The Adrian College team of Myles Jackman of White Lake, Michigan, and Zachary Graham of Gallipolis, Ohio, won the YETI FLW College Fishing event on Lake Cayuga presented by Bass Pro Shops Saturday with five bass weighing 20 pounds, 2 ounces. The victory earned the Bulldogs’ bass club $2,400 and a slot in the 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
The two anglers focused on a 75-yard stretch of docks on the eastern shoreline above the Interstate 90 bridge, specifically between the bridge and the lock system. Graham said there were bluegill beds in the area, near both the front and backs of the docks and between the docks along the seawalls.
“We started on the north end of the stretch and worked our way down,” said Graham, a junior majoring in Environmental Studies and Geology. “Myles primarily threw a frog on the grass mats and we ended up weighing two on it.
“I used the jig under the docks and the Zell Pop on the seawalls,” Graham continued. “I caught fish with the jig, but the topwaters got the big keeper bites. They were definitely the key to our success.”
Jackman’s frog was a white Strike King KVD Sexy Frog. Graham used a Booyah Boo jig with a green-pumpkin-colored Berkley Powerbait Chigger Craw and a hitch-colored XCalibur Zell Pop.
Jackman, a junior majoring in Environmental Science and Geology, said the duo had a limit by 7:15 a.m. before Graham culled out three fish in a row with the Zell Pop to put the Bulldogs up around 17 pounds by 8:30 a.m.
“After the culls we ran down the lake to a point on the east side that had big chunk rock going out into the lake,” said Graham. “There was a 20- to 30-yard trough between the rock and the grassline that we thought the fish would be holding in. I threw the jig in there and on my third cast I caught a 4½ -pounder. I culled out a small fish and that put us at 20 pounds.”
The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2019 College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: Adrian College – Myles Jackman, White Lake, Mich., and Zachary Graham, Gallipolis, Ohio, five bass, 20-2, $2,400
2nd: Virginia Tech University – Perry Marvin, Peru, N.Y., and Jeffery Cullop, Marion, Va., five bass, 18-0, $1,000
3rd: State University of New York-Cobleskill – Tristen Bauer, Port Leyden, N.Y., and Drew Tiano, Hudson, N.Y. five bass, 16-5, $500
4th: Adrian College – Ryan Sharnas, Davison, Mich., and Brandon Herzberg, Clark Lake, Mich., five bass, 16-4, $700
5th: University of Massachusetts-Amherst – Julian Burgoff, Amherst, N.Y., and Jon Hastings, Leominster, Mass., five bass, 15-10, $500
6th: Western Michigan University – Jared Havenaar, Kalamazoo, Mich., and Bo Thomas, Edwardsburg, Mich., five bass, 14-8
7th: Penn State University – Jason Zubris, Plains, Pa., and Josh Bowser, Slippery Rock, Pa., five bass, 14-2
8th: Penn State University – Derek Horner and Matthew Huggler, both of State College, Pa., five bass, 13-11
9th: Slippery Rock University – Nathan Quince, Imperial, Pa., and Samuel Jenesky, Pittsburgh, Pa., five bass, 13-8
10th: State University of New York-Buffalo – Anthony DeGregorio, Queensbury, N.Y., and Noah Weinstein, Jamestown, N.Y., five bass, 13-4
The YETI FLW College Fishing event at Lake Cayuga presented by Bass Pro Shops was hosted by the Seneca County Chamber of Commerce, and was the second of three regular-season qualifying tournaments for Northern Conference anglers in 2018. The next YETI FLW College Fishing event takes place July 28, when Central Conference anglers compete at the YETI FLW College Fishing event at the Mississippi River presented by Costa Sunglasses in Wabasha, Minnesota.
YETI FLW College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top ten teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open will advance to the 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship. Additional teams will qualify for the National Championship if the field size in regular-season events exceeds 100 boats.
YETI FLW College Fishing is free to enter. All participants must be registered, full-time students at a college, university or community college and members of a college fishing club that is recognized by their school.
For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com.
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.
By: Brian Johnson, FLW
