HENDERSON, Nev. (March 2, 2019) – Pro angler Tim Klinger of Boulder City, Nevada, brought the second-largest stringer of the entire tournament to the scale Saturday – a five-bass limit weighing 15 pounds, 4 ounces – to win the Costa FLW Series at Lake Mead presented by Ranger Boats. Klinger’s three-day total of 13 bass weighing 34 pounds, 12 ounces gave him the win by 4-pound, 12-ounce margin over second-place pro Lane Olson of Forest Grove, Oregon, and earned him the $32,778 prize in an exciting finale to the three-day event that kicked off the 2019 FLW Series Western Division season.
“The key for me this week was my confidence in my flipping,” said Klinger, who pushed his career earnings over the $600,000 mark in FLW competition. “I was born and raised on this lake, and I’m very comfortable fishing here.”
Klinger said he spent the first two days of the event flipping bushes in the Overton Arm of Lake Mead. He said that he caught four fish on the first day throwing a Beast Coast Tungsten Flipping jig with a Super Pork Bubba Frog trailer. On the second day, he switched to a Texas-rigged 4-inch green-pumpkin-colored craw and added another four keepers. On Day 3, the wind kept him closer to the takeoff so he spent the day in Boulder Basin, throwing a white ¾-ounce War Eagle spinnerbait, and caught 11 keepers, and the second-largest limit of the tournament.
“I caught a couple of smallmouth throughout the week, but all 13 of my keepers that made it to the scale were largemouth,” Klinger said. “All week long I was throwing my baits on a 7-foot, 6-inch, Taipan Rods Flipping Stick, with 20-pound fluorocarbon or 50-pound-test braided line.”
Klinger spent all three days of competition fishing shallow, and said that every fish he caught came between 2- and 9-feet-deep. The two-time FLW Cup qualifier was fishing in his 107th career event in FLW competition.
The top 10 pros on Lake Mead finished:
1st: Tim Klinger, Boulder City, Nev., 13 bass, 34-12, $32,778
2nd: Lane Olson, Forest Grove, Ore., 12 bass, 30-0, $12,724
3rd: Benjamin Byrd, Moab, Utah, 12 bass, 29-7, $9,774
4th: Roy Hawk, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 14 bass, 29-1, $8,145
5th: David Valdivia, Norwalk, Calif., 14 bass, 28-13, $7,330
6th: Brett Leber, Dixon, Calif., nine bass, 28-9, $6,516
7th: Rusty Salewske, Alpine, Calif., 11 bass, 26-11, $5,701
8th: Sean Coffey, Mesa, Ariz., 10 bass, 25-1, $4,887
9th: Wade Curtiss, Lincoln, Calif., eight bass, 20-12, $4,072
10th: Tyler Rempe, Sierra Vista, Ariz., nine bass, 19-10, $3,258
A complete list of results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Ed Arledge of Valley Center, California, weighed a 6-pound, 12-ounce, bass Friday – the biggest of the tournament in the Pro Division. For his catch, Arledge earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $216.
Jesse Parks of Avondale, Arizona, won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger Z175 with a 115-horsepower outboard motor with a three-day total of nine bass weighing 23 pounds, 8 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers on Lake Mead finished:
1nd: Jesse Parks, Avondale, Ariz., nine bass, 23-8, Ranger Z175 w/115-horsepower outboard + $5,000 Ranger Cup
2nd: Dante Ray, Fernley, Nev., nine bass, 20-5, $4,351
3rd: Lynn Irwin, Las Vegas, Nev., nine bass, 19-5, $3,401
4th: Tom White, Costa Mesa, Calif., seven bass, 15-14, $3,025
5th: Mark Bowman, San Dimas, Calif., eight bass, 15-6, $2,550
6th: Ted Romero, Lakewood, Calif., six bass, 13-14, $2,125
7th: Jacob Traba, Pacifica, Calif., six bass, 13-5, $1,844
8th: Gabriel Diaz, Nuevo, Calif., four bass, 13-0, $1,560
9th: Doug Hutchison, Santa Rosa, Calif., five bass, 10-14, $1,275
10th: Robin Oh, Valencia, Calif., four bass, 10-10, $1,063
Diaz and Dean Sexton of Costa Mesa, California, both caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 2 ounces, out of the back of the boat Friday – the largest in the Co-angler Division – to split the Co-angler Big Bass award of $144.
The Costa FLW Series on Lake Mead presented by Ranger Boats was hosted by the Henderson Chamber of Commerce Cultural Arts and Tourism Department. It was the first of three Western Division tournaments of the 2019 regular season. The next tournament for FLW Series anglers will be the Costa FLW Series at Lake Chickamauga presented by T-H Marine, held March 21-23 in Dayton, Tennessee. 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.