Ninety eight collegiate anglers representing twenty four schools from seven states met at Sam Rayburn Reservoir in east Texas on December 18-19 to decide the Stephen F Austin State University (SFA) Bucketmouth Bass Tournament. The event kicked off the 2010 BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series, which will be featured on the Versus network beginning in August of 2010. The tournament was hosted by the SFA Bass Team and sanctioned by the Association of Collegiate Anglers.
With finals behind them and Christmas less than a week away, these dedicated student anglers were anxious to put their bass fishing skills to the test on this legendary tournament lake. Big Sam proved to be extremely stingy however, giving up only two 5-bass limits each day while thirteen teams failed to weigh a single bass.
Most teams reported that bites were hard to come by during the practice period leading up to the event while others had lots of success, locating quality bass that seemingly vanished during competition. As always this time of year on Sam Rayburn, the primary pattern involved targeting bass positioned in submerged hydrilla with a variety of crankbaits.
With Cody Salzman and Logan Bliss of the University of Wisconsin-Steven’s Point occupying the hot seat on the final day with a total weight of 24.16 pounds, day one leaders Danny Iles and Matt Morrison of Lamar University came to the scales needing 10.35 pounds to win. When the dust settled, the scales read 9.86 pounds, making Salzman and Bliss the winners by less than a half pound!
Having never seen the lake before, the team from Wisconsin went the conventional route during practice and covered lots of water with red Rat-L-Traps but failed to get that pattern going. During competition they switched to deep diving, shad colored crankbaits and managed to boat a total of 7 bass over two days anchored by an 8.78 pound beauty that was more than big enough to earn big bass honors. Reminiscing about the big bass, Bliss said “It felt like I’d hooked a log – then it took drag. It made a couple of hard runs so I free spooled it and we finally landed it.” On day one, Cody and Logan forgot to load the net and subsequently lost a 3 pounder at the side of the boat that they feared might cost them the win since they only weighed 4 bass that day. The team thanked their school for providing money to help with travel expenses, their family for their support and the SFA bass team.
In addition to taking the 1st place prize money home to Wisconsin, Salzman and Bliss won all four contingency awards consisting of Abu Garcia Big Bass, Berkley Big Bag, Costa Big Bass and Cabela’s Angler Cash. When asked if it was worth the 23 hour drive to compete in the event, they replied “We’d do it a million times over. Winning this event is an awesome feeling that words can’t describe. “
Danny Iles and Matt Morrison of Lamar University discovered a strong Rat-L-Trap bite during practice that fizzled during the tournament. After switching to a Sebile Flat Shad and Stanley spinnerbait, the team targeted both the inside and outside edge of submerged hydrilla. There was no specific pattern so they covered an enormous amount of water. “During practice we eliminated water and during the tournament we eliminated even more,” said Iles. The second place prize money helped ease the pain of coming up just short of winning.
Kyle Bates and Cody Collins representing Texas A&M sat in third place after day one with 11.29 pounds. After backing that effort up with only one bass weighing 2.16 pounds, they hung on to finish right where they started the day in 3rd place.
After a tough practice period that yielded only 2 bass, Bates and Collins got off to a fast start on day one, catching four keepers in 30 minutes. Their key area was a large flat that featured a deep drain and submerged hydrilla. The bass were positioned in 4-6 feet of water where the drain bottlenecked. The strong north wind that blew on the final day prevented them from fishing their key area again. The team was proud to represent A&M with a strong finish at this event following a big win by their teammates at the FLW regional held in Louisiana a few weeks prior.
Rounding out the top 10 was:
| 4th | Stephen F Austin | Zach Brown & Bryan Swann |
| 5th | Texas State Univ. | Joey Reich & Elliott Gundelach |
| 6th | Univ. of Texas – Tyler | Paul Daniel & Allen Brown |
| 7th | Tarleton State Univ. | Seth Peugh & Cody Pratka |
| 8th | Mississippi State Univ. | Josh Cameron & Taylor Odom |
| 9th | Tarleton State Univ. | Tanner Morgan & Chris Boswell |
The team from Wisconsin wasn’t the only one to travel a great distance to compete in this event. Daniel Day and Lee Blakeman drove 16 hours from the University of Louisville. According to Daniel “It really wasn’t that bad of a drive and it’s always worth it to get to go bass fishing”.
