Missouri pro Earns First Career Victory and earns $38,450

BRANSON, Mo. (May 11, 2019) – ProEric Olliverson of Lampe, Missouri , caught a five-bass limit Saturday weighing 16 pounds, 8 ounces, to win the three-dayCosta FLW Series on Table Rock Lake presented by Power-Pole. Olliverson’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 46 pounds, 3 ounces, was enough to earn him the victory by a 5-ounce margin over second-place pro Dakota Ebare of Denham Springs, Louisiana, and earn him $38,450.

” src=”blob:https://anglerschannel.com/82950a36-bb21-4b97-8ae5-72edeaafa2a0″ alt=”image004.jpg” width=”288″ align=”right” hspace=”12″ v:shapes=”Picture_x0020_2″ class=”Apple-web-attachment Singleton” style=”opacity: 1;”>Olliverson said that he fished two main patterns throughout the week, targeting smallmouth in the morning before flipping for largemouth in bushes in the afternoon.

“Every morning I’d start out fishing for smallmouth and would spend 2 to 5 hours doing that,” said Olliverson, who earned his first career victory in FLW competition. “Then I’d go flipping in the bushes for largemouth. I’d have done that the whole time, but I just couldn’t get a largemouth bite going early.”

Targeting offshore areas off points on the lower end of the lake, Olliverson caught a limit of smallmouths on Thursday throwing a Keitech Swing Impact FAT 3.3 swimbait on a 6th Sense Divine Swimbait Jighead and a 6th Sense Dogma 115 topwater bait, on which he replaced the back hook with a feathered VMC treble.

From there, he went flipping a beaver-style bait to shallow brush from Kimberling City to the mouth of the rivers, catching a pair of culling largemouths.

Friday was more of the same, but Olliverson noticed his morning smallmouth bite really never got going until after 8 a.m. Saturday, Olliverson only spent an hour on his smallmouths, catching one keeper before heading shallow to flip. Yet, he never got out his flipping rod.

“Before I flipped, I picked up the Dogma topwater and was throwing it around the bushes and a 3-pounder ate it,” Olliverson said. “From there I just kept the topwater in my hand and covered a ton of water.

“I think the key for me this week was trusting my instinct and trusting the Good Lord,” Olliverson went on to say. “It’s weird, but I felt like I was led this entire week. I’d be running down the lake and it was like there was a voice telling me to ‘turn around, that looked good.’ I’ve got a lot of experience here and I was fishing random places that I’d never fished before. And I was catching big ones. It was truly an amazing week.”

The top 10 pros on Table Rock Lake finished:

1^st:          Eric Olliverson, Lampe, Mo., 15 bass, 46-3, $38,450

2^nd:         Dakota Ebare, Denham Springs, La., 15 bass, 45-14, $15,122

3^rd:         Costa pro Todd Castledine, Nacogdoches, Texas, 15 bass, 44-7, $11,575

4^th:         Kyle Minke, Lindstrom, Minn., 15 bass, 43-6, $9,562

5^th:         Greg Bohannan, Bentonville, Ark., 15 bass, 41-14, $8,884

6^th:         Matt Wood, Jessieville, Ark., 15 bass, 41-9, $7,928

7^th:         Jake Morris, McKee, Ky., 14 bass, 41-6, $8,194

8^th:         Wesley Rogers, Mammoth Spring, Ark., 15 bass, 41-6, $5,737

9^th:         Greg Mansfield, Louisburg, Kan., 15 bass, 40-13, $4,781

10^th:       Jason Bonds, Lufkin, Texas, 15 bass, 39-15, $3,825

A complete list of results can be found atFLWFishing.com .

Wood weighed a 6-pound, 11-ounce bass Thursday – the heaviest of the tournament in the Pro Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $278.

Scott Parsons of Rogers, Arkansas, won the Co-angler Division with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 36 pounds, 9 ounces. For his win, Parsons took home the top prize package of a new Ranger Z175 boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.

The top 10 co-anglers on Table Rock Lake finished:

1^st:          Scott Parsons, Rogers, Ark., 15 bass, 36-9, $27,300

2^nd:         Robbie Bartoszek, Hampshire, Tenn., 15 bass, 36-5, $5,134

3^rd:         Dennis Meyer, Ballwin, Mo., 15 bass, 36-3, $3,918

4^th:         Rob Crane, Fairview Heights, Ill., 14 bass, 34-9, $3,569

5^th:         Wes Proctor, Manhattan, Kan., 15 bass, 32-15, $2,901

6^th:         Mark Howard, Mesquite, Texas, 13 bass, 30-12, $2,417

7^th:         Michael Catt, Jacksonville, Fla., 13 bass, 28-8, $1,934

8^th:         Kurt Chelminiak, Delafield, Wis., 12 bass, 28-1, $1,842

9^th:         Todd Lee, Jasper, Ala., 13 bass, 27-3, $1,450

10^th:       Todd Adamitis, Glen Carbon, Ill., 11 bass, 25-9, $1,209

Caleb Chapman of Dawson Springs, Kentucky, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday, a fish weighing 5 pounds, 10 ounces. Chapman earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $185 for his catch.

The Costa FLW Series on Table Rock Lake presented by Power-Pole was hosted by Explore Branson. It was the second of three Central Division tournaments of the 2019 regular season. The next tournament for FLW Series anglers will be the Costa FLW Series at Clear Lake presented by Ranger Boats, held May 16-18 in Lakeport, California. For a complete schedule, visitFLWFishing.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 visitFLWFishing.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.