GROVE, Okla. (Oct. 5, 2019) – After starting the day in third place at the FLW Series tournament at Grand Lake, pro Curt Warren of Rose, Oklahoma, caught a five-bass limit Saturday weighing 15 pounds, 9 ounces, to vault to the top of the leaderboard and win. 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 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
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.