Meet the Spartans

San José State heading to CF National Championship

San Jose State anglers Glen Wyatt and Eric Andersen hold up the winning fish from the National Guard College Fishing Western Regional Championship. Photo by Doug Stamm. Anglers: Eric Andersen, Glen Wyatt.

February 22, 2010 • Patrick Baker • Abu Garcia College Fishing

(Editor’s note: Leading up to the inaugural National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship, which will be held at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., April 10-12, CollegeFishing.com will post semiweekly feature stories highlighting the 25 teams that qualified. At stake in the tournament is a prize package of $100,000 and a chance to compete in the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup.)

Name: Glen Wyatt (pictured at right)

Class: senior

Major: Kinesiology

Hometown: Vallejo, Calif.

Other interests: football, basketball, playing the drums, playing video games, saltwater fishing and spending quality time with family, girlfriend and friends

Name: Eric Andersen (pictured at left)

Class: senior

Major: Business Marketing

Hometown: San Jose, Calif.

Other interests: snowboarding and basketball

University Web site: SJSU.edu

Q&A

CollegeFishing.com: How were you introduced to fishing?

Wyatt: Fishing runs in my family. All of my relatives love to fish, so it’s sort of in my blood; but I definitely have to give credit to my father for introducing me to fishing. Whenever he went out fishing, he would let my brothers and I tag along with him. I think that we have fished almost every lake in northern California, so I definitely have to give credit to him for that.

Andersen: My grandfather introduced me to the sport at a very young age. The best times were spent fishing out of his aluminum boat at Lake Almanor. If it wasn’t for him, who knows if I would be fishing today? Thanks, Pa!

CollegeFishing.com: What style of fishing are you most comfortable with?

Wyatt: I definitely pride myself on being a versatile fisherman. I believe that it is very important to not become one dimensional when fishing. There is a time and place for every technique in fishing, so being comfortable throwing everything that’s in your box is of the utmost importance. I love throwing swimbaits, topwaters, jerkbaits, crankbaits, ChatterBaits, Texas and Carolina rigs, and the drop-shot. However, if I had to pick only one bait in my box, then it would definitely be a jig. I feel comfortable throwing a jig in almost any circumstance.

Andersen: I am very comfortable with a spinning setup in my hand. That being said, I find myself going to soft-plastic baits a lot. If the fish are active, I will use baits that cover more water, but when the fishing slows, I’m right back on the spinning rod.

CollegeFishing.com: What did it feel like to qualify for the inaugural National Championship? How do you plan to prepare for the big event?

Wyatt: Qualifying for the National Championship was honestly one of the greatest feelings that I have had in my life. Eric and I worked really hard, trying to come up with a game plan, and it was great to see it pay off with a win. Preparing for the National Championship this year will not be an easy task, considering that we live way out on the West Coast. That puts us at a little disadvantage because we can’t just hop in the truck and drive down to the lake like some of the other teams. However, we do plan on doing as much research on the lake as possible. We also plan on taking a few trips out to Tennessee to practice on the lake before we go down for the tournament. There are also some good smallmouth and spotted bass lakes out here in California, so we will definitely practice on some of those lakes too.

Andersen: I couldn’t have been happier. Going in, we set our sights on first place and said our goal was to win the tournament, but making the top five and fishing in Tennessee was what really mattered to us. To be able to represent our school and division in the first College Fishing National Championship is a privilege and an honor.

The location of the tournament will affect our ability to prefish effectively. That is no excuse for us to not do well, but it will make things more challenging. We will rely on networking, research and map study to make a run at the title. If we can get out on the water before the tourney, it would help tremendously.

CollegeFishing.com: Tell us something interesting about yourself that most people wouldn’t know.

Wyatt: I absolutely love video games. Whether it be Halo, Madden or NBA 2k, I would definitely be in jail for life if there was a law against video games.

Andersen: I played 15 years of organized baseball including high school, where I spent most of my time playing second base. I was a scrappy player – always stealing bases and legging out triples. Nothing beats turning a clean, inning-ending double play – well, maybe a 10-pound largemouth, but I’ve yet to hit that home run.