Gipson-Wercinski rock the house at Monroe
University of Florida continues to dominate at Southeast Regional
ORLANDO, Fla. – Jake Gipson and Matthew Wercinski could have slept in this morning, never went fishing today and they still would have held the lead in the National Guard College Fishing Southeast Championship on Lake Monroe today.
Of course their competition could not have been so lucky, though. The University of Florida team went out and sacked up the largest catch of the day for the second day in row. Though their weight did fall from the astounding 21 pounds, 5 ounces they reeled in yesterday, the red-hot Gipson once again came through with another giant bass in the 7-pound range to help the Gator team come in with 11-6 today for a two-day total of 32-11.
In two days of fishing the duo has now caught more than their overall winning weight when they took victory in this same event last year.
“We had the bites to have another big catch today, but only caught four,” Gipson said. “We had a lot of short-strikes, they would grab the bait, pull on it and spit it right back out before we could even think about setting the hook. Tomorrow we are going to try to remedy that with some other lures.”
Gipson contends that he and Wercinski are “traditional Florida fishing” with soft plastics.
As for tomorrow, the team is considering a gamble.
“I don’t have much saved for tomorrow, but I do have one spot that produced a big fish in practice that I have not been to yet,” Gipson added. “The only problem is it’s a big time investment to get there. Maybe if we get a couple in the box early and we’re feeling comfortable, we’ll take that gamble.”
Croyle-Gates second
Dennis Croyle and Travis Gates continued the Gator’s orange and blue parade in the top five on day two with a three-bass catch for 5 pounds, ounces. They are now in second place with a two-day total of 20 pounds, 10 ounces.
“We only got three bites today and we capitalized on all three,” Croyle said. “I think we probably caught too many from our best areas yesterday and now there’s not much left. We’re doing some of the typical Florida stuff: frogging, flipping and speedworming and it seems like once you catch fish or two out of an area that’s it, you might as well go somewhere else.”
Speaking of somewhere else, the second place team is going all in tomorrow.
“This has kind of been our plan all along,” Croyle said. “We wanted to qualify (for Nationals) and now that we’ve done that, we’re making a long run tomorrow and staying put in one area, doing one thing. We’ll have nothing but flipping sticks and 80-pound test braid in hand looking for the big ones.”
Auburn moves to third
Despite a tough fishing day on many teams, Shaye Baker and Jordan Lee from Auburn University brought in the only team limit today, six fish weighing 10 pounds, 14 ounces.
The catch shot them up into third place with a two-day total of 18 pounds, 6 ounces, giving them another berth in the College Fishing Nationals.
Interestingly, Baker and Lee are fishing floating worms – Net Bait T-Mac worms – in clear water to catch their bass.
“Where we’re fishing is beautiful,” Baker said. “The water is clear and cool and you can see fish every where – mullet, shiners, bass – it’s like fishing in an aquarium. But the only problem is you get to see how many fish come out, look at the worm, but don’t bite it.”
Kennesaw State University grabs fourth
Jake Akin and Thomas Frink of Kennesaw State University brought three fish to the scales weighing 3 pounds, 15 ounces, holding them in the top five and qualifying them for Nationals.
The team is now in fourth place with a two-day total of 18 pounds, 5 ounces.
Akin-Frink have been applying their Coosa River fishing experience on the St. Johns River, flipping and worming wood and trees.
“We’ve been flipping a Zoom Speed Craw,” Frink said. “In practice we were flipping with braid, but during the tournament we switched to 22-pound test Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon and I think that helped us get a few more bites yesterday.”
UCF represents at home
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Grabbing the fifth and final qualifying spot was none other than Len Gordon and Miles “Sonar” Burghoff of the hometown host University, UCF.
Gordon and Burghoff relied on schooling fish in the river today to catch four bass for 6 pounds, 7 ounces to move them into fifth place with a two-day total of 16 pounds, 3 ounces.
The final day of the National Guard College Fishing Southeast Regional will begin Saturday morning at 8:30 from Monroe Harbor in Sanford, Fla.