The Ramapo College team of Jeff Voss, Secaucus, N.J., and Joseph Zapf, Whippany, N.J., maintained their lead at the National Guard FLW College Fishing Northern Division Regional championship hosted by Penn State University on Sayers Lake Friday with five bass weighing 9 pounds, 4 ounces. For the second day in a row the team brought to the scales another solid bag of bass more than doubling their lead from yesterday. The team now holds a four pound, 8 ounce lead over their nearest competitor, Fairmont State University, going into the final day of competition. Teams are competing for a total award of $50,000.
“I am so stocked, I gotta say,” said Voss, a junior information systems major. “This is hard to believe.
“We are fishing four primary areas, two on either side of the lake. All of them are pretty deep, about 12 to 20 feet. They are isolated structures and as far as I can tell we have been the only team fishing them.
“As you can see by our weight we struggled a little bit today,” continued Voss. “The bites just weren’t as big as they were yesterday. We definitely caught more fish today, but they just weren’t the size they were yesterday. We had about 15 keepers today compared to about seven yesterday. We are running from spot to spot trying to find the right size fish. Smallies tend to hang-out with like-size smallies and we just couldn’t find the big ones.”
Remaining tight lipped about the baits and techniques they are using the team from Ramapo College did indicate that color was a major factor to their catch.
“I couldn’t ask for a better tournament,” said Zapf referring to the second team from Ramapo that also made the top-5 cut. “I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
“We probably had the weight we brought to the scale about noon,” Zapf went on to say. “We really caught a bunch of them in a hurry. “Today was definitely a different day of fishing. We had to slow down a lot.
“The fish are for sure in our areas. We had our first five keepers by about 8 or 9 this morning. It was crazy. I just hope they hold out for another day.”
Rounding out the top five teams and also qualifying for the National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship are:
| 2nd: | Fairmont State University | Wil Dieffenbauch, Hundred W. Va., and Brent Dodrill, Fairmont, Va. | eight bass | 16-6 |
| 3rd: | Virginia Tech | Wyatt Blevins, Pulaski, Va., and Carson Rejzer, Hampton, Va. | eight bass | 12-12 |
| 4th: | Christopher Newport | Ryan Ingalls, Fairfax, Va., and Derek Berhalter, Farnham, Va., | seven bass | 11-6 |
| 5th: | Rampo College | Charles Danza, Ringwood, N.J., and Bob Rieder, West Milford, N.J. | seven bass | 11-4 |
Overall there were 33 bass weighing 48 pounds, 15 ounces caught by 20 teams. The catch included only one five-bass limit.
Final takeoff will be from Bald Eagle State Park, Hunters Run East Ramp located at 149 Main Park Road in Howard, Pa., at 7 a.m. Saturday morning. The final weigh-in will be held at Bryce Jordan Center (Beaver Stadium) beginning at 4 p.m. or upon completion of the Penn State vs. Indiana State football game at Beaver Stadium. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Penn State is hosting the College Fishing Festival throughout the three day tournament. Students and fishing fans alike will be treated to the National Guard Warrior Challenge, a Ranger Boat simulator, tailgate games, a sports zone along with contests for cash and several prize give-aways. Saturday’s festival will take place at Penn State’s Bryce Jordan Center (Beaver Stadium) located at 127 Bryce Jordan Center in University Park from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Teams are fishing for a top award of $50,000 to be split between the university and the university’s bass fishing club – $12,500 and a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower outboard wrapped in school colors for the bass club and $12,500 for their school.
The top five teams from each of the five regional tournaments will advance to the national championship where the first-place team will win a top award of $100,000; $25,000 for their school and $50,000 cash and a Ranger 177TR bass boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard wrapped in school colors for their fishing club.
Coverage of the Northern Regional Championship will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS. “FLW Outdoors,” will air Nov. 6 from 1 – 2 p.m. ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide.
College Fishing is free to enter and FLW Outdoors 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.
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FLW Outdoors is the best in fishing, on and off the water. Anglers worldwide can compete for millions over the course of 191 tournaments in 2011.By: Julie Huber,
