Murray State University wins National Guard FLW College Fishing event on Lake of the Ozarks

Team nets $10,000 in scholarships

The top five teams at the National Guard FLW College Fishing event at Lake of the Ozarks acknowledge the crowd shortly after final weigh-in.

October 3, 2009 • MLF • Abu Garcia College Fishing

OSAGE BEACH, Mo. – The Murray State University team of Kalem Tippett of Hanson, Ky., and Steve Miller of Murray, Ky., won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Central Division event on Lake of the Ozarks Saturday with five bass weighing 17 pounds, 5 ounces. The victory earned the team $10,000 to be split evenly between the university and the university’s bass-fishing club.

“We came down last weekend and found some fish that we were pretty sure that nobody else was on,” Tippett said. “We weren’t getting that many bites, but the bites we were getting were good ones. We were fortunate enough to get five of them to bite today.”

Tippett said he and Miller caught 12 short fish along with the five keepers on chartreuse and white chatter-type baits and chartreuse square-bill crankbaits. The pair targeted shallow fish 2 to 5 feet deep with the baits.

“We caught a couple early, but the majority of our fish came around 9:30 or 10 a.m. when the sun warmed everything up a little bit,” Tippett said.

“We came down here just to qualifying for the regional,” Miller said. “Winning it is just icing on the cake.”

The Central Regional Championship will be held on Kentucky/Barkley Lakes Oct. 31 to Nov. 2.

“We’re very excited,” Miller said. “I don’t much about home-field advantage in fishing tournaments if there is one, but I’m hoping we have it.”

Rounding out the top five teams were SIU – Richard Dunham of Carbondale, Ill., and Travis Gould of Vandalia, Ill., (five bass, 11-0, $5,000); Eastern Kentucky – Jonas Ertel of London, Ky., and Andrew Luxon of Richmond, Ky., (four bass, 10-10, $4,000); Indiana University – Steven Bressler of Fremont, Ind., and Tyler Zschiedrich of Seymour, Ind., (four bass, 9-12, $3,000); University of Iowa – Tyler Mehrl of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Bob Downey of Iowa City, Iowa (five bass, 9-5, $2,000).

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 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 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 has the opportunity to win $10,000 for first and $2,000 through fifth place. Prize money is split evenly between the winning team’s club and the school they represent. The tournaments are free to enter, boats and drivers are provided and all collegiate teams receive a travel allowance. The top five teams in each qualifying event advance to one of five televised three-day National Guard FLW College Fishing 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 includes 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 also extend through fifth place for the club and school to split evenly.

The National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship is a three-day televised event hosting the top five teams from each regional, 25 total teams. Teams will be provided shirts and wrapped Ranger boats towed by Chevy trucks for this competition. The purse for the championship ranges from $25,000 cash and a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard wrapped in school colors for the winning club 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 National Guard FLW Collegiate National Champion and will qualify for the 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 has taken fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports. Sign up for Player’s Advantage to get your edge and win.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.