Costa FLW fishing tour comes to Bainbridge on March 1

BAINBRIDGE, Ga. – As many as 400 pros and co-anglers are set to compete in the Costa FLW Series Southeastern Division event at Lake Seminole presented by T-H Marine, March 1-3. The tournament, hosted by the Bainbridge Convention and Visitors Bureau, is the second of three regular-season events scheduled in the FLW Series Southeastern Division. Anglers will be competing for a top award of up to $93,000, including a brand new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.

“The spawn on Lake Seminole just started about a week ago,” said FLW Tour rookie Clint Brown of Bainbridge, Georgia, who finished third on Lake Seminole when the FLW Series last visited in 2017. “I think in this tournament you’re going to see a lot of mixed bags of both prespawn and spawning fish. We’re going to see some big prespawn limits.

“Managing your fish over three days of competition is going to be very important,” Brown continued. “A guy might be able to weigh in a big bag one day, but might not catch them the next day. The prespawn fish are really spot-oriented, so conserving them for the entire tournament will be a key to winning.”

Brown said that Rat-L-Traps, ChatterBaits and Carolina- and Texas-rigged worms would all be popular baits among tournament competitors.

“Seminole is a grass lake, and grass lakes tend to change each year,” Brown said. “There is a lot more stained water than last year, and the mud will definitely change some things for some folks.

“I think to make the top-10 cut and fish the final day you’re going to need 32 to 33 pounds,” Brown went on to say. “I think the tournament winner is going to catch around 63 pounds.”

Anglers will take off from the Bainbridge Earle May Boat Basin, located at 100 Boat Basin Circle, in Bainbridge, at 7 a.m. EST each day of competition. Weigh-ins will be held at the Boat Basin on Thursday and Friday beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Bass Pro Shops in Tallahassee, Florida, located at 4059 Lagniappe Way, and will begin at 4 p.m. 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 Lake Seminole pros will fish for a top prize of $93,000, including a brand new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard if Ranger Cup qualified. Co-anglers will cast for a brand new Ranger Z175 boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude 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.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Costa FLW Series on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.

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. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.