As many as 400 pros and co-anglers are set to compete in the Costa FLW Series Central Division event at Lake of the Ozarks, Oct. 12-14. The tournament, which is presented by Evinrude, is the third and final regular-season event scheduled in the FLW Series Central Division. Hosted by the Tri-County Lodging Association, the event will feature anglers competing for a top award of up to $85,000, including a brand new Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.

“Lake of the Ozarks is fishing a little tough right now, but with the caliber of anglers that will be competing in this event the weights will still be good and it will be a great tournament,” said Missouri FLW Tour pro Jeremy Lawyer, who has 10 prior top-10 finishes on Lake of the Ozarks in FLW competition. “There is a big bass tournament taking place the week before this event and that’s going to move the fish around quite a bit.

“The good thing about that is it really makes you earn it when you can figure something out and do well,” Lawyer continued. “At Lake of the Ozarks you can literally throw a dart at a map of the lake and win the tournament there. If you’re a river rat you can make a long run up the river and fish shallow and have a good chance. It’s still been pretty hot here, so you still might find them out deep. A lot of the fish that are normally up shallow this time of year haven’t made it yet.”

Lawyer predicted that we’d see a lot of tournament competitors fishing deep with football jigs, but that flipping docks and fishing topwater baits would also be a strong pattern.

“To make the top-20 cut and fish the final day on Saturday, you’re going to need to catch at least 31 pounds,” Lawyer went on to say. “I think to win it’ll take around 53 pounds. The lake is plum-full of 4- and 5-pounders and we’re going to see some anglers come in with a couple of them each day.”

Anglers will take off from the Public Beach No. 2, located at 711 Public Beach Road, in Osage Beach, at 7 a.m. CDT each day of competition. Weigh-ins will be held at the marina on Thursday and Friday beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart in Osage Beach, located at 4252 Highway 54, and will begin at 4 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

In Costa FLW Series regular-season competition, payouts are based on the number of participants competing in the event. At Lake of the Ozarks pros will fish for as much as $40,000 and a Ranger Z518C boat with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard if Ranger Cup qualified. Co-anglers will cast for a Ranger Z175 boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude outboard, and an additional $5,000 if Ranger Cup qualified.

The Costa FLW Series consists of five U.S. divisions – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southwestern and Western. Each division consists of three tournaments with competitors vying for valuable points that could earn them the opportunity to fish in the Costa FLW Series Championship. The 2017 Costa FLW Series Championship is being held Nov. 2-4 on Kentucky Lake in Paris, Tennessee, and is hosted by the Henry County Tourism Authority.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com.