The Texas A&M team of Josh Haddox of Nacogdoches, Texas, and Timothy Temple of Bryan, Texas won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Southern Conference event on Lake Eufaula Sunday with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 6 ounces. The victory earned the team $5,000. The win also helped them advance to the Southern Conference Championship.
“Coming in today, we both had a really good feeling about this tournament,” said Haddox, a Biomedical Studies major. “Today went perfectly. We did a lot of research online and looked at everything we could find on Lake Eufaula. We found some specific creeks to target, so we started our day there. We got pretty lucky and found some really aggressive fish. We had three keepers within our first 10 minutes of fishing, so we knew we were on to something. The key for us was the water clarity. We were able to find water more clear than anyone else.”
“I knew that there was going to be a strong wind from the south today,” said Temple, a Finance major. “We tried to target the south side of the lake where we could find coves that wouldn’t have all of the muddy water blowing into it. We caught them today on a black and blue Santone jig and a Zoom Baby Brush Hog. We caught around 12 fish today, and only one was under 14 inches.”
The Texas A&M duo may have had a little bit of beginner’s luck, as this was their first National Guard FLW College Fishing event.
“We had an absolute blast out here today,” Haddox said. “We can’t say enough about how great it was getting to come out here and fish with FLW.”
Rounding out the top five teams and also advancing to the Southern Conference Championship are:
2nd: University of Louisiana-Monroe Jacob Slade, Bastrop, La, and Jackson Blackett, Monroe, La. five bass 14-3 $1,500
3rd: Louisiana State University-Shreveport Joe Landry, West Monroe, La, and Gavin Havard, Haughton, La five bass 11-0 $1,000
4th: Texas Tech University Tyler Holmes, Richardson, Texas, and Travis McGuire, Lubbock, Texas five bass 10-12 $1,000
5th: Henderson State University Shane Stoddard, Hot Springs, Ark., and Drew Rabb, Camden, Ark. four bass 10-12 $1,000
The top five teams from each tournament qualify for the conference championship where the first-place team will win a Ranger 177TR bass boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard wrapped in school colors for their fishing club. The top five teams from each conference tournament advance to the national championship.
College Fishing is free to enter and FLW provides boats and drivers for each competing team along with travel allowances. All participants must be registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or university.
The next National Guard FLW College Southern Conference tournament is scheduled for June 2 at Toledo Bend Lake in Many, La., and is hosted by the Sabine-Parish Chamber of Commerce.
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 CollegeFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your school.
ABOUT FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing unparalleled fishing resources and entertainment to our sponsors, fans and host communities. FLW is offering anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2012 over the course of 191 tournaments across five tournament circuits, each providing an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW is committed to providing a lifestyle experience that is the “Best in Fishing, On and Off the Water,” through a variety of platforms including tournaments, outdoor expos and the world’s richest fantasy sports game – FLW Fantasy Fishing. For more information about FLW and FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit the FLWOutdoors or FantasyFishing websites and look for FLW on Twitter and Facebook.
By: Joe Opager, Director of Public Relations
