Potomac River FLW Series 24 Aug 2019

[Mike Cork]

RANDALLSTOWN'S REESE GOES WIRE-TO-WIRE, WINS COSTA FLW SERIES TOURNAMENT ON POTOMAC RIVER PRESENTED BY LOWRANCE
Maryland Pro Wins First Event as a Boater in Costa FLW Series Competition, Takes Home $38,026
Link to photo of tournament champion Marvin Reese
CHARLES COUNTY, Md. (Aug. 24, 2019) – Pro Marvin Reese of Randallstown, Maryland, caught four bass weighing 8 pounds, 5 ounces, Saturday to win the Costa FLW Series Northern Division tournament on the Potomac River presented by Lowrance. Reese's three-day total of 14 bass weighing 38 pounds, 15 ounces, was enough to earn him the victory by a 1-pound, 6-ounce margin and a cash prize of $38,026. Reese also tallied 250 points in the Northern Division presented by Gajo Baits Angler of the Year (AOY) standings.
"This is my first win as a boater – it feels pretty special," said Reese, who earned his fifth career victory in FLW competition – third on the Potomac River. "I've been in this position [to win] before as a co-angler and it always seems like things don't go right the last day and you fall short. I had two fish break off today, and two other fish hooked up. I had the bites and I'm like 'I blew it.' It shouldn't have been this close, but I'll tell you what, this win feels great."
Reese caught a fish or two in grass on days one and two and caught a couple on shallower hard cover up near Washington, D.C., but the vast bulk of his weight came from one particular structure.
"It was a pier in 20 feet of water in D.C., and I just fished simple. I threw up on the side of it, and they would hit the bait on the fall," said Reese. "I was feeding the lure line so it could get down to the bottom – it was nothing more complicated than that.
"It had two key spots on it that accounted for 12 of the 14 bass I weighed-in," continued Reese. "The two corners are the sweet spots, and I had stuff pretty dialed in on that dock. That structure is hollow underneath, and once that tide gets to a certain level they sit under there and they'd come out and hit it [the bait] on the fall. Not a fish we caught there all week hit it on the bottom."
Reese cited a jig and a shaky-head rig as key lures this week. He preferred a ½-ounce handmade green-pumpkin-colored jig with a Strike King Rage Tail Craw trailer of the same color and a green-pumpkin/green-flake Zoom Trick Worm on a 3/16-ounce Spot Remover shaky-head hook. He said he caught six keepers Thursday and Friday, with each lure catching an equal amount of fish.
On Saturday, Reese struggled a bit, but managed to scrape up three late in the day, with his third fish coming from an area called the Spoils. He added that the shaky-head rig was what produced for him on the final day of the tournament.
"I thought if I could get one more fish I would run back up there to that dock to try and get a kicker," said Reese. "I fished and fished and didn't catch one, so with 15 minutes left I ran back up there anyway. With three fish in the boat and 15 or 20 minutes to fish I pulled up on it and caught one, and that ended up being the difference."
The top 10 pros on the Potomac River finished:
               1st:          Marvin Reese, Randallstown, Md., 14 bass, 38-15, $38,026
               2nd:         Troy Morrow, Eastanollee, Ga., 15 bass, 37-9, $14,932
               3rd:          Justin Atkins, Florence, Ala., 15 bass, 37-3, $12,948
               4th:          Ryan Davidson, Branchland, W. Va., 15 bass, 36-3, $9,457
               5th:          Adrian Avena, Vineland, N.J., 15 bass, 36-3, $9,511
               6th:          Robert Grike, Dumfries, Va., 14 bass, 36-0, $7,565
               7th:          Jordan Thompkins, Myrtle Beach, S.C., 15 bass, 33-10, $6,620
               8th:          Nitro pro Dylan Hays, El Dorado, Ark., 14 bass, 31-12, $5,874
               9th:          Casey Smith, Macedon, N.Y., 14 bass, 30-9, $4,728
               10th:        Wil Dieffenbauch, Morgantown, W. Va., 12 bass, 30-1, $3,783
A complete list of results will be posted at FLWFishing.com.
Chris Moxley of Strasburg, Virginia, weighed a 5-pound, 15-ounce bass Friday – the heaviest fish of the tournament in the Pro Division. The catch earned Moxley the day's Boater Big Bass award of $272.
Jim Short of Ocean Pines, Maryland, won the Co-angler Division with a three-day total catch of 13 bass weighing 29 pounds, 9 ounces. For his win, Short took home a $32,350 prize package, including a Ranger Z175 with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.
The top 10 co-anglers on the Potomac River finished:   
               1st:          Jim Short, Ocean Pines, Md., 13 bass, 29-9, $27,350 + $5,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
               2nd:         Ted Kephart, Philipsburg, Pa., 13 bass, 28-10, $4,800
               3rd:          Austin Archer, Anniston, Ala., 12 bass, 26-11, $3,840
               4th:          Michael Duarte, Baltimore, Md., 14 bass, 26-1, $3,410
               5th:          Ryan Bauman, Fleetwood, Pa., 14 bass, 23-1, $3,030
               6th:          Dennis Blakely, Norwalk, Ohio, 13 bass, 22-7, $2,400
               7th:          William Puduski, Portsmouth, N.H., 10 bass, 19-4, $1,920
               8th:          Daniel Taylor, Elizabethton, Tenn., 6 bass, 17-6, $1,861
               9th:          David Williams, Fredericksburg, Va., 9 bass, 17-1, $1,440
               10th:        Sakae Ushio, Tonawanda, N.Y., 8 bass, 17-0, $1,200
Jeff Mellott of Warfordsburg, Pennsylvania, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Friday, a fish weighing 4 pounds, 13 ounces. For his catch, Mellott earned the day's Co-angler Big Bass award of $181.
The Costa FLW Series on the Potomac River presented by Lowrance was hosted by the Charles County Board of Commissioners. It was the second Northern Division tournament of the 2019 regular season. The next tournament for FLW Series anglers will be the Costa FLW Series at the St. Lawrence River presented by Realtree Fishing, held Sept. 19-21, in Massena, New York. 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.