1:23 p.m.

The first round of the FLW College Fishing National Championship is waning, and the 25 two-man teams are working their way back toward the take-out ramp at Knoxville. Who’s ahead? We’ll find out at 4 p.m. or thereabouts when the opening weigh-in starts on the campus of the University of Tennessee.

Though a few boats report good sacks of bass, Fort Loudoun Lake hasn’t been altogether kind to everyone. The team from Eastern Kentucky University, for example, caught more than three dozen bass by mid-afternoon, but only a couple of them were keepers. Ditto for the University of Oregon, which hauled in enough small fries to stock a good-size pond.

Although it’s anybody’s game now, Auburn, Ohio State and Texas State seem to be emerging as the early favorites. A member of the Texas State team from San Marcos boated a 5-pounder and it was the largest reported. Those guys were culling by 1 p.m., as was the Auburn team of Shaye Baker and David Parker. Of course, many of the boats are out of range or just keeping mum about their catches. All will be revealed starting at 4, and set up the competition heading into the next two days.

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10:30 a.m.

The action has slowed in the FLW College Fishing National Championship. We’re with the Hampton Sydney College team and the guys are fishing docks. It’s slow going so far. The Ohio State team came out strong and had about 9 pounds in the boat within an hour or so. But now they’ve gone quiet. I’m sharing a boat with Nick Tate and Phillip Hopper of the host University of Tennesse team. Fort Loudon Lake, where the tourney I taking place, is their home waters and they wish they were competing instead of just watching. I told them that the home water advantage wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be.