One of the more popular and richest bass tournaments on Clear Lake gets underway Thursday morning when the Costa FLW Series visits the Konocti Vista Casino Resort & Marina. The three-day pro-am tournament is expected to draw 100-plus boats (or more than 200 fishermen).
The winning pro could take home as much as $25,000 in cash and a new bass boat, if special conditions are met, for a total package worth more than $75,000. The winning amateur receives a new bass boat. The pros paid an entry fee of $1,600 and the amateurs $560.
In addition to the Costa FLW Series, the FLW college tournament takes place Sunday on the lake. That tournament feature college students from throughout the West.
The Costa FLW Series tournament will have a full field on the water Thursday and Friday. Only the top 10 pros and top 10 amateurs, or co-anglers, advance to Saturday based on their two-day accumulated weight. The winners of the tournament are determined by the heaviest accumulated weight for all three days. The weigh-ins start at 3 p.m. all three days at Konocti Vista Casino.
The tournament is a true pro/am format where both the pros and co-anglers fish separately. Each fisherman is allowed to weigh in five fish per day. The pros supply the boats, fish from the front of the boat and compete against other pros. The co-anglers fish from the back of the boat and compete against other co-anglers. The co-anglers aren’t allowed past the console and must cast their lures either to the side or behind the boat. The pros decide where to fish.
Professional fishermen from throughout the West are competing in the event. A list of Lake County fishermen entered in the tournament wasn’t available from FLW-Outdoors but local bass pros Jimmy Reese of Witter Springs, Mark Crutcher of Lakeport, Paul Bailey of Nice and Wayne Breazeale of Kelseyville are entered. Breazeale came in fourth place in last year’s tournament.
The pros will be looking for nothing but the quality bass, which at Clear Lake is considered any fish weighing more than 5 pounds. Look for the winner to also have a kicker fish, which means a bass between 8-10 pounds. Most of the experts predict it will take at least a total of 60 pounds to win the tournament on the pro side.
Recently the overall average weight of fish caught on Clear Lake during tournaments has dropped considerably. Last year’s FLW Clear Lake tournament drew 114 boats and the winning weight for the pros was 74 pounds and the winning co-angler had 60 pounds. Weather will be a key factor in this year’s tournament. If it’s warm with light winds, the weights could be high. Clear Lake has long been a favorite of the FLW bass fishermen because of the huge bass swimming in the lake. The FLW tournament fishermen should fare better than the fishermen in recent tournaments because many are full-time professional tournament fishermen.
The good news is that the approximately 200 fishermen expected to compete in the tournament will spend in the neighborhood of $200,000 at local motels, gas stations, tackle shops and restaurants.
The Costa FLW Series consists of four divisions – Northern, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western. Clear Lake is in the Western Division. Each division hosts three tournaments and competitors are competing for valuable points that could earn them a trip to the national championship and even bigger payouts.
FLW is one of the largest professional bass tournament organizations in the nation. It also sponsors walleye tournaments in the Midwest as well as ocean fishing tournaments. FLW is based out of Brenton, Kentucky.
