YETI FLW College Fishing is heading to the Red River on Sept. 23 for the second of three regular-season stops in the Southern Conference for a tournament presented by Bass Pro Shops. 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, which will also be hosted on the Red River next May.
“The Red River has a lot of grass in it,” said FLW Tour pro Jim Dillard of Monroe, Louisiana. “It’s very unique because there are a number of different jetties, rocks and bends – so many different areas to fish. You can catch fish a number of different ways.”
Dillard suggested that anglers would be throwing standard shallow water river baits, including topwater baits, crankbaits, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits.
“You don’t need to go into the backwaters to catch fish, but some teams still will,” Dillard said. “Teams will be fishing spread out way up and down the river. If the conditions get real tough, some of the finesse fisherman could do real well.”
A five-bass limit weighing 14 to 16 pounds is expected to be enough to take home the win in this Southern Conference tournament.
Anglers will take off from the Red River South Marina, located at 250 Red River South Marina Road, in Bossier City, at 7 a.m. CDT Saturday. Weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 3 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 Red River tournament, which is hosted by the Shreveport-Bossier City Sports Commission, include:
Arkansas Tech University – Philip Gottsponer, Morrilton, Ark., and Ethan Stokes, Lee’s Summit, Mo.
Colorado State University-Pueblo – Austin Miles, Durango, Colo., and Tyler Hassler, Fountain, Colo.
Harding University – Cole Swede, Little Rock, Ark., and Ethan Flowers, Dexter, Mo.
Louisiana State University – Jack Thomas, Prairieville, La., and Connor Turner, Albany, La.
Northeastern State University – Conner Schwab, Broken Arrow, Okla., and Kyler Morgan, Muldrow, Okla.
Northwestern State University – John Joseph Ledet, Natchitoches, La., and Dustin Nash, Leesville, La.
Rogers State University – Alex Torkleson, Sand Springs, Okla., and Alec Murphy, Claremore, Okla.
Rogers State University – David Stellfox, Collinsville, Okla., and Kelsey Winnie, Stillwater, Okla.
Rogers State University – Dillon Roberts, Claremore, Okla., and Ty Crutchfield, Inola, Okla.
Rogers State University – Lane McCartney, Catoosa, Okla., and Tyler Hastings, Claremore, Okla.
Southeastern Louisiana University – Lewis Laurent, Watson, La., and Bryce Coleman, Denham Springs, La.
Southern Arkansas University – Warren Basinger and Dalton Keith, both of Magnolia, Ark.
Southern Arkansas University – Cade Coleman, Minden, La., and Douglas Bell, Texarkana, Ark.
Sowela Technical Community College – Conner Chappell, Sulpher, La., and Blake Fontenot, Lake Charles, La.
Sowela Technical Community College – Casey Trosclair and Colby Breaux, both of Sulphur, La.
Sowela Technical Community College – Logan Bruchhaus and Garrett Downs, both of Sulphur, La.
Stephen F. Austin State University – Seth Hausman, Nacogdoches, Texas, and Chance Forrest, Anna, Texas
Stephen F. Austin State University – Garrett Bradford, Lufkin, Texas, and Cody Barchenger, Taylor, Texas
Tarleton State University – Cason Kelly, Stephenville, Texas, and Carson McCone, Crowley, Texas
Tarleton State University – Corbin Bogart, Joshua, Texas, and Spencer Suitt, Cleburne, Texas
Texas A&M University – Bo McGraw, Conroe, Texas, and Evan Cook, La Porte, Texas
The Woodlands College Park – Joe Beebee, The Woodlands, Texas, and Chris Oakes, Conroe, Texas
University of Louisiana at Lafayette – Dakota Moofe, Leesville, La., and Dawson Cranford, Stonewall, La.
University of Oklahoma – Blaine Timonera, Batesville, Ind., and Colton Harper, Spiro, Okla.
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 on the Red River, May 30 – June 2, hosted by Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission & Red River Waterway Commission. 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.
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 FLWFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your 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 258 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
