Missouri Boater Bests 155-boat Field to Earn Third Career Victory, $40K
Boater Andre Dickneite of Freeburg, Missouri, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 15 pounds even to win the Costa FLW Series Central Division event on Lake of the Ozarks presented by Evinrude. Dickneite’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 48 pounds, 4 ounces, was enough to earn him the win by a 2-pound, 8-ounce margin and the first place prize of $40,000.
“I am on top of the world right now,” said Dickneite, who after two previous wins at the T-H Marine Bass Fishing League level earned his first win in the Costa FLW Series. “I did not think that I had enough to win today. I started the day in fourth place, and I thought that my weight would likely maintain my standing. But the other guys struggled, and now here I am.”
Dickneite said that he caught his fish throughout the week flipping a jig to docks. His main bait was a ½-ounce black and blue-colored V&M jig, trailered with a Strike King Rage Craw.
“The key for me was fishing the conditions that I was given,” Dickneite said. “I had one magic dock that I caught 2 keepers on each day, but other than that I was fishing different areas. I fished from the Hurricane Deck Bridge to up as far as Mossy Creek.”
Dickneite mentioned that every fish that he caught came flipping with the jig, except for today when he managed to catch three on a Texas-rigged red bug-colored Zoom Magnum Trick Worm.
“I caught 10 keepers on Thursday, then seven on Friday and seven more today. I didn’t throw the worm at all earlier this week, but it felt right to throw it today. I was fortunate to make the right decisions this week and I couldn’t be happier with how I ended up.”
The top 10 pros on Lake of the Ozarks were:
1st: Andre Dickneite, Freeburg, Mo., 15 bass, 48-4, $40,000
2nd: Roger Fitzpatrick, Eldon, Mo., 15 bass, 45-12, $15,700
3rd: James Dill, Sunrise Beach, Mo., 15 bass, 45-12, $12,000
4th: Costa pro Dylan Hays, Sheridan, Ark., 15 bass, 45-7, $10,100
5th: Dennis Berhorst, Holts Summit, Mo., 15 bass, 44-4, $9,000
6th: Shane Long, Willard, Mo., 15 bass, 44-3, $8,000
7th: Casey Scanlon, Lake Ozark, Mo., 15 bass, 43-3, $7,000
8th: Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 15 bass, 42-14, $6,000
9th: Old Spice pro Greg Bohannan, Bentonville, Ark., 15 bass, 40-11, $5,000
10th: James Watson, Lampe, Mo., 11 bass, 34-15, $4,000
Cody Hahner of Wausau, Wisconsin, caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 7 ounces Friday to win the Boater Big Bass award of $300.
Steve Grizzle of Edwardsville, Illinois, won the Co-angler Division and a new Ranger Z175 boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude outboard motor. Grizzle earned his win with a three-day total catch of 11 bass weighing 27 pounds, 12 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers on Lake of the Ozarks were:
1st: Steve Grizzle, Edwardsville, Ill., 11 bass, 27-12, Ranger Z175 w/90-horsepower Evinrude outboard + $5,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Alan Woodford, Winslow, Ind., 10 bass, 26-10, $5,100
3rd: Robbie Bartoszek, Hampshire, Tenn., 12 bass, 26-3, $4,050
4th: Tyrone Phillips, Little Rock, Ark., 11 bass, 25-12, $3,600
5th: Josh Shirley, Cabot, Ark., eight bass, 24-12, $3,250
6th: Sam Bremmerkamp, Joplin, Mo., 10 bass, 22-7, $2,500
7th: Ray Larson, Springfield, Ill., seven bass, 20-13, $2,000
8th: Roger Olson Jr., Eagle River, Wis., 10 bass, 20-9, $1,750
9th: Scott Parsons, Rogers, Ark., 10 bass, 19-9, $1,500
10th: Stan Harris, Searcy, Ark., seven bass, 17-5, $1,250
Shirley caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday, a largemouth weighing 6 pounds, 8 ounces, and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $200.
The Costa FLW Series on Lake of the Ozarks presented by Evinrude was hosted by the Tri-County Lodging Association. It was the third and final regular-season Central Division tournament of 2017. The next event for Costa FLW Series Central Division anglers will be the Costa FLW Series Championship, held Nov. 2-4 on Kentucky Lake in Paris, Tennessee, hosted by the Henry County Tourism Authority. 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.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com.
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 258 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.
By: Joe Opager, Director of Public Relations
