Meet the Lumberjacks

Stephen F. Austin teammates Robert "Blaze" Platt, Kyle Turner share their thoughts on qualifying for the 2013 FLW College Fishing National Championship

Robert 'Blaze' Platt and partner Kyle Turner bring the National Guard FLW College Fishing Southern Conference Championship back to Stephen F. Austin. Photo by Kyle Wood. Anglers: Blaze Platt, Kyle Turner.

April 12, 2013 • Gary Mortenson • Abu Garcia College Fishing

(Editor’s note: Leading up to the 2013 FLW College Fishing National Championship – slated for April 19-21 on Beaver Lake in Rodgers, Ark. – CollegeFishing.com will publish weekly, in-depth features stories of each of the 25 national championship team qualifiers. At stake in the tournament is a first-place prize package that includes $30,000 in cash, a brand new, Ranger Z-117 bass boat and an automatic berth in the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup.)

Name: Blaze Platt (pictured on left)

Class: Junior

Major: Spatial Science

Hometown: Kennedale, Texas

Other interests: Outside of fishing, I like to go deer hunting and duck hunting. However, I find it a hard decision to make when opening day gets there in the fall and the fishing is still good.

Name: Kyle Turner (pictured on right)

Class: Senior

Major: Forest Wildlife Management

Hometown: Tyler, Texas

Other interests: My interests include anything outdoors, especially bow hunting.

Club Web site:

SFA Bass Team on Facebook

Q&A

CollegeFishing.com: How were you introduced to fishing?

Blaze Platt: I was never really “introduced” to fishing at any one point in my life. I was just along for the ride before I could make the decision whether I wanted to go to the lake or not. But when I was old enough, my answer was never, “no.”

Kyle Turner: My dad introduced me into fishing at a very young age. I traveled to many tournament weigh-ins to watch my dad. I then started competing in the CastingKids events and had a very successful career. This furthered my interest in the sport. My dad started putting on tournaments around East Texas and did so for many years. I traveled with him on these to help set up and do the weigh-ins. I still do this to this very day. As far back as I can remember, I have been involved with this sport in some way or another.

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

Blaze Platt: I’m most comfortable fishing shallow with almost any bait or technique. I grew up that way and it makes me feel at home to come to a lake with little to zero offshore structure pushing fish shallow throughout the year. But if I had to pinpoint a technique I really like it’s flipping a Texas rig or jig around any shallow cover.

Kyle Turner: Any style of fishing is perfectly fine, but if I had to pick one style then it would have to be throwing a Carolina rig – it’s usually a bait that I have tied on at all times.

CollegeFishing.com: What did it feel like to qualify for the 2013 FLW College Fishing National Championship? How do you plan to prepare for the big event?

Blaze Platt: At first it was an uneasy feeling when we qualified. We were a little uncomfortable sitting around waiting for the (2013 national championship) lake to be announced. But now my nerves have calmed down and it’s starting to get serious quickly. We plan on making a few trips before the tournament to start getting familiar with Beaver Lake and then we’ll start putting together a game plan.

Kyle Turner: Qualifying for this tournament is an honor and a major achievement for me. SFA won the Southern Regional last year and to repeat it this year meant the world to me as well as our club. I looked up to the guys in my years at SFA and to be mentioned with those guys is truly an honor. This is where the best of the best college anglers get to show their talent and it’s going to be a great show.

This event will be one of the biggest tournaments I have fished thus far in my career. The tournament is on Beaver Lake where you can catch fish doing many different things in different areas on this tremendous body of water. My game plan is to have a strong frame of mind throughout the tournament. I believe that is going to be key in winning this tournament. You have to have a clear mind and make the right decisions when faced with them. We’re going to stick to the game plan and just go fishing.

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

Blaze Platt: I run a small custom rod company I started last summer called Blaze Custom Rods.

Kyle Turner: In my younger years, I was the five-time Texas State Champion in the Bassmaster CastingKids events. This is where you pitch, flip, and cast at certain distances towards a target and achieve a score. I spent many days after school practicing. I even use some of the advice I received then in my career today. Much like today in the sport, your frame of mind plays a major role in each event.