YETI FLW College Fishing will continue the 2018 fishing season with an event April 7 on Lake Texoma. The tournament, hosted by the Denison Area Chamber of Commerce, is the second of three regular-season events for anglers in the Southern Conference, and will feature a top prize of a $2,000 club scholarship and an invitation to compete in the 2019 College Fishing National Championship.
“They’re going to catch them pretty good at Texoma and it should be a really fun tournament,” said FLW Tour pro and former College Fishing standout Andrew Upshaw, who has three top-12 finishes on Lake Texoma in Costa FLW Series competition. “The majority of the largemouth should be spawning, or just about to spawn. The smallmouth will likely already have spawned, so the chances of catching a 3½ to 4 pound smallmouth are pretty good. I think the winning team will probably have a mixed bag – a few big largemouth and a few big smallmouth.”
Upshaw said that the majority of the big fish live on the south end of the lake – within six miles of the dam – and he expects that a big grouping of college competitors will likely be found in that area.
“Sight fishing is going to be the deal for most of the teams,” Upshaw said. “You can’t beat a (Gene Larew) Biffle Bug – it’s my number one bait when sight fishing. I’d also have something compact tied on, like a (Gene Larew Jacob Wheeler) Hammer Craw.
“I’d recommend doing a little homework and looking at what past winners have done this time of year,” Upshaw continued. “If I wasn’t sight fishing, I’d be cranking a (Bill Lewis) Echo 1.75 squarebill around rocks. (Ray) Hanselman won a couple of years ago throwing a frog around spawning areas. A big 6- to 8-inch swimbait in the clear water around docks could catch some big ones that are staging.
“My biggest recommendation if you’re looking to win is to pick up baits that you know are going to catch big ones,” Upshaw went on to say. “Between a frog, a big swimbait and a Biffle Bug, I don’t think you can beat those three options.”
Upshaw predicted that the winning team would bring a five-bass limit nearing 22 pounds to the scale.
Competitors will take off from the Highport Marina, located at 120 Texoma Harbor in Pottsboro, at 7 a.m. CST 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 Lake Texoma tournament include:
Abilene Christian University – Tanner Sanderson, El Paso, Texas, and Corbin Craft, Fort Worth, Texas
Colorado State University-Pueblo – Austin Miles, Durango, Colo., and Cooper Brown, Pueblo West, Colo.
Harding University – Ethan Flowers, Dexter, Mo., and Cole Swede, Little Rock, Ark.
Louisiana Tech University – Huff McIntosh and Jacob Mitcham, both of Ruston, La.
Northeast Texas Community College – Austin King, Hughes Spring, Texas, and Danny Boyd, Winnsboro, Texas
Northeastern State University – Caleb Gibson and Tyler Winn, both of Tahlequah, Okla.
Oklahoma State University – Bates Enmeier, Enid, Okla., and Dexter Flick, Olathe, Colo.
Oklahoma State University – Garrett Brown, Broken Arrow, Okla., and Jake Swanson, Eufaula, Okla.
Sam Houston State University – Jackson Carrell, Anderson, Texas, and Kyle Pasket, Tomball, Texas
Stephen F. Austin State University – Kyle Dragulski, Mansfield, Texas, and Will Hughes, Tyler, Texas
Texas A&M University – Grant Adams, Midlothian, Texas, and Shane Stafford, Belton, Texas
Texas A&M-Commerce – Jacob Galindo, Commerce, Texas, and William Fitzgerald, Quinlan, Texas
Texas A&M-Commerce – Michael Wallace, Plano, Texas, and Jolten Andree, Commerce, Texas
Texas A&M-Commerce – Remy Schenk, Bogata, Texas, and Mason Ray, Plano, Texas
Texas A&M-Galveston – Aaron Batten, Houston, Texas, and Mathew Dove, Deer Park, Texas
Tyler Junior College – Hudson Daille, Tyler, Texas, and Tyler Davis, Whitehouse, Texas
University of Oklahoma – Peyton Berkley, Norman, Okla., and Colton Risley, Yukon, Okla.
YETI 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 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship. Additional teams will qualify for the National Championship if the field size in regular-season events exceeds 100 boats. The 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship will take place May 30-June 1 on the Red River in Shreveport, Louisiana, and is hosted by the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission & Red River Waterway Commission.
YETI FLW 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 2018 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct 286 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa and Spain. 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
