raymore, Mo., 10 bass, 21-13, $1,350
Keith Newsom of Memphis, Tennessee, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division Friday weighing 9 pounds, 7 ounces to earn him the day’s Big Bass award of $200.
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 Kentucky Lake was hosted by the Henry County Alliance. It was the second Central Division tournament of 2016.
The next Costa FLW Series tournament will be a Southeastern division event, held May 12-14, on Wheeler Lake in Rogersville, Alabama, and is hosted by Florence/Lauderdale Tourism. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Costa FLW Series at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.
About FLW
FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2016 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 235 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico and South Korea. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Periscope: @FLWFishing.