ON TOUR
COSTA FLW SERIES
COSTA FLW SERIES | LAKE ERIE
By Colin Moore
BUFFALO, N.Y.
PHOTOS BY JESSE SCHULTZ
WINNING ANGLER
neil farlow
St. Catharines, Ontario
Winning Weight:
24-04 (5 fish)
details:
July 26-28, 2018
Presented by Polaris
n
68
eil Farlow knew he
was in for a close
race when he
weighed in on opening day
of the Costa FLW Series
Northern Division event on
Lake Erie in late July.
Though Farlow’s 24-pound,
4-ounce sack of small-
mouths led the pack, there
were 43 other anglers
behind him with limits of 20
pounds or better. Only 2
pounds, 1 ounce separated
the Ontario angler from the
10th-place fisherman, and
Ben Wright of Peru, N.Y.,
was right on Farlow’s heels
in second place with 24
pounds, 3 ounces.
Then the wind inter-
vened, and two days of can-
celled fishing later the first-
round standings were
declared the final rankings
by Tournament Director
Ron Lappin. Though the
weather forecast called for
westerly winds to subside
after day one, they did just
the opposite during what
were scheduled to be days
two and three, piling up 4-
to 6-foot waves in Erie’s
Hosted by Buffalo
Niagara Sports
Commission
Northern Division
Eastern Basin and making
boating dangerous.
Ironically, it was Farlow’s
boat position as 156th of
169 that left Safe Harbor
Marina opening morning that
helped him build the solid
limit that eventually proved
to be the winning sack.
“When I got out there
and saw so many boats on
some of the places I
planned to fish, I figured
the best thing for me to do
was go check some of the
same spots that I had
found and fished over the
years,” says the 31-year-old.
“There weren’t many fish on
them, but what was there
was a better quality.”
Lake Erie near Buffalo is
virtually paved with rocks of
all sizes, from gravel to
boulders. Farlow singled
out a few spots on the
Canadian side and U.S. side
where there was a mix of
rock sizes, or other anom-
alies in the bottom such as
creases or small shoals with
doglegs in them.
“I fished in 20 to 40 feet
of water, but most of the
fish were 20 to 30 feet
down,” recalls Farlow. “I
fished basically anywhere
there was something differ-
ent – a depth change,
hump or a boulder.”
Almost everyone in the
tournament was alternating
drop-shot rigs or tube jigs.
Farlow was no exception,
and chose a green pumpkin
Reaction Innovations Flirt
4.95 worm for his drop-shot
rig. Basically he cast the
worm out with a Quantum
Smoke spinning combo and
10-pound-test braided line
and a fluorocarbon leader,
let it settle, and then slowly
dragged it back across the
bottom. Altogether, five of
his fishing spots produced
eight bass in the opening
round. One of his fish
weighed 6-6 and was the
tournament’s biggest.
By any measure the
opening round was excep-
tional, as the 169 pros
brought in 142 limits. In the
end, however, it was the
size of the smallmouths
and not the numbers that
mattered most.
WINNING CO-ANGLER
sakae ushio
Tonawanda, N.Y.
Winning Weight:
23-07 (5 fish)
Winning Program:
Ushio, who lives in a
Buffalo suburb, fishes
Erie every chance he
gets, and his experience
showed as he caught
more than 20 keepers
on day one while fishing
with Canadian pro Chris
Johnston. Ushio’s
biggest fish weighed 5-
14, and he caught it and
the rest of his winning
stringer on a 4-inch Z-
Man Big TRD fished on
a Ned rig in a color he
declined to name.
flWfIshIng.com I fall 2018