GROVE, Okla. (Oct. 5, 2019) – Curt Warren of Rose, Oklahoma, started the day in third but charged up the leader board for the win catching a five-bass limit Saturday weighing 15 pounds, 9 ounces, to vault to the top of the leader board and win the three-day Costa FLW Series at Grand Lake presented by T-H Marine.
Warren’s three-day total of 13 bass weighing 46 pounds, 7 ounces was enough to earn him the victory by a 1-pound, 6-ounce margin over second-place pro Jason Christie of Park Hill, Oklahoma, and earn him the top prize of $77,175, including a brand new Ranger Z518L boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard. The tournament was the third and final regular-season tournament of the year for anglers competing in the Costa FLW Series Southwestern Division.
“I didn’t have a whole lot of boat pressure around me, because I think that I was fishing much deeper than most,” said Warren, who had one previous win on Grand Lake – a Bass Fishing League (BFL) tournament in 2017. “I wasn’t really doing anything special. I was just fishing from mid-lake to the dam, fishing fall transition stuff – big chunk rock and fresh green brush.”
Warren said he did most of his damage this week throwing a Bass X ¾-ounce football jig (kicker craw), with a Netbait Paca Chunk (green-pumpkin) or Strike King Rage Craw (watermelon candy), although he did mix in a Zoom Brush Hog Saturday. He also caught two suspended fish on a ½-ounce shad-colored spinnerbait that he brought to the scale.
“I only had four fish on each of the first two days – although I lost a 2½- to 3-pounder Thursday – but today I caught five and I probably lost another five,” Warren said. “I’d been catching a few early and a few later in the day. Today, it was nothing early and then from 1:30 on I caught everything that I weighed.
“I think the key to my win was my equipment and gear,” Warren went on to say. “I was fishing a Falcon Rods Expert Series ‘Amistad’ Extra Heavy rod and it is really an ideal rod for the football jigs that I like to use. My line was just as important – I was throwing 22-pound-test Sunline Shooter Fluorocarbon. With it, I can feel anything.”
The top 10 pros on Grand Lake finished:
1st: Curt Warren, Rose, Okla., 13 bass, 46-7, $77,175
2nd: Jason Christie, Park Hill, Okla., 15 bass, 45-1, $12,027
3rd: Toby Hartsell, Afton, Okla., 15 bass, 41-15, $9,085
4th: Bradley Hallman, Norman, Okla., 15 bass, 40-5, $7,571
5th: Cody Bird, Granbury, Texas, 13 bass, 39-6, $6,814
6th: Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 15 bass, 36-5, $6,057
7th: Marcus Sykora, Osage Beach, Mo., 14 bass, 35-13, $5,300
8th: Lance Crawford, Broken Bow, Okla., 11 bass, 31-5, $4,542
9th: Allen Head, Pryor, Okla., 11 bass, 31-4, $3,785
10th: Paul Heavener, Tulsa, Okla., 12 bass, 28-7, $3,028
A complete list of results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Christie caught the largest bass of the tournament Thursday on a buzzbait, weighing 7 pounds, 7 ounces and earning him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $192.
Steven Meador of Bentonville, Arkansas, won the Co-angler Division Saturday with a three-day total of 11 bass weighing 27 pounds, 15 ounces. For his win, Meador took home the top prize package of a new Ranger Z175 boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor, worth $27,100 and a $5,000 Ranger Cup contingency bonus.
The top 10 co-anglers on Grand Lake finished:
1st: Steven Meador, Bentonville, Ark., 11 bass, 27-15, $27,100 + $5,000 Ranger Cup
2nd: Richard Champagne, Bentonville, Ark., 11 bass, 27-5, $4,031
3rd: Alan Quick, Springfield, Mo., eight bass, 22-9, $3,185
4th: Calan Cameron, Coppell, Texas, eight bass, 20-8, $2,787
5th: Robin Babb, Tulsa, Okla., seven bass, 19-13 $2,439
6th: Mason Roach, Conroe, Texas, 11 bass, 19-11, $1,991
7th: Tony Thompson, New Braunfels, Texas, nine bass, 18-11, $1,593
8th: Johnny Burke, Bristow, Okla., nine bass, 17-5, $1,393
9th: Travis Pattilllo, Zavalla, Texas, five bass, 16-9, $1,322
10th: Jayce Garrison, Conroe, Texas, seven bass, 14-11, $995
Pattillo caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Friday, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 6 ounces. He earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $128.
The Costa FLW Series on Grand Lake presented by T-H Marine was hosted by the City of Grove. It was the third and final tournament in the 2019 regular season for Southwestern Division anglers. The next tournament for FLW Series anglers will also be the Central Division finale, the Costa FLW Series at Table Rock Lake presented by Evinrude, held Oct. 10-12 in Osage Beach, Missouri. 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 FLW and their multiple tournament circuits at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube
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 2019 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct more than 290 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa and Spain. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show 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 Snapchat.