On the first day of the 2017 Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Open, the powerhouse bass fishing club of Murray State University has three of their teams sitting in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. Currently in 7th place in the Cabela’s School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia race, it comes as no surprise that the Murray State teams were going to perform strong on Lake Dardanelle in Russellville, Arkansas.
On the eve of the first day of the Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Open, Lake Dardanelle and surrounding areas received over an inch of rain. Anglers were greeted Saturday with much more stained water, winds out of the north, and cooler temperatures than they had seen in practice, causing concern around take off.
Hundreds of anglers set out on day one to try to overcome the changes that Mother Nature had thrown at them. During practice, most of the anglers had been targeting shallow grass near spawning areas. Water temps had been holding steady all week around the 63-degree mark and with the New Moon only a couple days away the anglers knew the fish were about push shallow to spawn.
About the ACA
The Association of Collegiate Anglers, a division of Careco TV, is a sanctioning body developed to facilitate growth, development, and structure within competitive collegiate bass fishing. The ACA provides support to dozens of school operated regional events nationwide and owns the Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Series, the largest participatory collegiate tournament circuit in the country. With dedicated collegiate fishing programming on several television networks, four nationally televised collegiate bass fishing events, and thousands of members, the ACA is the leader in competitive collegiate bass fishing. For more information on the ACA, or the Cabela’s Collegiate Bass Fishing Series, visit www.CollegiateBassChampionship.com.
By: Amanda Gutierrez
