MARBURY, Md. (June 18, 2016) – Casey Smith of Macedon, New York, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 16 pounds, 8 ounces Saturday to win the FLW Series Northern Division tournament on the Potomac River with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 51 pounds, 6 ounces. For his win, Smith took home $39,208.
“I feel absolutely phenomenal right now,” said Smith, who earned the win fishing in his first-ever Costa Series event. “I’ve wanted to step up to this level of competition for a long time now. A lot of work went into getting here.
“The key for me this week was the area I concentrated on,” Smith continued. “I found a ditch in the mouth of the Aquia Creek that connected a large grass flat to a deep hole. The fish were using the ditch as a highway and I was able to snatch them out of it. On Day One, I had four bass for 13 pounds by 8:15 a.m.
“The morning bite on Day Two was strong and I had 14 pounds fairly quickly,” said Smith. “In the afternoon I culled out everything in the incoming tide. We just sat there with the Power-Poles down and smashed them for six hours.”
Smith said he caught the majority of his fish throughout the event on a Bluegill Flash-colored Keitech Swing Impact FAT Swimbait as well as a couple of key fish on a green-pumpkin and purple-colored Gambler Southern Swim Jig.
“I dragged the Keitech through the grass as slow as I could,” said Smith. “When it got hung up, I knocked it with the reel. I didn’t yank it, but I give the crank a half-turn and popped it out of the grass. The bait would fall and after a couple of full cranks, they’d bite. It was a reaction bite, but it was very slow.”
Smith said he returned to the ditch on Day Three and hit a flurry around 9:15 a.m. to seal the deal.
“My biggest fish today came on a white ChatterBait,” said Smith. “Luckily I had the ditch to myself this week. We caught a lot of fish, and there’s definitely some more big ones left there.”
The top 10 pros on the Potomac River were:
1st: Casey Smith, Macedon, N.Y., 15 bass, 51-6, $39,208
2nd: Charlie Machek, Midlothian, Va., 15 bass, 49-11, $15,481
3rd: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 15 bass, 48-2, $11,763
4th: Aaron Hastings, Middletown, Md., 15 bass, 47-0, $9,802
5th: Bryan Schmitt, Deale, Md., 15 bass, 45-12, $9,110
6th: Gregory Wilder, Millersville, Md., 15 bass, 45-5, $7,842
7th: Chris Baumgardner, Gastonia, N.C., 15 bass, 45-0, $6,861
8th: Joseph Wood, Westport, Mass., 15 bass, 43-8, $5,881
9th: Jeff Coble, Manson, N.C., 15 bass, 43-7, $4,901
10th: Bill Chapman, Salt Rock, W. Va., 14 bass, 37-8, $3,921
Machek and Schmitt each caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 6 ounces – the biggest bass of the tournament in the pro division – that earned them each a Big Bass award of $288. David Williams of Fredericksburg, Virginia, won the co-angler division and a Ranger Z117 with a 90-horsepower Mercury outboard motor. Williams earned his win with a three-day total catch of 15 bass weighing 44 pounds, 15 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers on the Potomac River were:
1st: David Williams, Fredericksburg, Va., 15 bass, 44-15, $27,000
2nd: Michael Bahnweg, Union Dale, Pa., 15 bass, 39-12, $5,101
3rd: Eric Correll, Birdsboro, Pa., 15 bass, 37-2, $3,927
4th: Derek Brown, Charlottesville, Va., 15 bass, 36-15, $3,436
5th: Brett Holmes, Hudson, N.Y., 14 bass, 36-13, $2,945
6th: Tyler Sheppard, Hermitage, Pa., 15 bass, 36-4, $2,455
7th: John Duarte, Middle River, Md., 14 bass, 34-13, $1,964
8th: Kevin Hesson, Polk, Pa., 13 bass, 33-14, $1,718
9th: Brett Ewing, Waldorf, Md., 13 bass, 33-5, $1,473
10th: Rickey Farris, Forest, Va., 12 bass, 28-3, $1,227
Doug Jenkins of Saint Leonard, Maryland, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the co-angler division Thursday, a bass weighing 5 pounds, 5 ounces that earned him the day’s Big Bass award of $192.