Jeff Reynolds of Calera, Okla. weighed a 15-09 stringer on Saturday to win the FLW Series Southwestern Division tournament on Lake Texoma out of Denison,Texas. Reynolds’ three-day total of 51-09 was enough to earn him $80,167, including a new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.
“I put a lot of work into preparing for this event,” said Reynolds, who earned his first career-victory in FLW Series competition. “The payday means more than anything to me right now. I’m building a house and we have a baby on the way, so any money helps.
“I played the wind a lot this week – it was one of the biggest factors in where I decided to fish. On day 1 it was blowing really hard, so I stayed shallow. On day 2 it was a bit lighter so I was able to catch some out deep. On day 3, it was so calm that all but one came from deep water.”
Reynolds said his most productive shallow bait was a Heddon Super Spook topwater. He said his shallow areas were primarily on the main lake.
“I focused on flat points and banks with rock, sand and clay. The biggest key was the shad. If I could find shad pushed up on the flats, I knew I could catch them.”
For the deep bite, Reynolds worked through stumps, brush and rock piles with a Texas-rigged, green-pumpkin-colored Zoom Trick Worm with a 1/2-ounce weight.
“I had deeper areas both on the main lake and in pockets,” said Reynolds “Some keepers came as shallow as 10 feet, but most were 20 to 25 feet down.”
Here are the final totals for the top 10:
1. Jeff Reynolds: 51-09
2. Don McFarlin: 47-01
3. T.R. Andreas: 44-06
4. Alton Wilhoit: 44-06
5. Kevin Gressett: 43-02
6. Hayden Burkett: 42-07
7. Jeff Sprague: 42-07
8. Dicky Newberry: 41-07
9. Brandon Mosley: 40-13
10. Ricci Head: 37-14
