FLW College Fishing is headed to Lake Barkley May 14 for the second of three regular-season stops in the Central Conference. A full field of college teams will be competing for a top award of $2,000 and a berth into the 2017 College Fishing National Championship.
“All things considered, I think this is going to be a great tournament,” said Walmart FLW tour pro Dan Morehead, of Paducah, Kentucky. “Within the next week we’re expecting a full moon which means we should see a massive wave of new fish moving up to spawn.
“The shallow bite will be a big player,” Morehead continued. “If I were fishing this event, I’d spend a lot of time with a flipping rod in my hand. Bass are going to be in or around the buck bushes. That’s where darker soft-plastics and creature baits are going to dominate. If teams choose to work the willow trees where bass are guarding fry, I see a topwater doing well.”
Morehead went on to say that areas on the south end of the lake will likely be more lucrative because the fish there stage shallow for longer periods of time.
“This tournament will feature junk-fishing at its finest,” said Morehead. “They’ll need to keep the trolling motor down and cover a lot of water.”
Morehead said he expects the winning team to weigh in a five-bass limit nearing 22 pounds.
Anglers will take off from Kuttawa/Lyon County Boat Ramp, located at 1052 Lake Barkley Drive in Kuttawa, at 6:30 a.m. CDT Saturday. Weigh-in will be held at the boat ramp beginning at 2:30 p.m. Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.
Schools are allowed to register up until the morning of the tournament. Entries may be made either by phone or at CollegeFishing.com. Schools currently registered to compete in the Lake Barkley tournament, which is hosted by the Lake Barkley Tourist Commission, include:
Bellarmine University – James Kuhns, Louisville, Ky., and Joseph Allgeier, Bardstown, Ky.
Bellarmine University – Matthew Smith, Bardstown, Ky., and Kathleen Guice, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Bellarmine University – Patrick Clark and Trevor Hulsey, both of Louisville, Ky.
Eastern Illinois University – Nicole Stevens and John Whalen, both of Champaign, Ill.
Eastern Kentucky University – Shaw Owens and Corey Owens, both of Barbourville, Ky.
Eastern Kentucky University – Tate Clements, Brodhead, Ky., and Gavin Draper, Stanford, Ky.
Elizabethtown Community and Technical College – Natalie Reichmuth and Ryan Dowell, both of Brandenburg, Ky.
Indiana University – Hayden Holmes, Bloomington, Ind., and Chase Banister, Columbus, Ind.
McKendree University – Curtis Lilly, Saint Rose, Ill., and Taylor Schmitt, Belknap, Ill.
McKendree University – Shane Campbell, Summerfield, Ill., and Phillip Germagliotti, Highland, Ill.
McKendree University – Trent Robinson and Jordan Ledbetter, both of Carlyle, Ill.
Murray State University – Chandler Christian, Owensboro, Ky., and Lance Freeman, Eddyville, Ky.
Purdue University – Tyler Smith, Hillsdale, Ind., and Brendan Christ, Louisville, Ky.
Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville – Alex Mosella, Fort Myers, Fla., and Sean Clarkson, Edwardsville, Ill.
University of Evansville – Blake Knies and Lee Knies, both of Jasper, Ind.
FLW College Fishing teams compete in 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 15 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open will advance to the 2017 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
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.
Visit FLWFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your school.
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 2016 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 235 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico and South Korea. 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
