The West Virginia University team of Corey Hill and Corey Straight, won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Northern Division on the Potomac River Saturday with six bass weighing 14 pound, 5 ounces. The victory earned the team $10,000 to be split evenly between the university and the university’s bass-fishing club. The win also helped them advance to the Northern Division Regional Championship where they could ultimately win a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower engine wrapped in school colors for their school’s bass club and $25,000 for the school they represent.
“We stayed close, within 200 yards of the launch site and stuck there all day,” said Corey Hill, a senior in criminology and investigations. “After we caught our first fish early we knew this was the spot to be.
“We were fishing two banks that were each about 200 – 300 yards long. Our first fish came real early and then the tide came in strong which actually helped us. It picked up the fish allowing us to catch them out of the grass. Our pro, Teddy Carr, was great too; he really helped us keep the fish alive in this heat which was really something. We just had a great day.”
The team from West Virginia decided that instead of making a long run up the river and wasting valuable fishing time they would stay close to the launch area. They were fishing grass beds in about 4 – 6 feet of water using senkos the entire day.
“I think that a lot of people just overlooked this area,” said Corey Straight, a sophomore in biology. “We were here a couple of weeks ago and knew the fish were going to be in the grass. We basically just picked holes in the grass and threw our senkos down with no weight, just let it drop.”
Rounding out the top five teams were Messiah College – Daniel Poli and Louis Wenger (four bass, 12-4, $5,000); Vermont Technical College – Justin Brouillard and Ben Cayer (six bass, 12-1, $4,000); Chestnut Hill College – John Reading and Adrian Avena (five bass, 11-13, $3,000); Rensselaer – Jonathan Cummings and Steven Taylor (four bass, 9-15, $2,000).
The next National Guard FLW College Northern Division tournament is scheduled for July 17, at Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh, N.Y. College Fishing is free to enter, boats and drivers are provided by FLW Outdoors and all collegiate teams receive a travel allowance. The top five teams in each qualifying event advance to one of five televised three-day National Guard FLW College Fishing Regional Championships.
The top five teams from each regional championship will advance to the National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship. The National Championship is a three-day televised event hosting the top five teams from each regional, 25 total teams. Teams will be provided jerseys and wrapped Ranger boats towed by Chevy trucks for this competition.
The 2009 National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship is being held April 10-12 at Ft. Loudoun and is being hosted by the University of Tennessee. The winning team will be declared the National Guard FLW Collegiate National Champion and will qualify for the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup Aug. 5-8 at Lake Lanier in Atlanta, Ga. The winners will also receive use of a wrapped boat and Chevy truck for Cup competition.
ABOUT FLW OUTDOORS
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 189 tournaments in 2010. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000.By: Julie Huber,
