Texas’ Hall Goes Wire-to-Wire, Wins Costa FLW Series Northern Division Finale on 1000 Islands Presented by Navionics

21-year-old Kyle Hall tops 172-Boat Field at 1000 Islands, Nets $45,700

CLAYTON, N.Y. – Pro Kyle Hall of Rio Vista, Texas, brought five bass weighing 18 pounds, 10 ounces, to the scale Saturday to win the Costa FLW Series Northern Division finale on 1000 Islands presented by Navionics. Hall’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 68 pounds, 11 ounces, was enough to earn him the win and a check for $45,700.

“I don’t even know what to say right now. I’m still in shock – it hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Hall, who notched his first win in FLW competition. “I knew coming into the first day I had a chance to do well based on how my practice went. It’s the first time I’ve ever been up here and it’s the best place I’ve been in terms of hospitality and fishing. You can’t go anywhere else in the world and catch 6-pound smallmouth on a daily basis.”

Hall fished both the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario this week. On day one, he fished the river and was able to put together a solid limit within a couple of hours.

“I caught 26 pounds by 9:30 (a.m.) Thursday,” said Hall. “I got about 25 pounds off one spot – a main-river current break. It had a few big rocks and went from about 40 to 20 feet, and then off to the side it came up from 50 to 35 feet. I caught a 5-pounder at another stop and by then I knew I wanted to be done and save fish.”

On Friday, Hall returned to his current break, but couldn’t get anything going. He said he decided to make his way to Lake Ontario and was able to put a 6-pounder in the boat near Stony Island. From there, he worked through 15 to 20 stops to piece together a limit.

“I ran points that went out to the middle of the lake. Some had boulders – maybe 8 to 10 of them – and I just ran through them multiple times,” said Hall. “I caught my limit by 1:30 p.m. and spent the rest of the day helping my co-angler out.”

On Saturday, Lake Ontario was deemed off-limits by FLW officials due to high wind and waves. Hall said he returned to his current break once again, but ended up moving somewhere different due to the wind.

“I ran to an area in Canadian waters where I figured I could catch a limit. At about 8:30 (a.m.) I found that my drift paddles were really helping me out,” said Hall. “The wind was going one way and the current was going the other, but my paddles pulled me and I moved with the current. Without them, my boat would’ve been sitting on top the fish I targeted. They’re highly pressured and probably would’ve been spooked, but I was able to cast straight out in front of me and have my bait come right across their faces without my boat sitting over them.”

Hall caught his fish this week on a drop-shot rig using a 3-inch Natural Shad-colored Berkley Powerbait MaxScent Flatnose Minnow. He said he also threw a 3-inch Smelt-colored Berkley Gulp Minnow on a drop-shot rig early in the morning or when it got cloudy. Hall preferred 2/0-sized VMC Sureset hooks on 20-pound-test PowerPro Super Slick line with a 10-pound-test Seaguar InvizX flourocarbon leader. His line was spooled on a Shimano 15 Stradic C3000 reel attached to a 6-foot, 10-inch, G-Loomis NRX rod.

“I used 5/8-ounce weights throughout the week, and a 1-ounce weight today because of the wind,” said Hall. “I caught every fish looking at my Lowrance electronics this week – my favorite way to fish, by far.”

The top 10 pros on 1000 Islands finished:

               1st:          Kyle Hall, Rio Vista, Texas, 15 bass, 68-11, $45,700

               2nd:         Carl Jocumsen, Frisco, Texas, 15 bass, 65-9, $17,500

               3rd:          Chris Johnston, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, 15 bass, 64-6, $13,100

               4th:          A.J. Slegona, Pine Bush, N.Y., 15 bass, 61-13, $11,000

               5th:          Curtis Richardson, Belleville, Ontario, Canada, 15 bass, 60-15, $10,000

               6th:          Matt Becker, Finleyville, Pa., 15 bass, 60-12, $8,800

               7th:          John Hunter, Shelbyville, Ky., 15 bass, 57-15  , $7,400

               8th:          Austin Felix, Eden Prairie, Minn., 15 bass, 57-12, $6,400              

               9th:          Jesse Spellicy, Gouverneur, N.Y., 13 bass, 54-10, $5,400

               10th:        Joe Ford, Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, 12 bass, 53-7, $4,200                

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

Becker weighed a 6-pound, 11-ounce, bass Friday – the biggest of the tournament in the Pro Division. For his catch, Becker earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $300.

Drew Tiano of Hudson, New York, won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger Z175 with a 90-horsepower outboard motor with a three-day total catch of 15 bass weighing 59 pounds, 5 ounces.

The top 10 co-anglers on 1000 Islands finished:

               1st:          Drew Tiano, Hudson, N.Y., 15 bass, 59-5, $27,600

               2nd:         Aaron Middleton, Fredericktown, Ohio, 15 bass, 53-13   , $5,550

               3rd:          Cort Gardner, Jessup, Md., 15 bass, 53-8, $4,600

               4th:          Wataru Iwahori, Palestine, Texas, 15 bass, 52-14, $3,700            

               5th:          Zack Hajecate, Wallkill, N.Y., 15 bass, 51-4, $3,200

               6th:          Timothy Pearch, Amherst, Ohio, 15 bass, 50-11, $2,700              

               7th:          Corey Burton, Canton, Ohio, 15 bass, 49-7, $2,200

               8th:          Justin Lonchar, Industry, Pa., 15 bass, 49-0, $1,850

               9th:          Joseph Marsh, Phillipsburg, N.J., 12 bass, 43-5, $1,540

               10th:        Justin Mounce, Springdale, Ark., 13 bass, 40-3, $1,290 

Peter Bates of Wallingford, Connecticut, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Co-angler Division Thursday, a fish weighing 7 pounds, 1 ounce. For his catch, Bates earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $200.

The Costa FLW Series on 1000 Islands presented by Navionics was hosted by the Clayton Chamber of Commerce. It was the third and final FLW Series Northern Division tournament of the 2018 regular season. The next Costa FLW Series tournament will be the Western Division finale, held Sept. 27-29 on the California Delta in Bethel Island, California, and is presented by Power-Pole. 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 2018 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Nov. 1-3 on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama, and is hosted by the Marshall County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

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, YouTube and Snapchat.

About FLW

FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2018 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct 286 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa and Spain. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.

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