Todd Woods of San Dimas, Calif. caught a 16-09 sack on Saturday to win the Costa FLW Series Western Division event on Clear Lake with a 3-day total of 77-00. For his win, Woods took home $33,002.
“The past couple of days have been some of the best days of my life,” said Woods, who earned his first win in FLW Series competition. “I’ve been waiting a long time to win. I’m in complete shock right now.”
Woods said he spent the first day of the event fishing near Highway 20 in an area he called the ‘new lake break’ – a unique structure formation where the lake’s old shoreline now rests under higher water.
“The shad were spawning near chunk rock on the bottom where the new water covered, and the bass were all over it,” said Woods. “The break was pretty far offshore, maybe 80 yards, and I ran parallel to it for about a mile.
“I primarily used a hitch-colored Basstrix Paddle Tail Swimbait,” Woods continued. “I also threw an umbrella rig, but only when I missed a bite or was in deeper water.”
Woods said he followed a similar pattern on day 2, running the same stretch of water while rotating between the swimbait and umbrella rig.
“The only part of the pattern that was different was that the fish were isolated in different spots,” said Woods. “I’d catch one here and a few there. I was able to bring in 10 keepers.”
On the final day of competition, Woods said his day started out very slow – he had only 5 pounds in the livewell at noon.
“I almost blew the tournament today,” said Woods. “I had around five fish that were on beds marked, but I think someone had already caught most of them. I sight-fished for a while and then ran to a dock that was along my stretch from days 1 and 2. By then I had about 11 pounds and knew I needed more. With 15 minutes to go, I noticed there were birds diving near a point that I hadn’t hit. I pulled up to it, used the Basstrix, and was able to boat a 5-pounder. I was truly blessed.”
Here are the final totals for the Top 10:
1. Todd Woods: 77-00
2. Roy Hawk: 70-00
3. Wade Curtiss: 69-11
4. Wayne Breazeale: 66-14
5. Hunter Schlander: 66-07
6. Jim Moulton: 66-04
7. Michael Caruso: 65-13
8. Garrett Dixon: 61-03
9. David Valdivia: 61-03
10. Rusty Salewske: 52-00
