Lamar University’s Danny Iles, Hemphill, Texas, and Justin Royal, Vidor, Texas won the National Guard FLW College Fishing South Conference event on Lake Amistad Saturday with five bass weighing 21 pounds, 11 ounces. The victory earned the team $5,000. The win also helped them advance to the South Conference Regional Championship.
“You couldn’t have asked for better weather conditions,” said Iles, a senior mechanical engineering major. “It was overcast with a wind that really helped us with our bite, we wouldn’t have been able to catch anything without the wind we had today. It was perfect for rattle baits. We caught all our fish with a Red Eye Shad in about 2 to 8 feet of water. We fished the same grassy area all day long and were catching one fish about every 15 minutes, we must have had at least 25 keepers today.
“I think the fish are starting to move from deep to shallow to start spawning. That’s why you saw fish caught anywhere from 80 feet to 6 inches deep. We chose to fish shallow because you typically catch them faster shallow and we knew our time was limited.”
Fishing for the first year together Illes and Royal are no strangers to fishing big tournaments. Royal and his partner finished last year’s South Regional Championship in sixth place missing the National Championship by 6 ounces. Illes team finished in seventh. The newly formed team is fishing this year with something to prove.
Rounding out the top five teams and also advancing to the South Regional Championship are:
2nd: Texas State University Jared Brown, San Marcos, Texas, and David Cosner, Austin, Texas five bass 19-1 $1,500
3rd: University of Louisiana-Monroe Paul Clark and Brett Preuett, both of Monroe, La. five bass 18-14 $1,000
4th: Tarleton State-Stephenville Cody Metz and Shelby Floyd both of Stephenville, Texas five bass 15-12 $1,000
5th: Texas A&M-Kingsville Cody Burell, Uvalde, Texas, and Will Watson, Kingsville, Texas five bass 14-11 $1,000
The top five teams from each tournament qualify for the regional championship where the first-place team will win a Ranger 177TR bass boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard wrapped in school colors for their fishing club. The top five teams from each regional tournament advance to the national championship.
College Fishing is free to enter and FLW provides boats and drivers for each competing team along with travel allowances. All participants must be registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or university.
The next National Guard FLW College Texas Conference tournament is scheduled for Feb. 26 at Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Lufkin, Texas.
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By: Julie Huber,
