Curt Warren caught a 15-09 stringer on Saturday to win the Grand Lake Southwestern FLW Series with a three-day total of 46-07. Fishing in his second season as a boater on the circuit, the resident of Rose, Okla. outdueled a final-day field littered with tour pros and garnered the first-place prize package worth more than $77,000.
“I didn’t have a whole lot of boat pressure around me because I think that I was fishing much deeper than most,” said Warren, who had one previous win on Grand Lake – a BFL tournament in 2017. “I wasn’t really doing anything special. I was just fishing from mid-lake to the dam, fishing fall transition stuff – big chunk rock and fresh green brush.”
Warren said he did most of his damage this week throwing a Bass X 3/4-ounce football jig (kicker craw) with a Netbait Paca Chunk (green-pumpkin) or Strike King Rage Craw (watermelon candy), although he did mix in a Zoom Brush Hog on Saturday. He also caught two suspended fish on a 1/2-ounce shad-colored spinnerbait.
“I only had four fish on each of the first two days – although I lost a 2 1/2- to 3-pounder Thursday – but today I caught five and I probably lost another five,” Warren said. “I’d been catching a few early and a few later in the day. Today, it was nothing early and then from 1:30 on I caught everything that I weighed.
“I think the key to my win was my equipment and gear. I was fishing a Falcon Rods Expert Series Amistad extra-heavy rod and it is really an ideal rod for the football jigs that I like to use. My line was just as important – I was throwing 22-pound-test Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon. With it, I can feel anything.”
Here are the final totals for the top 10:
1. Curt Warren: 46-07
2. Jason Christie: 45-01
3. Toby Hartsell: 41-15
4. Bradley Hallman: 40-05
5. Cody Bird: 39-06
6. Jeremy Lawyer: 36-05
7. Marcus Sykora: 35-13
8. Lance Crawford: 31-05
9. Allen Head: 31-04
10. Paul Heavener: 28-07
