Ranger Boats Pros Sweep Weekend with Wins on Bass Pro Shops Tour and FLW Tour
Lawyer and Powroznik take first in their Ranger boats
FLIPPIN, AR – Ranger Boats Pros Jeremy Lawyer and Jacob Powroznik swept this weekend’s major tour events with Lawyer taking first at the FLW Tour event on Grand Lake in Oklahoma and Powroznik topping the leaderboard at Major League Fishing’s Bass Pro Tour Stage Three out of Raleigh, North Carolina. Powroznik won $100,000 for his finish while Lawyer took home the $100,000 first-place prize along with an extra $25,000 in Ranger Cup winnings.
As all Bass Pro Tour anglers fishing the final championship day, Powroznik started the day with zero pounds. The angler discovered early that he would need to key in on a shallow bite due to the beginning of the spawn.
“I knew they would be around that sawgrass trying to spawn or at least staged up around it,” said Powroznik. “During the first period I was hoping to get a few bites to figured out what was going on. The first one I caught was up off a bed and it went on from there. I put a wacky worm in my hand and just went fishing.”
Powroznik concentrated on mainly three creeks and managed to plow through throwing with his wacky worm to boat 20 fish weighing 64 pounds, 4 ounces.
““It was awesome,” said Powroznik. “Just to beat that caliber of anglers that fish this tournament is a great feeling. There are a lot of great guys and they all are looking to win.”
Tough conditions and falling water was the story from the FLW Tour’s Grand Lake event. Hailing from Sarcoxie, Missouri, Lawyer relied on decades of experience fishing the Tulsa-area lake. Having fished there since he was 10 years old, Lawyer knew he would most likely find fish staged in 3 to 10 feet of water behind boat docks in creeks with spinner baits.
“I was keying on the bank, but it was always behind the docks under the walkways,” Lawyer said.
Not wanting to overfish his known areas or even not find fish there and leave himself doubting his locations choices, Lawyer decided to exclusively fish new waters for the first two days.
“I have run this same type of pattern the last few times in March,” said Lawyer. “I had a lot of confidence doing it so I just shot from the cuff and rolled with it. It was very nerve wracking to do because of the insecurity of not knowing where you are going to start, but it was probably the best decision I made. It had me more open minded.”
His open mind approached netted him a two-day total of 31 pounds, 5 ounces. Day three brought a strong north wind, which shut down much of the bite. Lawyer struggled to find any keepers during the morning but finally found a small honey hole where he pulled a 17-pound, 9-ounce limit for day three.
“I went back down to the dam and by noon I didn’t have any fish so I pulled the plug,” said Lawyer. “I came back down to the Horse Creek area and finally got my first bite. Within an hour, I had 17 pounds.”
The final day saw a reverse with Lawyer boating an early limit and then failing to upgrade some of his smaller fish. One such fish, a small dink that wouldn’t typically get weighed, was the difference in pushing Lawyer into a tie with Michael Matthee.
“It was a line burner, just a little skinny rail,” said Lawyer. “I was half embarrassed to have him in my livewell but I was glad he come along.”
The tiebreaker between the anglers fell to the highest standing angler in the previous day’s standing. Along with fishing new waters and relying on his extensive experience, Lawyer holds his boats as one of the keys to keeping his confidence when faced with adverse conditions.
“I knew at take-off of day three that the waves were going to be big around Patricia Island and Shangri La,” said Lawyer. “When you run the quality and craftsmanship of a Ranger and it’s time to go to the dam in four-footers, you know you are going to have the comfort getting there and back. I didn’t even hesitate. I took off like a scalded dog.”
About Ranger Boats
Headquartered in Flippin, Ark., Ranger Boats is the nation’s premier manufacturer of legendary fiberglass and aluminum fishing boats, with acclaimed models and series in the bass, multi-species, fish ‘n play, saltwater, waterfowl utility and pontoon boat segments. Founded in 1968 by Forrest L. Wood, Ranger Boats continues its commitment to building the highest-quality, strongest-performing boats on the water. For more information, go to RangerBoats.com.
