Rayovac FLW Series Central Division Set to Open on Grand Lake
OutdoorHub 03.26.14
The Rayovac FLW Series is headed to Grand Lake April 3-5 for a tournament presented by Power-Pole when as many as 300 pros and co-anglers take to the water for the first of three stops in the Central Division.
“Grand Lake has been fishing really, really tough lately,” said Bridgford Foods pro Randy Blaukat, a nine-time Forrest Wood Cup qualifier. “It froze over completely this winter for the first time in 35 years, and we went through two big shad kills. All of the dead shad make an easy meal for the bass and they gorge themselves and get fat and happy. That makes them really hard to catch.
“That being said, there are always a few anglers who will catch them,” Blaukat continued. “I think the overall tournament weights will be down, but I think the winner will still have a three-day total in the mid- to upper-50-pound range.”
Blaukat said that typical pre-spawn patterns would be employed by most of the tournament anglers, and jerkbaits, umbrella rigs and jigs would all be popular baits.
“A lot depends on how the weather is going to play out leading up to the tournament,” Blaukat said. “We just haven’t been getting the warmer weather yet this year. The big decision for anglers will be whether to use crawdad-imitating baits or shad-imitating baits. Most of the time on Grand it’s about a 50-50 split, but with the shad kill this year I think that the crawdad baits may be the way to go.”
Anglers will take off from Wolf Creek Park located at 963 N. 16th St. in Grove, Okla., at 6:30 a.m. each day. Weigh-in will be held at the takeoff location on Thursday and Friday beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at Walmart located at 2115 S. Main St. in Grove, Okla., beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Pros will fish for a top award of $40,000 plus a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard if Ranger Cup guidelines are met. Co-anglers will cast for a top award consisting of a Ranger Z117 with 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and $5,000 if Ranger Cup guidelines are met.
The Rayovac FLW Series consists of five divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast, Texas and Western. Each division consists of three tournaments and competitors will be vying for valuable points in each division that could earn them the opportunity to fish in the Rayovac FLW Series Championship. The 2014 Rayovac FLW Series Championship is being held Oct. 30-Nov. 1 on Wheeler Lake in Rogersville, Ala.
The Rayovac FLW Series tournament on Grand Lake is being hosted by the Grand Lake Association.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWOutdoors.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Rayovac FLW Series on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.
