More than 280 pros and co-anglers are set to compete next week, March 22-24, at the Costa FLW Series at Grand Lake presented by Ranger Boats. The tournament is the second of three regular-season events scheduled in the FLW Series Southwestern Division. Hosted by the City of Grove, the event will feature anglers competing for a top award of up to $85,000, including a brand new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.
“The lake has been fishing great and I think that we’re going to see Grand Lake show its true colors in this tournament,” said FLW Tour rookie Sheldon Collings of Grove, who has three career top-10 finishes in the FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) competition on Grand Lake. “It’s been taking 24 to 25 pounds to win one-day tournaments on the lake the past few weekends and the potential is there right now to weigh in a 30-pound limit.
“The key to this event will be adapting to the cold front that is supposed to be coming in,” Collings continued. “It’s warm right now and they’re saying that it could get up to 80 degrees this weekend. But, next week a cold front is coming through and we could be back down to 30 degrees. A guy is going to have to have a couple of different patterns and areas to deal with the weather.”
Collings said that he expects anglers to be catching fish both deep and shallow and that anglers would be able to catch fish “however they want to.”
“Guys are catching them good right now 20 to 25 deep on umbrella rigs and on Wiggle Warts and jerkbaits in 8 to 10 feet,” Collings said. “I think a lot of guys will catch them flipping jigs behind docks, as well, but the majority of fish will be caught on reaction baits.
“I think someone is going to come in the first day of the tournament and weigh in at least 25 pounds,” Collings went on to say. “They’ll back it up with another 18 to 20 pounds the next two days and I think the winner will need to have a weight in at least the mid- to high-60-pound range.”
Anglers will take off from Wolf Creek Park, located at 963 N. 16th St., in Grove, at 7:30 a.m. CDT each day of competition. Weigh-in will be held at Wolf Creek Park on Thursday and Friday beginning at 3:30 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Cabela’s in Rogers, Arkansas, located at 2300 Promenade Boulevard, and will begin at 4:30 p.m. All takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
In Costa FLW Series regular-season competition, payouts are based on the number of participants competing in the event. At Grand Lake pros will fish for a top prize of $85,000, including a brand new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard if Ranger Cup qualified. Co-anglers will cast for a brand new Ranger Z175 boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard, and $5,000 if Ranger Cup qualified.
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 2018 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Nov. 1-3 on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama, and is hosted by the Marshall County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
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 2018 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct 286 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, 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
