Baylor University leads National Guard FLW College Fishing Texas Regional Championship at Sibley Lake

NATCHITOCHES, La. – The Baylor University team of Jay Holland of Waco, Texas, and Andrew McAdams of Lorena, Texas, took the early lead at the National Guard FLW College Fishing Texas Regional Championship on Sibley Lake Saturday with six bass weighing 10 pounds, 15 ounces.

“It was a stressful day,” said Holland, a junior marketing major. “It wasn’t easy; we really had to move around a lot. We caught our last fish about a half hour before weigh-in; I’m just glad Andrew was able to take charge today.”

McAdams caught three lunkers providing the bulk of the duo’s nearly 11 pound bag. The team practiced Sibley Lake hard and believes it’s what separated them from the rest of the field. They had eight areas to fish and as luck would have it they made the right decisions at the right time and they all paid off.

“We had a lucky bite today,” said McAdams, a general studies senior. “We really had to work hard; we were sweatin’ it for a while. Our original goal was to make the regionals, which we did, and now our goal is to make Nationals. We are in pretty good shape to do that, but we have our work cut out for us tomorrow. We just need to catch `em again on day two.

Rounding out the top five teams are Angelo State – Josh Seale of Breckenridge, Texas, and Austin Adcock of Leander, Texas, (six bass, 10); Oklahoma State University – Will Powell of Edmond, Okla., and Jeremy Bersche, of Skiatook, Okla., (three bass, 7-4); Texas A&M – Paul Manley of Orange, Texas, and Andrew Shafer of Chatfield, Texas, (five bass, 6-10); and Texas State University – Jay McCollum of Athens, Texas, and David Cosner of Austin, Texas, (four bass, 6-9).

“We were flippin’ and pitchin’ all day long,” said Adcock who was one of the few not afraid to disclose some of today’s secrets of success. “The bite was real slow so we used a lot of compact baits, mostly creature baits, we stayed away from the worms. And you’re not going to believe this; we used a solid neon blue color.

Yesterday was the first day the team from Angelo State had seen the banks of Sibley Lake. It is very different from the clear, deep lakes they are used to fishing in Texas.

“We actually had our limit by 8:30 and got our biggest fish on the second cast,” added Seale. “We didn’t fish our spot hard and we are hoping the hole will replenish itself overnight so that we can do the same thing tomorrow. Some of our fish spit up bait fish so we think we found a feeding area that is a travel lane.

The top five finishers in the Texas Regional will earn a spot in the National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship in Knoxville, Tenn., April 10-12, 2010. They will be fishing for a top prize package of $100,000 and a chance to compete in the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup.

Each school represented in a televised Regional Championship will have team shirts and boats provided by Ranger. The purse for each Regional Championship includes a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard wrapped in school colors for the winning club and $25,000 for the school they represent. Awards of $6,000 also extend through fifth place for the club and school to split evenly.

Anglers will take off from the Public Boat Ramp at Sibley Lake located at 2019 Texas Street, Natchitoches, La., at 7 each morning. Weigh-ins will be held at Northwestern State University’s Prather Coliseum parking lot beginning at 4 p.m. each afternoon. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

Qualified teams in the Texas Regional Championship include Angelo State; Baylor University; Lamar University; Louisiana State University; Louisiana State University, Shreveport; Northwestern State University; Oklahoma State University; Sam Houston State; Stephen F. Austin; Tarleton State Texas; Texas A&M; Texas A&M, Corpus Christi; Texas A&M, Kingsville; Texas State University; Texas Tech University; University of Louisiana; University of North Texas; and University of Texas.

In conjunction with the Texas Regional Championship, the Reel Life Festival, which features the National Guard Warrior Challenge, is being held in the Prather Coliseum parking lot. The festival begins at 3 p.m. on Sunday and 1 p.m. Monday.

FLW Outdoors announced the College Fishing trail in May 2008. The entire schedule, which is organized around the five Stren Series Divisions, can be found by visiting CollegeFishing.com along with rules, requirements and information on how to create a bass club.

Full-time students enrolled in four year colleges or universities are eligible to participate in the events. Schools can send two-person teams to each of the four qualifying events in their division, with each event limited to a maximum of 40 teams. Each team has the opportunity to win $10,000 for first and $2,000 through fifth place. Prize money is split evenly between the winning team’s club and the school they represent. The tournaments are free to enter, boats and drivers are provided and all collegiate teams receive a travel allowance. The top five teams in each qualifying event advance to one of five televised three-day National Guard FLW College Fishing Regional Championships.

The National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship is a three-day televised event hosting the top five teams from each regional, 25 total teams. Teams will be provided shirts and wrapped Ranger boats towed by Chevy trucks for this competition. The purse for the championship ranges from $25,000 cash and a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard wrapped in school colors for the winning club and $50,000 for the school they represent to $15,000 for fifth, split between the club and school.

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, visit FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.