The Murray State University team of Seth Brock of Cedar Hill, Tenn., and Lance Freeman of Eddyville, Ky., won the FLW College Fishing Central Conference tournament on the Mississippi River Saturday with five bass weighing 10 pounds and 13 ounces. Their win earned the team $2,000 for their bass club and qualified them for the 2014 Central Conference Invitational tournament on Kentucky Lake.
Teams from the Murray State University bass club have now won the past two Central conference tournaments.
“We got two days of practice and it was really tough,” said Brock. “The river is in flood stage, and we would only catch a couple of keepers per day. We decided not to go into the pure backwater areas during the tournament because it took too long to idle to them. Instead, we fished a little bit closer to the river and just ground it out.”
“We had five keepers by about 10:30 a.m.,” said Freeman. “Things just went right today. But, it was tough fishing. The water is so high and the fish have a lot of places to go, but we ended up with seven keepers after it was all said and done.”
“We got into one little slough that had some grass and trees that were a little flooded but there was still a bank,” explained Brock. “Having that bank that wasn’t totally flooded was key.
“Then we got into a little pond that had brush and laydowns in it and we targeted the laydown wood,” continued Brock. “A lot of the time in those little pockets it was no more than a foot and a half deep.”
“I fish Kentucky Lake just about every day,” Freeman went on to say. “Our whole reason to come and fish this tournament was just to qualify for the Invitational. It was just a pure blessing to win. Kentucky Lake can be white hot in the fall. The Invitational could be absolutely wide open.”
The Murray State duo said they used wacky-rigged Yamamoto Senkos, 3/8-ounce black and blue jigs and a custom chartreuse and black-colored squarebill crankbait.
The top 15 teams that advanced to the 2014 FLW College Fishing Central Conference Invitational are:
1st: Murray State University Seth Brock, Cedar Hill, Tenn., and Lance Freeman, Eddyville, Ky. five bass 10-13 $2,000
2nd: Western Illinois University Caleb Shoemaker, Blandinsville, Ill., and Travis Wilson, La Harpe, Ill. four bass 9-1 $1,000
3rd: Winona State University Wyatt Stout, Winona, Minn., and Cade Laufenberg, Stoddard, Wis. three bass 7-0 $500
4th: Northern Kentucky University Zach Dressman, Morning View, Ky., and Brandon Houston, Burlington, Ky. four bass 6-8 $500
5th: Southeast Missouri State Russell Vandiver, Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Tim Randell, St. Charles, Mo. three bass 6-8 $500
6th: Western Illinois University Jackson Grabeel, Taylor Ridge, Ill., and Thomas Scroppo, New Lenox, Ill. three bass 6-7
7th: University of Wisconsin-Platteville Evan Chambers, St. Charles, Ill., and Jered Lex, Cottage Grove, Wis. three bass 6-4
8th: University of Kentucky Ryan Collins, Lebanon, Ohio, and Andrew Day, Versailles, Ky. two bass 5-9
9th: University of Dubuque Brandon Feldman, Sherrill, Iowa, and Eric Nie, Jesup, Iowa two bass 3-6
10th: Indiana State University Robert Nero, Carlisle, Ind., and Mason Clarey, Perrysville, Ind. two bass 3-5
11th: Eastern Kentucky University Billy French, Hamilton, Ohio, and Travis Spivey, Trenton, Ohio two bass 3-0
12th: Northwest Missouri State University Emily Porter, Kearney, Mo., and Andrew Nordbye, St. Joseph, Mo. one bass 2-13
13th: Western Illinois University Craig Wise, Cary, Ill., and Brian Lafferty, La Harpe, Ill. one bass 2-6
14th: St. Cloud State University Troy Switajewski, St. Cloud, Minn., and Souvan Yang, St. Paul, Minn. one bass 2-4
15th: University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Kyle Casper, Itasca, Ill., and Matt Feiten, Stevens Point, Wis. one bass 1-14
FLW College Fishing teams compete in three qualifying events in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top 15 teams from each regular-season tournament will qualify for one of five conference invitational tournaments. The top 10 teams from each conference invitational tournament will advance to the 2015 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
College Fishing is free to enter. 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.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College Fishing on Facebook at Facebook /FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter/FLWFishing. Visit the CollegeFishing website sign up or to start a club at your school.
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 2014 over the course of 229 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. For more information about FLW visit the FLWOutdoors website and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube.
By: Jody White, Communications Specialist, FLW Outdoors
