Finleyville Angler Tops 174-Boater Field, Takes Home $44,200

CLAYTON, N.Y. (July 29, 2017) – Boater Matt Becker of Finleyville, Pennsylvania, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 25 pounds, 2 ounces, Saturday to win the Costa FLW Series Northern Division tournament on 1000 Islands presented by Evinrude. Becker’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 66 pounds, 4 ounces, was enough to earn the win and $44,200.

“Words can’t describe how I’m feeling right now,” said Becker, who earned his first career-victory in FLW competition. “I was just hoping to cash a check, so this is unbelievable.”

Becker said he spent the three-day tournament picking apart two primary stretches of water on Lake Ontario, near Galloo Island. He said he relied on one lure– a Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm on a drop-shot rig.

“Of the fish I weighed in this week, each of my areas produced about half of them,” said Becker. “Both locations were 25- to 30-feet deep and had rocky bottoms. Each had a drop that reached 50 to 60 feet of water, but the first spot was steep while the second sloped off more gradually.”

Becker said that each area had a 50- by 50-yard sweet spot that produced more notable catches. Every bass he weighed in was a smallmouth.

“After catching about 50 keepers on days one and two I only caught around 15 to 20 today, but they were a lot bigger,” said Becker. “The key for me was being able to see the fish on my Lowrance electronics during practice. Not every area that had rocks on the bottom had fish out there.”

The top 10 pros on 1000 Islands finished:

1^st:          Matt Becker, Finleyville, Pa., 15 bass, 66-4, $44,200

2^nd:         Joseph Fonzi, Gasport, N.Y., 15 bass, 65-11, $17,600

3^rd:          Chris Johnston, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, 15 bass, 65-9, $13,000

4^th:          Kurt Mitchell, Milford, Del., 15 bass, 64-14, $11,000

5^th:          Timmy Thompkins, Myrtle Beach, S.C., 15 bass, 63-8, $10,300

6^th:          Power-Pole pro Cory Johnston, Cavan, Ontario, Canada, 62-4, $8,500

7^th:          Casey Smith, Macedon, N.Y., 15 bass, 61-14, $7,400

8^th:          Chris O’Brien, Rochester, N.Y., 15 bass, 61-0, $6,400

9^th:          Ed Casey, Whiteford, Md., 14 bass, 53-5, $5,400

10^th:        Cal Climpson, Sharon, Ontario, Canada, 15 bass, 49-2, $4,200

A complete list of results will be posted at FLWFishing.com.

Aaron Stone of Rome, New York, caught a 6-pound, 8-ounce bass Friday – the heaviest of the tournament in the Pro Division. For his catch, Stone earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $300.

Gary Haraguchi of Redding, California, won the Co-angler Division and a new Ranger Z175 with a 90-horsepower Evinrude outboard motor, along with a $5,000 Ranger Cup Bonus. Haraguchi earned his win with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 53 pounds, 2 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers on 1000 Islands finished:

1^st:          Gary Haraguchi, Redding, Calif., 15 bass, 53-2, $27,700 + $5,000 Ranger Cup Bonus

2^nd:         Mark Goetsch, Gibralter, Mich., 15 bass, 52-13, $5,500

3^rd:          Mark Babcock, Warwick, N.Y., 15 bass, 49-12, $4,400

4^th:          Andy Dick, Wilmington, Del., 13 bass, 44-1, $3,700

5^th:          Bill Valberg, London, Ontario, Canada, 15 bass, 43-3, $3,200

6^th:          Mike Merill, Brockville, Ontario, Canada, 14 bass, 40-3, $2,750

7^th:          Andrew Owens, Dividing Creek, N.J., 12 bass, 38-11, $2,200

8^th:          Justin Hicks, Roanoke, Va., 13 bass, 32-15, $1,850

9^th:          Ed Bunnett, Belleville, Ontario, Canada, 10 bass, 31-4, $1,540

10^th:        Corey Burton, Canton, Ohio, 11 bass, 28-14, $1,290

Brett Scullion of Lakefield, Ontario, Canada, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Friday, a fish weighing 6 pounds, 11 ounces that earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $200.

The Costa FLW Series Northern Division event on 1000 Islands presented by Evinrude was hosted by the Clayton Chamber of Commerce. It was the second Northern Division tournament of the 2017 season. The next Costa FLW Series tournament will also be a Northern Division tournament, held Aug. 24-26 on the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland. For a complete schedule, visit FLWFishing.com.

The Costa FLW Series consists of five U.S. divisions – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western. Each division consists of three tournaments with competitors vying for valuable points that could earn them the opportunity to fish in the Costa FLW Series Championship. The 2017 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Nov. 2-4 on Kentucky Lake in Paris, Tennessee.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow the Costa FLW Series on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing.