Klinger Earns Third Career Victory in FLW Competition, $32,778, Arizona’s Parks Takes Home New Ranger Boat as Co-Angler Champion

HENDERSON, Nev. (March 2, 2019) – Pro angler Tim Klinger of Boulder City, Nevada, brought the second-largest stringer of the entire tournament to the scale Saturday – a five-bass limit weighing 15 pounds, 4 ounces – to win the Costa FLW Series at Lake Mead presented by Ranger Boats. Klinger’s three-day total of 13 bass weighing 34 pounds, 12 ounces gave him the win by 4-pound, 12-ounce margin over second-place pro Lane Olson of Forest Grove, Oregon, and earned him the $32,778 prize in an exciting finale to the three-day event that kicked off the 2019 FLW Series Western Division season.

“The key for me this week was my confidence in my flipping,” said Klinger, who pushed his career earnings over the $600,000 mark in FLW competition. “I was born and raised on this lake, and I’m very comfortable fishing here.”

Klinger said he spent the first two days of the event flipping bushes in the Overton Arm of Lake Mead. He said that he caught four fish on the first day throwing a Beast Coast Tungsten Flipping jig with a Super Pork Bubba Frog trailer. On the second day, he switched to a Texas-rigged 4-inch green-pumpkin-colored craw and added another four keepers. On Day 3, the wind kept him closer to the takeoff so he spent the day in Boulder Basin, throwing a white ¾-ounce War Eagle spinnerbait, and caught 11 keepers, and the second-largest limit of the tournament.

“I caught a couple of smallmouth throughout the week, but all 13 of my keepers that made it to the scale were largemouth,” Klinger said. “All week long I was throwing my baits on a 7-foot, 6-inch, Taipan Rods Flipping Stick, with 20-pound fluorocarbon or 50-pound-test braided line.”

Klinger spent all three days of competition fishing shallow, and said that every fish he caught came between 2- and 9-feet-deep. The two-time FLW Cup qualifier was fishing in his 107^th career event in FLW competition.

The top 10 pros on Lake Mead finished:

1^st:          Tim Klinger, Boulder City, Nev., 13 bass, 34-12, $32,778

2^nd:         Lane Olson, Forest Grove, Ore., 12 bass, 30-0, $12,724

3^rd:         Benjamin Byrd, Moab, Utah, 12 bass, 29-7, $9,774

4^th:         Roy Hawk, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 14 bass, 29-1, $8,145

5^th:         David Valdivia, Norwalk, Calif., 14 bass, 28-13, $7,330

6^th:         Brett Leber, Dixon, Calif., nine bass, 28-9, $6,516

7^th:         Rusty Salewske, Alpine, Calif., 11 bass, 26-11, $5,701

8^th:         Sean Coffey, Mesa, Ariz., 10 bass, 25-1, $4,887

9^th:         Wade Curtiss, Lincoln, Calif., eight bass, 20-12, $4,072

10^th:       Tyler Rempe, Sierra Vista, Ariz., nine bass, 19-10, $3,258

A complete list of results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Ed Arledge of Valley Center, California, weighed a 6-pound, 12-ounce, bass Friday – the biggest of the tournament in the Pro Division. For his catch, Arledge earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $216.

Jesse Parks of Avondale, Arizona, won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger Z175 with a 115-horsepower outboard motor with a three-day total of nine bass weighing 23 pounds, 8 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers on Lake Mead finished:

1^nd:         Jesse Parks, Avondale, Ariz., nine bass, 23-8, Ranger Z175 w/115-horsepower outboard + $5,000 Ranger Cup

2^nd:         Dante Ray, Fernley, Nev., nine bass, 20-5, $4,351

3^rd:         Lynn Irwin, Las Vegas, Nev., nine bass, 19-5, $3,401

4^th:         Tom White, Costa Mesa, Calif., seven bass, 15-14, $3,025

5^th:         Mark Bowman, San Dimas, Calif., eight bass, 15-6, $2,550

6^th:         Ted Romero, Lakewood, Calif., six bass, 13-14, $2,125

7^th:         Jacob Traba, Pacifica, Calif., six bass, 13-5, $1,844

8^th:         Gabriel Diaz, Nuevo, Calif., four bass, 13-0, $1,560

9^th:         Doug Hutchison, Santa Rosa, Calif., five bass, 10-14, $1,275

10^th:       Robin Oh, Valencia, Calif., four bass, 10-10, $1,063

Diaz and Dean Sexton of Costa Mesa, California, both caught a bass weighing 5 pounds, 2 ounces, out of the back of the boat Friday – the largest in the Co-angler Division – to split the Co-angler Big Bass award of $144.

The Costa FLW Series on Lake Mead presented by Ranger Boats was hosted by the Henderson Chamber of Commerce Cultural Arts and Tourism Department. It was the first of three Western Division tournaments of the 2019 regular season. The next tournament for FLW Series anglers will be the Costa FLW Series at Lake Chickamauga presented by T-H Marine, held March 21-23 in Dayton, Tennessee. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.

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.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Costa FLW Series on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.