YETI FLW College Fishing is heading to the California Delta May 13 for the second of three regular-season stops in the Western Conference. A full field of college fishing clubs will be competing for the top award of a $2,000 club scholarship and a berth into the 2018 College Fishing National Championship.
“Usually you can go out this time of year and have no problem catching five fish, but the weather has everything late this year and the Delta has been fishing a little tough lately,” said Costa FLW Series pro Mark Lassagne of San Ramon, California, who guides on the Delta and also publishes the acclaimed Bass Angler Magazine. “However, it’s the Delta and the potential is always there to catch a 30-pound limit.”
Lassagne said that if he was a college angler fishing in this tournament that he would target protected areas around Frank’s Tract or Little Mandeville.
“High tide will be around 8 or 9 a.m., and you’ll want to find an area where the fish can’t go any further – the rock walls,” Lassagne said. “Look for slow current areas by rock walls with a lot of weeds, and throw in between the rocks and the weeds. Jigs, drop-shot rigs and Yamamoto Senkos will all be strong. If the fish are active you can throw a squarebill, spinnerbait or ChatterBait as well. We call it the ‘slop’ – the section between the rocks and the weeds.
“They are going to see fish in all three phases of the spawn,” Lassagne went on to say. “There are a few key areas where they are biting really well, and the key for these college teams will be to figure out what those fish want, that day.”
Anglers will take off from Russo’s Marina, located at 3995 Willow Road in Bethel Island, at 6:30 a.m. PDT Saturday. Weigh-in will be held at the Marina beginning at 1 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 registered to compete in the California Delta tournament, which is hosted by Russo’s Marina and Sugar Barge RV Resort, include:
California Polytechnic State University – Clayton Lauchland, Lodi, Calif., and Christopher Leclair, Santa Clarita, Calif.
California Polytechnic State University-Pomona – Nick Rinauro, San Jose, Calif., and Alec Pitts, Santa Rosa, Calif.
California State University-Chico – Tyler Firebaugh, Danville, Calif., and Chad Sweitzer, Chico, Calif.
California State University-Chico – Jakob Conlan and Frank Tomasello, both of Morgan Hill, Calif.
California State University-Chico – Travis Strain and Sean Huber, both of Chico, Calif.
Grand Canyon University – Joseph Dwyer, Scottsdale, Ariz., and Cody Blood, Galt, Ariz.
FLW College Fishing teams compete in three 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 20 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open will advance to the 2018 FLW College Fishing National Championship. Additional teams will qualify for the National Championship if the field size in regular-season events exceeds 100 boats.
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 that is recognized by their school.
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 2017 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 274 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa 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: Joe Opager, Director of Public Relations
