Bass Pro of East Ridge will be hosting the final weigh-in of the 2019 Costa Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) Series Southeastern division tournament. The Costa FLW Series at Lake Chickamauga presented by T-H Marine hosted by Fish Dayton will cap off the three-day tournament featuring over 360 bass-fishing pros and co-anglers.
The tournament is based out of Dayton, Tennessee which has picked up the title of “Bass Capital of the World” by many fishermen. Launches will take place at the Dayton Boat Ramp for all three days, March 21-23 with weigh-ins taking place at the Dayton location for both Thursday and Friday. The final weigh-in will then move to the East Ridge Bass Pro Saturday afternoon where the tournament Champion will be crowned.
Prize money for the tournament includes $100,000 a brand new Ranger Z518L boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard in the pro division. Co-anglers will cast for a brand new Ranger Z175 boat with a 115-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard, and $5,000 if Ranger Cup qualified.
Buddy Gross Back on the “Chick” for FLW Event
Buddy Gross,FLW Tour Pro from Chickamauga, Georgia, has two top-ten finishes on Lake Chickamauga in FLW competition. Hetold FLW media that the recent flooding may be in the past but it left a mark on the lake and river. Which may widen the number of anglers that could pull out the win.
“The water has dropped six feet back down to winter pool in the last week and a half and the water is muddy and cool – around 49 to 50 degrees,” Gross said of the water conditions. “Most of the grass is gone and it has pretty much eliminated the river fishing. This one won’t be a ‘locals’ tournament – it’s anybody’s game.”
Gross predicted that anglers would likely find the most success fishing eddies or any other areas that they could find that were current-related, or up shallow on the bank. He said that Rat-L-Traps, crankbaits, jigs and even Alabama rigs would be popular baits thrown by tournament competitors. He also noted the changing temps will play a hand in finding the “Big Ones” before the final weigh-in on Sunday.
“The weather conditions keep changing – cold, warm, cold, warm – and it has these fish moving out,” Gross said. “That being said, I still think the winner is going to find them in 12-feet-of-water or less. The key is going to be covering new water and finding the big ones.They’re really catching them right now on Chick. In a local tournament this weekend we saw a 29-pound limit, a 28, and multiple 25s,” Gross went on to say. “I don’t know if someone can do that for three days, but I think the winner is going to need at least 60 to 65 pounds to walk away with the big check.”
Schedule of Events
The Dayton Boat Dock located at 175 Lakeshore Street in Dayton, Tennessee. Bass Pro of East Ridge is located at 1000 Bass Pro Drive, East Ridge, TN 37412 at Camp Jordan Crossing.
- Thursday, March 21: Launch at 7:30 a.m. with 3:30 p.m. weigh-in at the ramp.
- Friday, March 22: Launch at 7:30 a.m. with 3:30 p.m. weigh-in at the ramp.
- Saturday, March 23: Launch at 7:30 a.m. at the ramp.
- Saturday, March 23: 4:30 Championship Weigh-in at Bass Pro of East Ridge.
- Launch 7:30 a.m. EDT each day of competition. Thursday and Friday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Dayton Boat Dock beginning at 3:30 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Bass Pro Shops in Chattanooga, located at 1000 Bass Pro Drive, beginning at 4:30 p.m.
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 2019 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Oct. 31 – Nov. 2 on Lake Cumberland in Burnside, Kentucky.
