Bill Tervin of Pocola, Okla., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 17 pounds, 2 ounces Saturday to win the Rayovac FLW Series at Grand Lake presented by Power-Pole with a three-day total of 14 bass weighing 48 pounds, 5 ounces. For his victory, Tervin earned $40,000 and a new Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.
“This is pretty incredible,” said Tervin, a former Walmart FLW Tour co-angler who earned the first victory of his career. “It still hasn’t really sunk in yet. To get a win against the caliber of anglers that were in this top-10 is pretty special.”
Tervin said that all of his fish that he brought to the scale this week came via a Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper, in sprayed grass-color. He fished shallow, from 1- to 2-feet deep, targeting the pea gravel and rocky transition banks near spawning flats.
“On day one they just didn’t fire for me like they had been in practice,” Tervin said. “I only weighed in four fish and was in 39th place. On the second day, I was able to get on them and culled four or five times. Today, it was pretty tough again. I only caught the five fish that I weighed in.
“The advice that my dad would always give me was really key this week,” Tervin continued. “He would always tell me, ‘Bill, slow down, you’re fishing too fast.’ I really slowed down and I think that was pretty important.”
After qualifying for the Forrest Wood Cup in three consecutive seasons as a co-angler in the mid-2000s, Tervin now controls his own destiny as he tries to qualify fishing as a professional. After one event, Tervin leads the Rayovac FLW Series Central division Angler of the Year race, with the top 30 from each division moving on the fish the 2014 Rayovac FLW Series Championship. Ten anglers from the Rayovac Championship will qualify for the richest tournament in the sport.
“Fishing in the Forrest Wood Cup has always been a dream of mine,” Tervin went on to say. “My father has always encouraged me and pushed me to do my best. It’d mean everything to me to compete in the biggest tournament in the world against the best.”
The top 10 pros at Grand Lake were:
1st: Bill Tervin, Pocola, Okla., 14 bass, 48-5, $40,000, Ranger Z518 with 200-horsepower outboard
2nd: Castrol pro Darrel Robertson, Jay, Okla., 15 bass, 47-8, $15,500
3rd: Walmart pro Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 15 bass, 46-14, $12,000
4th: Travis Fox, Rogers, Ark., 14 bass, 45-11, $10,000
5th: Straight Talk pro J.T. Kenney, Palm Bay, Fla., 15 bass, 45-4, $9,000
6th: Ricky Scott, Van Buren, Ark., 15 bass, 44-2, $8,000
7th: George Foreman pro Dan Morehead, Paducah, Ky., 15 bass, 41-2, $7,000
8th: Dale Hightower, Mannford, Okla., 13 bass, 40-2, $6,000
9th: Koby Kreiger, Bokeelia, Fla., 10 bass, 36-8, $5,000
10th: Stuart Arthur, Benton, Mo., 13 bass, 35-7, $4,000
David Dudley of Dublin, Ohio, caught the biggest bass of the tournament in the Pro division Thursday – a 7-pound, 5-ounce bass – that earned him the day’s Rayovac FLW Series Big Bass award of $300.
Charles Parker of Broken Arrow, Okla., won the Co-angler Division and a Ranger Z117 with an Evinrude or Mercury outboard motor with a three-day total of 12 bass weighing 35 pounds, 9 ounces.
Blankinship and Arnold Payne Jr. of Kokomo, Ind., tied for the co-angler big bass after each bringing a bass weighing 6 pounds, 5 ounces to the scale on Friday. The duo split the day’s Rayovac FLW Series Big Bass award and each earned $100.
