Tarleton State wins college fishing event on Falcon Lake

Inaugural National Guard FLW College Fishing bass tournament won with weight of 29 pounds, 13 ounces

The Tarleton State University team of John Anderson and Tanner Morgan, both of Stephenville, Texas, won the inaugural National Guard FLW College Fishing Texas Division tournament on Falcon Lake with a five-bass catch weighing 29 pounds, 13 ounces. Photo by Joshua Comley.

January 17, 2009 • MLF • Abu Garcia College Fishing

ZAPATA, Texas – The Tarleton State University team of John Anderson and Tanner Morgan, both of Stephenville, Texas, won the inaugural National Guard FLW College Fishing Texas Division tournament on Falcon Lake Saturday with a five-bass catch weighing 29 pounds, 13 ounces. The victory earned the team a $5,000 college scholarship as well as a $5,000 club college scholarship.

“We knew that the morning bite was pretty crucial to catch some big fish,” Anderson said. “We were originally going to go down toward the dam. We had a spot where we could put six fish in the boat real fast, but they would only be six fish for 12 pounds.

“Instead, we started on our big-fish spot and right off the bat started catching fish,” the 19-year-old junior added.

Anderson said after catching a 3- and 4-pound fish, the size improved and the team boated a 6-pounder and a fish he estimated at 10 pounds.

Anderson said the team targeted fish feeding up and down banks under cloud cover early in the day, but when the sun appeared from behind clouds around noon, the fish moved to deeper brush piles and became easier to catch. Anderson said he and Morgan used 3/8-ounce and 1/2-ounce Texas-rigged watermelon creature baits and watermelon-colored Lake Fork Tackle Hyper Freaks to catch their fish. Anderson said the team caught 15 to 20 fish throughout the course of the day.

“All of our fish were just solid keepers,” Anderson said. “Falcon Lake is unreal. It’s without a doubt the best bass fishery in Texas, if not the country. The fish are big, they’re mean and they’re fun to catch.

“It was a real honor to win the first FLW College Fishing event,” Anderson added.

Rounding out the top five teams are University of Louisiana – Cody McCrary of Baton Rouge, La., and Neil Arnaud of Carenco, La. (six bass, 25-5, $2,500 college scholarship, $2,500 club college scholarship); Lamar University – Matt Morrison of Silsbee, Texas, and Danny Iles of Hemphill, Texas (six bass, 24-6, $2,000 college scholarship, $2,000 club college scholarship); University of Texas – Bobby Frey of Cedar Park, Texas, and Bill Waldschmidt of Austin, Texas (six bass, 22-10, $1,500 college scholarship, $1,500 club college scholarship); LSU – Joel Jackson of Baton Rouge, La., and Logan Mount of Leesville, La. (six bass, 21-13, $1,000 college scholarship, $1,000 club college scholarship).

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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 the 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 in each division 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 will have an opportunity to win $10,000 for first and $2,000 through fifth place. The prize money will be split evenly between the winning team’s club and the school they represent. The tournaments are free to enter, boats and drivers will be provided and all collegiate teams will receive a travel allowance. The top five teams in each of the qualifying events will advance to one of five televised three-day FLW National Guard Regional Championships.

Each school represented in a televised Regional Championship will have team shirts and boats provided by Ranger. The purse for each Regional Championship will be 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 will also extend through fifth place for the club and school to split evenly.

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

The winning team will be declared the FLW National Guard Collegiate National Champion and will qualify for the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup presented by BP and Castrol in 2010. The winners will also receive use of a wrapped boat and Chevy truck for the Forrest Wood Cup.

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, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.

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.