College Fishing Southeastern Conference heads to Lake Guntersville

Final stop for the conference to take place May 5

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. – National Guard FLW College Fishing is headed to Lake Guntersville May 5 for the final stop in the Southeastern Conference. Forty college teams from the across the region will be competing for a top award of $5,000.

“The fishing just keeps getting better and better,” said National Guard pro Jonathan Newton of Rogersville, Ala. “The bass have mostly spawned out right now because of the warm winter, so it is going to be a post-spawn deal. There are still a few fish spawning, but most have started to pull out onto ledges.

“The great thing about Guntersville is that you can catch bass so many different ways,” continued Newton. “Fishing ledges and drops with crankbaits and worms should be awesome. If the college kids like to fish shallow, fishing docks is always fun. I like to use a black and blue or brown jig with a green pumpkin or black and blue Zoom Super Chunk. Weights are going to be good; I would expect 15 to 18 pounds to win.”

Anglers will take off from Val-Monte Lakeside Resort & Marina located at 7000 Val-Monte Drive in Guntersville, Ala., at 6:30 a.m. Saturday. Weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 1:00 p.m. Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.

Schools competing in the Lake Guntersville tournament, which is being hosted by the Marshall County Convention & Visitors Bureau, include:

Auburn University-Montgomery – Ronald Nummy and Larry Haag, both of Prattville, Ala.

Augusta State University – Shane Wyatt and Wesley Steinmeyer, Jr., both of Appling, Ga.

Austin Peay – Chase Hunnell, Ashland, Tenn., and Ethan Ingle, Burlington, N.C.

Bethel University – Matthew Palmer and Myles Palmer, both of McKenzie, Tenn.

Clemson University – Nathan Leopard, Anderson, S.C., and Seth Mycko, Gray Court, S.C..

Columbus State University – Brad Davis, Columbus, Ga., and Aldrene Manasan, Fortson, Ga.

Daytona State College – Thomas Oltorik, Deland, Fla., and Jason Frazee, Debary, Fla.

Elon University – William Gilbert and Graig Zurn, both of Elon, N.C.

Florida Gulf Coast – Tommy Edwards, Fort Myers, Fla., and Garrett Farmer, Estero, Fla.

Florida State University – Brooks Woodward, Tallahassee, Fla., and Adam Gilligan, Thomasville, Ga.

Freed-Hardeman University – Brad Martin, Henderson, Tenn., and Clint Horton, Ramer, Tenn.

Gardner-Webb University – Randal Lockhart, Kings Mountain, N.C., and Marvin Caleb Williams, Wilkesboro, N.C.

Georgia College – Chancey Gray, Covington, Ga., and Grant Kelly, McDonough, Ga.

Georgia Southern – Jed Thigpen, Statesboro, Ga., and Tanner Parker, Dalton, Ga.

Georgia Southwestern State University – Chandler Ray, Americus, Ga., and Ryan Wakenigg, Cataula, Ga.

Kennesaw State University – Eric Fisher and Justin Marlow, both of Kennesaw, Ga.

LaGrange College – Torre Pike, Flat Rock, Ala., and James Yancey, LaGrange, Ga.

Lander University – Richie Dixon, Chesterfield, S.C., and Cody Brock, Honea Path, S.C.

Middle Tennessee State – Nolen Spencer, Bell Buckle, Tenn., and Tyler Barnes, Madison, Tenn.

Mississippi College – Matthew Savell and Brian Saxon, both of Clinton, Miss.

Mississippi State – Andrew Gordon, Caledonia, Miss., and Drew Long, Bear Creek, Ala.

North Carolina State University – Tyler Faggart, Julian, N.C., and Tyler Mayhew, Lexington, N.C.

Seminole State College – Neal Combs, Osteen, Fla., and Kevin Lucas, Orlando, Fla.

South Alabama – Chase Lee, Robertsdale, Ala., and Taylor Ramey, Mobile, Ala.

Southern Mississippi – Dax Graham, Hattiesburg, Miss., and Daniel Netterville, Gloster, Miss.

Southern Polytechnic – Austin King, McDonough, Ga., and Daniel Byrd, Fairburn, Ga.

Tennessee Tech – Chris Thomas and Ryan Harpe, both of Cookeville, Tenn.

Tennessee Wesleyan College – John Higdon and Ben Graves, both of Athens, Tenn.

Troy University – Connor Bedsole, Arab, Ala., and Win Grant, Troy, Ala.

University of Alabama – Logan Johnson, Tuscaloosa, Ala., and Dustin Connell, Clanton, Ala.

University of Alabama-Birmingham – Patrick Townes, Cullman, Ala., and Taylor Mardis, Oneonta, Ala.

University of Central Florida – Chris Bozas and Austin Bayoumi, both of Orlando, Fla.

University of Florida – Shane Fussell, Lady Lake, Fla., and Mark Gipson, Gainesville, Fla.

University of Mississippi – Christian Braswell, Gulfport, Miss., and Jason Rankin, Flora, Miss.

University of Montevallo – Joseph Handley, Hueytown, Ala., and Joseph Fuller, Brierfield, Ala.

University of North Carolina-Wilmington – Michael Thomas, Wingate, N.C., and Kyle Caruolo, Cary, N.C.

University of South Carolina – Nicholas Bastug, Whiteville, N.C., and Jake Hostetter, Elgin, S.C.

University of Tennessee-Chattanooga – Parker Bacon, Nashville, Tenn., and Taylor Bolton, Soddy Daisy, Tenn.

Wake Forest University – Ryan Casey and Brad Silver, both of Roanoke Rapids, N.C.

Young Harris College – Furman Thompson, Clayton, Ga., and Brad Rutherford, Lavonia, Ga.

Four regular-season qualifying events are held in each conference – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southern and Western. The top five teams from each qualifying tournament will advance to one of five televised three-day National Guard FLW College Fishing Conference Championships, where the first-place team wins a Ranger 177TR bass boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard. The top five teams from each conference championship advance to the national championship, where the first-place team wins $25,000 for their school and $50,000 cash plus a Ranger 177TR bass boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard for their fishing club.

College Fishing is free to enter and FLW 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.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing. Visit CollegeFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your school.

About FLW

FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing unparalleled fishing resources and entertainment to our sponsors, fans and host communities. FLW is offering anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2012 over the course of 191 tournaments across five tournament circuits, each providing an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW is committed to providing a lifestyle experience that is the “Best in Fishing, On and Off the Water,” through a variety of platforms including tournaments, outdoor expos and the world’s richest fantasy sports game – FLW Fantasy Fishing. For more information about FLW and FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FLWOutdoors.com or FantasyFishing.com and look for FLW on Twitter and Facebook.