FLW College Fishing is headed to the Potomac River June 4 for the second of three regular-season stops in the Northern 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.
“The Potomac River offers a lot of different opportunities to catch bass,” said Walmart FLW Tour pro Clark Wendlandt, of Leander, Texas, who won on the Potomac River when the FLW Tour visited in 2015. “There’s a lot of hard cover like wood pilings and riprap to hit, as well as grass. No matter what anglers choose, though, they’ll be in shallow water. Areas ranging from 1 to 5 feet deep will be dominant.
“It seems like the majority of tournaments on the Potomac over the past two years have been won by staying in one area and figuring out how to catch bass at low and high tide,” continued Wendlandt. “I think shallow hydrilla and milfoil will produce the most fish. As for baits, anything that cuts through the grass, like a swimjig or a vibrating jig, will be a good choice. I also see fish being caught on topwater baits. It will all depend on the tide.”
Wendlandt said that bait colors will hinge on what type of cover teams choose to focus on.
“For moving baits, anything in the shad variety will be the deal,” said Wendlandt. “If competitors decide to flip a jig or a tube into hard cover, I’d go with green-pumpkin.”
The Texas veteran finished by saying that he expects the winning team to weigh in a five-bass limit nearing 18 pounds.
Anglers will take off from Smallwood State Park, located at 2750 Sweden Point Road in Marbury, at 6:30 a.m. EDT Saturday. Weigh-in will be held at the park 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 Potomac River tournament, which is hosted by the Charles County Government, include:
Adrian College – Ben Barrus, Blissfield, Mich., and Chase Serafin, Highland, Mich.
Adrian College – Dalton Breckel, Onsted, Mich., and Jeff Morton, Troy, Mich.
Adrian College – Jarrett Martin, Gallipolis, Ohio, and Jacob Bayer, Westfield, Mich.
Anne Arundel Community College – Sam Schmidt, Davidsonville, Md., and Andrew Green, Crofton, Md.
Christopher Newport University – Tanner Knecht, Spotsylvania, Va., and Taylor Godsey, Chester, Va.
Kent State University – Alec Gabriel and Logan Willoughby, both of New Philadelphia, Ohio
Liberty University – Zachary Phillips, New Hartford, Conn., and Andrew Johnson, Gainesville, Ga.
Mansfield University – Tyler Grabowski, Fairless Hills, Pa., and Ryan Fluharty, Perkiomenville, Pa.
Ohio State University – Kain Fadeley, New Philadelphia, Ohio, and Sidney Hoover, Findlay, Ohio
Pennsylvania State University – Sean Cummins, Huntingdon, Pa., and Maurice Hudson Jr., Broomall, Pa.
Ramapo College – Andrew Annuzzi, Old Bridge, N.J., and Marc Concato, Wayne, N.J.
Rochester Institute of Technology – Zach Coutu, East Hampton, Conn., and Jacob Zaremski, Rochester, N.Y.
Saint Vincent College – Justin Yeckel and Jesse Yeckel, both of South Park, Pa.
Shippensburg University – Colton Pifer, Telford, Pa., and Dan Cornelius, Downingtown, Pa.
Slippery Rock University – Cody Neal, Evans City, Pa., and Kyle Brown, Wexford, Pa.
Slippery Rock University – Joel Hixon, Butler, Pa., and Evan Kretz, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Slippery Rock University – Logan Pollman, Slippery Rock, Pa., and Tyler Sheppard, Hermitage, Pa.
Slippery Rock University – Ryan Kozlowski and Nathan Quince, both of Pittsburgh, Pa.
State University of New York-Brockport – Austin Littler, Camden, N.Y., and Adam Kettle, Johnson City, N.Y.
Stockton University – Kyle Castellini, Vineland, N.J., and Owen McFerron, Fairfax, Va.
University of Pittsburgh – Michael Dunn and Henry Colberg, both of Pittsburgh, Pa.
West Chester University – Matt Woolcock, Springville, Pa., and Thomas Arena, Carlisle, Pa.
West Virginia University – Steven Slayton, Manasses, Va., and Matthew Combs, Dayton, Ohio
West Virginia University – Tyler Barnes, Morgantown, W. Va., and Kyle McHenry, Hamilton, Va.
Youngstown State University – Jeffrey Grope and Jared Latone, both of Youngstown, Ohio
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.
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
