FLW Tour pro Zack Birge caught an 18-03 sack on Saturday to win the Costa FLW Series Southwestern Division event at Grand Lake with a 3-day total of 51-13.
Birge, who started the day in 8th place, said he spent the majority of his tournament targeting prespawn bass in three mid-lake areas that were littered with small chunk rock.
“I’d fish a 300-yard staging area in Wolf Creek, and then leave it alone to replenish,” he said. “I’d make my way down to the mouth of the creek and fish another 200-yard stretch, and then make my way back up. There were fish moving up shallow throughout the day, so I just kept bouncing around and junk-fishing.”
Birge said he rotated through his three areas for the duration of the event, and that his bites gradually got heavier.
“I know the fish in this lake and their quality. I knew the numbers were here if I stuck with it until they started to bite. I probably casted my lure a thousand times each day. I just kept chunking and plowing the bottom with it. I just about wore the paint and bill off of it.”
A 6th Sense Crush Mini 25X crankbait in the live baby bluegill color produced all of his weigh-in fish.
“I found that the bigger bass didn’t like bluegill and were biting at them,” Birge said. “One of my keepers spit up a bluegill in my livewell (Friday), and it reassured me that what I was doing was right.”
Here are the final totals for the Top 10:
1. Zack Birge: 51-13
2. Toby Hartsell: 50-05
3. Sammy Burks: 48-07
4. Matt Arey: 48-03
5. Chad Warren: 47-01
6. Jesse Wolfe: 47-00
7. Bill Tervin: 44-11
8. Matt Cooper: 39-07
9. Russell Cecil: 37-00
10. Earl Hoskins: 33-02
