BRANSON, Mo. (May 11, 2019) – Pro Eric Olliverson of Lampe, Missouri , caught a five-bass limit Saturday weighing 16 pounds, 8 ounces, to win the three-day FLW Series tournament on Table Rock Lake. Olliverson’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 46 pounds, 3 ounces, was enough to earn him the victory by a 5-ounce margin over second-place pro Dakota Ebare of Denham Springs, Louisiana, and earn him $38,450. Olliverson said that he fished two main patterns throughout the week, targeting smallmouth in the morning before flipping for largemouth in bushes in the afternoon.
“Every morning I’d start out fishing for smallmouth and would spend 2 to 5 hours doing that,” said Olliverson, who earned his first career victory in FLW competition. “Then I’d go flipping in the bushes for largemouth. I’d have done that the whole time, but I just couldn’t get a largemouth bite going early.”
Targeting offshore areas off points on the lower end of the lake, Olliverson caught a limit of smallmouths on Thursday throwing a Keitech Swing Impact FAT 3.3 swimbait on a 6th Sense Divine Swimbait Jighead and a 6th Sense Dogma 115 topwater bait, on which he replaced the back hook with a feathered VMC treble. From there, he went flipping a beaver-style bait to shallow brush from Kimberling City to the mouth of the rivers, catching a pair of culling largemouths.
Friday was more of the same, but Olliverson noticed his morning smallmouth bite really never got going until after 8 a.m. Saturday, Olliverson only spent an hour on his smallmouths, catching one keeper before heading shallow to flip. Yet, he never got out his flipping rod.
“Before I flipped, I picked up the Dogma topwater and was throwing it around the bushes and a 3-pounder ate it,” Olliverson said. “From there I just kept the topwater in my hand and covered a ton of water.
“I think the key for me this week was trusting my instinct and trusting the Good Lord,” Olliverson went on to say. “It’s weird, but I felt like I was led this entire week. I’d be running down the lake and it was like there was a voice telling me to ‘turn around, that looked good.’ I’ve got a lot of experience here and I was fishing random places that I’d never fished before. And I was catching big ones. It was truly an amazing week.”
The top 10 pros on Table Rock Lake finished:
1st: Eric Olliverson, Lampe, Mo., 15 bass, 46-3, $38,450
2nd: Dakota Ebare, Denham Springs, La., 15 bass, 45-14, $15,122
3rd: Costa pro Todd Castledine, Nacogdoches, Texas, 15 bass, 44-7, $11,575
4th: Kyle Minke, Lindstrom, Minn., 15 bass, 43-6, $9,562
5th: Greg Bohannan, Bentonville, Ark., 15 bass, 41-14, $8,884
6th: Matt Wood, Jessieville, Ark., 15 bass, 41-9, $7,928
7th: Jake Morris, McKee, Ky., 14 bass, 41-6, $8,194
8th: Wesley Rogers, Mammoth Spring, Ark., 15 bass, 41-6, $5,737
9th: Greg Mansfield, Louisburg, Kan., 15 bass, 40-13, $4,781
10th: Jason Bonds, Lufkin, Texas, 15 bass, 39-15, $3,825
Wood weighed a 6-pound, 11-ounce bass Thursday – the heaviest of the tournament in the Pro Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $278. Scott Parsons of Rogers, Arkansas, won the Co-angler Division with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 36 pounds, 9 ounces. For his win, Parsons took home the top prize package of a new Ranger Z175 boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.
The top 10 co-anglers on Table Rock Lake finished:
1st: Scott Parsons, Rogers, Ark., 15 bass, 36-9, $27,300
2nd: Robbie Bartoszek, Hampshire, Tenn., 15 bass, 36-5, $5,134
3rd: Dennis Meyer, Ballwin, Mo., 15 bass, 36-3, $3,918
4th: Rob Crane, Fairview Heights, Ill., 14 bass, 34-9, $3,569
5th: Wes Proctor, Manhattan, Kan., 15 bass, 32-15, $2,901
6th: Mark Howard, Mesquite, Texas, 13 bass, 30-12, $2,417
7th: Michael Catt, Jacksonville, Fla., 13 bass, 28-8, $1,934
8th: Kurt Chelminiak, Delafield, Wis., 12 bass, 28-1, $1,842
9th: Todd Lee, Jasper, Ala., 13 bass, 27-3, $1,450
10th: Todd Adamitis, Glen Carbon, Ill., 11 bass, 25-9, $1,209
Caleb Chapman of Dawson Springs, Kentucky, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 10 ounces. Chapman earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $185 for his catch.