Louisiana State takes 2nd & Tennessee Tech takes 3rd on Lake Dardanelle, Russellville, Arkansas
Day two of the Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Open on Lake Dardanelle was full of changes – not only with the weather but also on the leaderboard. Though Murray State University dominated 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places going into day two, they knew they would have other strong teams challenging their positions.
As they were all looking to finish strong – in this event as well as in hopes of making a big move in the Cabela’s School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia race – the Murray State team of Hunter Mills, Hunter McKinley, Mike Lowry, and Brian Koch brought a very solid 21.21 pound bag to the scales to move up from their 2nd place position to 1st place for the win! With a two-day overall weight of 47.92 pounds, fishing shoreline grass proved to be successful in bringing the pounds they needed on day two into their live well.
As all the teams set out on day two of the Open, they noticed the strong north wind was gone and there were no clouds in the sky. Although the temperatures were starting off cooler than on day one, the anglers expected to see the thermometer climb into the 70’s by noon.
The other huge factor that was going to be missing on day two was the current the anglers had seen on day one. During the entire first day of the event, anglers saw over 39,000cfs being released downstream on the Arkansas River. During day two they only had two hours over 10,000cfs and had six hours with zero water being discharged. With the lack of current alone the anglers knew they would have to work even harder to bring a limit to the stage.
Coming in at 2nd place with the largest bag on day two with 22.00 pounds, and an overall total of 42.92 pounds, was the team of Matt Glad, Owen Richard, Dakota Sparks and Levi Sharp from Louisiana State University. This team entered day two in 5th place with a day one weight of 20.92 pounds, and moved up the leaderboard by being only the second team to bring in over 20 pounds each day.
Tennessee Tech University’s two-man team of Jesse Garren and Daniel Holt moved up the leaderboard the most, climbing from 12th place on day one to a final 3rd place finish with 38.88 pounds total. In this event format, having a partner boat is a great advantage on being able to work together and be able to call and get help from your sister team if you are not on the fish. Jesse and Daniel did not have that advantage as they were the only boat representing Tennessee Tech University, yet they still brought in nearly 20 pounds each day.
Rounding out the Top 10 places at the 2017 Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Open on Lake Dardanelle, Russellville, Arkansas were:
Thank you for the continuous support from our partners allowing us to host such great collegiate bass fishing tournaments – a huge thank you to: Cabela’s, BoatUS, Ranger Boats, Yamaha Marine, Garmin, Costa, RAM, Berkley, Sebile, Gemini Jerseys, Big Bite Baits, Gill, Power-Pole, BUFF USA, SPRO, Arctic Ice, Bob’s Machine, Sunline, ProRule, Stratos, Abu Garcia, Denali Rods, Abu Garcia, Bubba Blade, Russell Marine Products, Eagle Claw TroKar, Temple Fork Outfitters, Sawyer, Sure Life, Engel Coolers, Valley Displays, Mustang Survival, and Russellville Arkansas.
By: Amanda Gutierrez
