FLW College Fishing is headed to the Mississippi River July 25 for the third and final regular-season tournament in the Central Conference. A full field of college teams will be competing for a top award of $2,000 and a berth in the Central Conference Championship tournament.
“This tournament will be a bit of a challenge, but there are still a few different ways to catch good stringers,” said 13-year Walmart FLW Tour veteran Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wisconsin.
“I think a lot of teams will use white-colored frogs to target bass that are still in moss beds preparing to move out into open water,” continued Monsoor. “The shad are still too small to feed on, so that’s where I think most of the fish will be. The smallmouth bite in the riprap will also play a role in this tournament. They’ve been responding well to different types of green-pumpkin-colored worms.
“I could also see some quality fish coming from the weedlines,” said Monsoor. “Lately I’ve been throwing a small green-pumpkin jig and it’s brought in some decent weights. The fish were usually around cover – like stumps – so competitors will need to find a good spot that compliments their pattern before using up too much time. It’s those types of decisions that will really test an angler’s instincts.”
Monsoor said he thinks a five-bass stringer nearing 16 pounds will take top honors.
“Somebody will find the 3-plus-pound bass, especially with a frog,” said Monsoor. “It should be an exciting event for both the anglers and fans.”
Anglers will take off from the Clinton Street Landing West ramp, located on Clinton Street in La Crosse, at 6:30 a.m. CT Saturday. Weigh-in will be held at the landing beginning at 2:30 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 currently registered to compete in the Mississippi River tournament, which is hosted by the La Crosse Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, include:
Alder School of Professional Psychology – Marshall Sandretto, Winthrop, Ill., and Zach Regnier, Hager City, Wis.
Bemidji State University – Thor Swanson and Mitchell Swanson, both of Blaine, Minn.
Eastern Illinois University – Evan Hakman, Mason, Ill., and Mitchell Meinhart, Effingham, Ill.
Eastern Illinois University – Phillip Arnold, Pana, Ill., and Dan Martin, Elmhurst, Ill.
Eastern Kentucky University – Shaw Owens, Barboursville, Ky., and Ethan Snyder, Flaherty, Ky.
Greenville College – Joseph Seabaugh, Walshville, Ill., and Ray Hingson, Montrose, Ill.
Indiana State University – Andrew Feutz, Eminence, Ind., and Blaine Timonera, Batesville, Ind.
Indiana State University – Jeremy Crocker, Lowell, Ind., and Zac Niehaus, Brazil, Ind.
Indiana State University – Jordan Nauert, Fillmore, Ind., and Brody Comer, Terre Haute, Ind.
Indiana State University – Tyler Wilson, Brazil, Ind., and Nicholas Gallina, Griffith, Ind.
Iowa State University – Justin Heim, Luxemburg, Iowa, and Andrew Paulsen, Ames, Iowa
Iowa State University – Pat Morrison, Omaha, Neb., and Jake Olson, West Des Moines, Iowa
Iowa State University – Zac Beek, Bloomington, Minn., and Zachary Hartley, Minneapolis, Minn.
Kansas State University – Graham Howard, Sabetha, Kan., and Sheldon Rogge, Saint George, Kan.
McKendree University – Jordan Ledbetter, Carlyle, Illinois, and Brock Wilke, Saint Rose, Ill.
McKendree University – Shane Campbell and Dustin Pendegraft, both of Summerfield, Ill.
Midland University – Nicholas Jensen, Watertown, S.D., and Ethan Aschenbrenner, Waterloo, Neb.
Milwaukee School of Engineering – Patrick Schmidt and Zachary Ottman, both of Oshkosh, Wis.
Northern Illinois University – Quinn Groenwald, DeKalb, Ill., and Ryan Moser, Elgin, Ill.
Northwest Missouri State University – Andrew Nordbye, Saint Joseph, Mo., and Adam Almohtadi, Blue Springs, Mo.
Saint Cloud State University – Troy Switajewski, Pine River, Minn., and Daniel Carlson, Milaca, Minn.
South Dakota State University – Kaiden Karst, Pierre, S.D., and Chase Porter, Sioux Falls, S.D.
Saint Ambrose University – Blake Vincent, Kewanee, Iowa, and Cole Atkinson, Camanche, Iowa
University of Dubuque – Austin Brimeyer, Dubuque, Iowa, and Eric Nie, Jesup, Iowa
University of Dubuque – Matt Smith, Harvard, Ill., and Alex Steffen, Cascade, Iowa
University of Illinois – Qiurun Chen, Urbana, Ill., and Luke Stoner, Pekin, Ill.
University of Iowa – Max Mercer, Burlington, Iowa, and Collin Cook, Fort Dodge, Iowa
University of Minnesota – John Vang, Saint Paul, Minn., and Makoto Hang, La Crosse, Wis.
University of Minnesota – Matt Merz And Conner Hansen, both of Milwaukee, Wis.
University of Minnesota – Trevor Lo, Woodbury, Minn., and Chris Burgan, Rhinelander, Wis.
University of Minnesota-Duluth – Justin Sande, Orono, Minn., and Erik Gaffron, Maple Grove, Minn.
University of Minnesota-Duluth – Mark Shirley, Saint Cloud, Minn., and James Chapman, South Haven, Minn.
University of Missouri – Christian Ponzetti, Minnetonka, Minn., and Matt Kudrna, Columbia, Mo.
University of North Dakota – Dominic Schneider, Maplewood, Minn., and Jonathan Welle, Saint Paul, Minn.
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse – Nathan Hettinga And Dustin Genrich, both of Wausau, Wis.
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse – Pat Bowers, Hudson, Wis., and Sig Finley, Wonder Lake, Ill.
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse – Xeng Lee & Pelli Lee, both of La Crosse, Wis.
University of Wisconsin-Platteville – Grant Stittleburg and Remington Stittleburg, Black River Falls, Wis.
University of Wisconsin-Stout – Michael Jansen and Craig Jansen, New Richmond, Wis.
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater – Daniel Blasy, Eden Prarie, Minn., and Steven Sellnow, Watertown, Wis.
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater – Jared Mataczynski, Wausau, Wis., and Steve Nebel, Whitewater, Wis.
University of Wisconsin-Whitewater – Nicholas Andersen, Racine, Wis., and Andrew Mlotek, Naperville, Ill.
Winona State University – Wyatt Stout, Winona, Minn., and Cade Laufenberg, La Crosse, Wis.
FLW College Fishing teams compete in qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top fifteen teams from each regular-season tournament will qualify for one of five Conference Championship tournaments. The top ten teams from each of the five Conference Championship tournaments will advance to the 2016 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
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 fishing club recognized by their college or university.
ABOUT FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2015 over the course of 240 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.
By: Brian Johnson, FLW
