Casey Smith of Macedon, N.Y. caught a 16-08 bag on Saturday to win the FLW Series Northern Division opener on the Potomac River with a 3-day total of 51-06. For his win, Smith took home $39,208.
“I feel absolutely phenomenal right now,” said Smith, who was fishing in his first-ever FLW Series event. “I’ve wanted to step up to this level of competition for a long time now. A lot of work went into getting here.
“The key for me this week was the area I concentrated on. I found a ditch in the mouth of the Aquia Creek that connected a large grass flat to a deep hole. The fish were using the ditch as a highway and I was able to snatch them out of it."
Smith said he caught the majority of his fish throughout the event on a bluegill flash-colored Keitech Swing Impact FAT Swimbait, as well as a couple of key fish on a green-pumpkin and purple Gambler Southern Swim Jig.
“I dragged the Keitech through the grass as slow as I could. When it got hung up, I knocked it with the reel. I didn’t yank it, but I give the crank a half-turn and popped it out of the grass. The bait would fall and after a couple of full cranks, they’d bite. It was a reaction bite, but it was very slow.”
“Luckily I had the ditch to myself this week. We caught a lot of fish, and there’s definitely some more big ones left there.”
Here are the final totals for the Top 10:
1. Casey Smith: 51-06
2. Charlie Machek: 49-11
3. Ron Nelson: 48-02
4. Aaron Hastings: 47-00
5. Bryan Schmitt: 45-12
6. Gregory Wilder: 45-05
7. Chris Baumgardner: 45-00
8. Joseph Wood: 43-08
9. Jeff Coble: 43-07
10. Bill Chapman: 37-08
