Tennessee Pro Bests 210-boat Field to Earn Fifth Career Victory, $97,200
GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (June 10, 2017) – Pro Jason Lambert of Michie, Tennessee, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 22 pounds, 8 ounces Saturday to lead wire-to-wire and win the Costa FLW Series Central Division event on Kentucky Lake presented by Lowrance. Lambert’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 71 pounds, 10 ounces, was enough to earn him the win by a 7-ounce margin and the first place prize package worth $97,200, including a new Ranger Z521C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.
“After the Tour season that I’ve had, this feels pretty damn good,” said Lambert, who earned his fifth career victory in FLW competition – second on Kentucky Lake. “When I won the Tour event here last year I was fishing down south, but this year I caught most of my fish north of Kenlake (marina).”
Lambert, fittingly proclaimed the ‘Ledge Hammer’ on the cover of this month’s FLW Bass Fishing magazine, said that he had 25 to 28 schools of fish located out deep on the ledges coming in to the event. He said that he only could get to 15 of the schools during the tournament, but it turned out to be more than enough.
“The first day I caught all of my fish on just three different schools,” Lambert said. “I didn’t have a ‘mega-school’, but I rotated through the areas that I did have. It was tough to get on stuff today – there was a lot of local traffic. That’s pretty standard for a lake that is fishing as well as Kentucky Lake is, though.”
Lambert said that he caught close to 40 keepers on each of the first two days of competition, but only managed a dozen Saturday. He estimated that of the 15 fish that he weighed in this week, eight came via a 6th Sense Lures C25 crankbait, five came on a HogFarmer Hog Wobbler jig head with a Castaic Baits Jerky J and two came on a Gene Larew TattleTail worm, in green-pumpkin.
“The key was absolutely locating those schools of fish with my electronics,” Lambert went on to say. “Having several different schools marked and ready to go gave me the confidence to fish for the win this week.”
The top 10 pros on Kentucky Lake were:
1st: Jason Lambert, Michie, Tenn., 15 bass, 71-10, $97,200
2nd: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, 15 bass, 71-3, $21,600
3rd: Randy Haynes, Counce, Tenn., 15 bass, 68-4, $15,000
4th: Micah Frazier, Newnan, Ga., 15 bass, 65-2, $13,300
5th: Clent Davis, Montevallo, Ala., 15 bass, 64-12, $12,000
6th: Old Spice pro Greg Bohannan, Bentonville, Ark., 15 bass, 64-10, $9,500
7th: Tom Redington, Royse City, Texas, 15 bass, 64-4, $8,200
8th: Jeff Defew, Benton, Ky., 15 bass, 64-2, $7,200
9th: Austin Brown, Benton, Ky., 15 bass, 63-2, $6,200
10th: Brandon Hunter, Benton, Ky., 15 bass, 61-5, $4,600
A complete list of results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Micah Frazier of Newnan, Georgia, caught a bass weighing 8 pounds, 6 ounces Friday – the biggest of the tournament in the Pro Division. For his catch, Frazier earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $300.
Grayson Smith of Clarksville, Tennessee, won the Co-angler Division and a new Ranger Z175 boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude outboard motor. Smith earned his win with a three-day total catch of 15 bass weighing 54 pounds, 3 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers on Kentucky Lake were:
1st: Grayson Smith, Clarksville, Tenn., 15 bass, 54-3, $28,700
2nd: Joe Thompson, Clayton, Ga., 15 bass, 52-2, $6,500
3rd: Tommy Sikes, Quitman, Texas, 15 bass, 51-6, $5,200
4th: Mark Howard, Mesquite, Texas, 15 bass, 51-5, $4,150
5th: Roger Olson Jr., Eagle River, Wis., 15 bass, 50-4, $3,600
6th: Malvin Steger, Millersville, Mo., 15 bass, 48-12, $3,100
7th: Christopher Lemon, Mooresville, Ind., 15 bass, 47-15, $2,600
8th: Robbie Bartoszek, Hampshire, Tenn., 15 bass, 47-9, $2,050
9th: Rob Crane, Fairview Heights, Ill., 12 bass, 41-14, $1,620
10th: Adam Lock, Metropolis, Ill., 13 bass, 41-10, $1,370
Jojo Walsh of Lyles, Tennessee, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday, a largemouth weighing 8 pounds, 6 ounces, and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $200.
The Costa FLW Series on Kentucky Lake presented by Lowrance was hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau. It was the second of three Central Division tournaments in 2017. The next Costa FLW Series tournament will be the Northern Division opener, held June 22-24, on Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh, New York. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.
The Costa FLW Series consists of five U.S. 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 2017 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Nov. 2-4 on Kentucky Lake in Paris, Tennessee.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Costa FLW Series on Facebook 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 2017 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 274 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa 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 Snapchat.
