CF Southeast Division to host regional championship on Lake Monroe
College Fishing Festival taking place at University of Central Florida
ORLANDO, Fla. – National Guard FLW College Fishing is headed to Lake Monroe Oct. 21-23 for the Southeast Regional Championship. Twenty college teams from across the region have qualified and will compete for a top award of $50,000, which includes a Ranger 177TR with 90-horsepower outboard wrapped in school colors for their bass club and $25,000 for their school.
“We’ve just gotten our first cool snaps of the season, so the fish will be starting to get into their fall patterns,” said FLW Tour pro JT Kenney of Palm Bay, Fla., who has two wins and 27 top-10 finishes in his nine-year FLW career. “There will be two dominant patterns in this tournament: catching schooling fish in grass patches and flipping heavy rigs in thick grass.
“The key to winning any tournament in Florida is catching a limit and hoping that one is a giant, and by giant I mean a 7- to 8-pounder,” Kenney went on to say. “The fish are really active right now, especially in the morning. The kids are going to want to make sure they have two to three fish in the boat early, and they should be covering a lot of water. It’s going to take 13 to 16 pounds per day to win here.”
Kenney indicated that the weather is pretty stable right now, barring a late-season hurricane, and morning temperatures will be about 55 to 60 degrees.
Anglers will take off from Monroe Harbour located at 531 N. Palmeto Ave. in Sanford, Fla., at 7 a.m. daily. Weigh-ins will be held at UCF-IOA Plaza: Bright House Networks Stadium beginning at 4 p.m. Thursday and Friday and approximately 6:30 p.m. Saturday (following the football game). Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
The University of Central Florida also is hosting the College Fishing Festival throughout the three-day tournament. Students and fishing fans alike will be treated to live music, the National Guard Warrior Challenge, a Ranger Boat simulator, tailgate games, a sports zone along with contests for cash and several prize giveaways. The festival will take place at UCF-IOA Plaza: Bright House Networks Stadium from 2-4 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday.
The full list of college teams competing in the Southeast Regional Championship is available online.
The top five teams from each regional championship, 25 total teams, will advance to the 2011 National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship that will be hosted by Murray State University on Kentucky Lake, April 7-9. The National Championship is a three-day televised event. Teams will be provided jerseys and wrapped Ranger boats towed by Chevy trucks for this competition. The first-place team will win $100,000 with $50,000 of that for their school and $25,000 cash and a Ranger 177TR bass boat for their fishing club along with a berth in the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup.
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.
About FLW Outdoors
FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 189 tournaments in 2010. FLW Outdoors has also taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing awarding the largest prizes in the history of fantasy sports. FLW Outdoors memberships are available featuring numerous benefits including Player’s Advantage. For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FantasyFishing.com.