The McKendree University team of Trent Robinson and Jordan Ledbetter, both of Carlyle, Illinois, won the FLW College Fishing Central Conference event on Lake Barkley Saturday with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 10 ounces. The victory earned the club $2,000 and advanced the team to the 2017 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
“It feels great to bring this win home,” said Robinson, a junior majoring in sociology. “We’ve worked really hard as a club and it’s paying off. It’s very exciting.”
“This victory is a big step forward for our program,” said Ledbetter, a graduating senior majoring in sociology. “We are sending four teams to the National Championship. That’s a huge accomplishment.”
The duo said they began their day in Green Turtle Bay targeting rock and riprap along steep banks. Robinson said they used a shaky-head rig with a green-pumpkin Zoom Trick Worm to craft their first limit.
“We fished the worm just like a like a jig,” said Robinson. “We dragged and hopped it across the bottom and had nine keepers by 10:30 a.m. Right before we left the Bay, we caught our biggest – a 5-pounder – from a dock.”
For the remainder of the day, Ledbetter said they rotated between a Blue Craw-colored Strike King Tour Grade Football Jig, a Gizzard Shad-colored Strike King Pro Model 5XD Crankbait and a Gizzard Shad-colored Strike King Pro Model Series 5 Crankbait.
“We ran between three areas to try and upgrade between noon and 1 p.m.,” said Ledbetter. “We hit drops and boat docks in a nearby creek and also fished a transition area with some natural rock near Kuttawa. We probably culled four times.”
Robinson said that the majority of the bass they caught during the event were postspawn.
“We brought in close to 20 keepers throughout the day,” said Robinson. “We had a great day on the water.”
The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2017 College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: McKendree University – Trent Robinson and Jordan Ledbetter, both of Carlyle, Ill., five bass, 17-10, $2,000
2nd: Campbellsville University – Cameron Brooks, Greenville, Ky., and Mason Sapp, Campbellsville, Ky., five bass, 15-7, $1,000
3rd: Murray State University – Chandler Christian, Owensboro, Ky., and Lance Freeman, Eddyville, Ky., five bass, 15-5, $500
4th: Southern Illinois University – Mason Bishop, Tunnell Hill, Ill., and Kyle Wagner, Waterloo, Ill., five bass, 15-2, $500
5th: Illinois State University – Nick Kirkton, Marseilles, Ill., and Seth Becker, Forsyth, Ill., five bass, 15-0, $500
6th: McKendree University – Curtis Lilly, Saint Rose, Ill., and Taylor Schmitt, Belknap, Ill., five bass, 14-8
6th: Eastern Illinois University – Jacob Daily and Ian Snowden, both of Mattoon, Ill., five bass, 14-8
6th: University of Missouri – Gabriel Dubois, Mason, Ohio, and Brandon Heizer, Saint Louis, Mo., five bass, 14-8
6th: Indiana University – Tristan Gold, Fortville, Ind., and Brody McWilliams, Greenwood, Ind., five bass, 14-8
10th: Greenville College – Ray Hingson, Montrose, Ill., and Daniel Ellenburg, Springfield, Ill., five bass, 14-4
This FLW College Fishing Central Conference event on Lake Barkley was the second regular-season qualifying tournament in the Central conference. The next event for Central Conference anglers is the regular-season finale scheduled for July 9 on the Mississippi River in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin.
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.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing. 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
