Filling the hours

Central Regional teams looking for consistency on Jordan

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Rallies are good, but catching fish throughout the day makes for a less stressful, more productive outing. That’s the objective for 20 teams fishing day two of the FLW National Guard College Fishing Series Central Regional Championship on Lake Jordan.

UNC Charlotte’s Joe Kinchen and Tyler Teer, who lead the field by over 3 1/2 pounds with 15-3, found fish in the morning and afternoon, but struggled during the midday hours. Elsewhere, Ben Dziwulski and Kevin Beverley of second place NC State University endured a slow morning but caught good fish in the afternoon. (Most other teams reported slower mornings.)

In the fall of the year, morning temperature has a lot to do with how quickly the bite starts. A cold night brought a launch temperature of 34 degrees – about 13 lower than day one. As the rising sun peeked over the Hwy. 54 Bridge, anglers bundled a little heavier today. More guys were rocking the hoodies and face masks, frost coated the deck carpet and everyone could see their breath.

On the upside, another day of cloudless skies means solid sunshine will quickly warm the lake. That will do a couple good things: First, the warmth will get the baitfish moving and bass will respond to this activity. Moreover, high sun positions bass tight to structure, so anglers can pinpoint their fish better. Find a spot with lots of shad sticking close to a good piece of structure and it’s game on.

Day one saw a tough bite with just five team limits (six fish) and only eight teams catching 8 pounds or more. With such challenging conditions, it’s not surprise that those who found fish would admit to little more than the fact that they caught them in the water. Kinchen and Teer said they’re fishing baits that are atypical for this time of year. They’re pretty certain no one else is doing what they’re doing, but they realize they need to back up their day one performance with another strong sack.

“We get our best bites in the early morning,” Kinchen said. “We get two or three right off the bat, but then we’re waiting all day, until like 12:30 – that’s when we get the rest of our bites. We’re getting quality bites. They don’t come around that much, but we’re getting them when we need them.

“We have two patterns. One’s in the early morning and the other’s in the afternoon once the sun starts heating the water up. We have to move around and adjust, but hopefully in that in-between time we can catch some fish today. That will take take some pressure off of us. I hope our patterns hold up and if they do we’ll be taking home the gold. But if they don’t, it will be challenge for us to bring in the weight we had today.”

Teer adds this: “The quality is there and except for being a few degrees cooler (today), conditions will be about the same so we should be alright doing the same thing.”

Dziwulski said he and Beverley are fishing particular types of structure that are holding quality fish. “Our spots are very, very specific and you can’t find them unless you spend a lot of time on the water. We didn’t have any boats fishing anywhere near us (on day one).

“I’d be upset if we didn’t weigh in at least what we had (on day one). I think our fish are still there.

One of the keys for today’s competition will be finding schools of baitfish, specifically shad. That’s not too hard to do, but as Dziwulski said, “This time of year, if you’re not fishing around (the bait), you’re not going to catch fish.”

Tournament logistics

The top five FLW College Fishing teams from each of the four regular-season Northern Division tournaments gained automatic entry into the 2010 Northern Regional Championship at North Carolina State University. During the three-day regional event, 20 two-man collegiate angling teams will compete for a top award of $50,000 to be split evenly between the school and its bass fishing club.

The top five teams from each regional championship, 25 total teams, will advance to the National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship that will be hosted by Murray State University on Kentucky Lake, April 7-9. The National Championship is a three-day televised event. Teams will be provided jerseys and wrapped Ranger boats towed by Chevy trucks for this competition. The first-place team will win $100,000 with $50,000 of that for their school and $25,000 cash and a Ranger 177TR bass boat for their fishing club along with a berth in the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup.

FLW Outdoors provides boats and drivers for each competing team along with travel allowances. All participants must be registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or university.

Anglers will take off from Ebenezer Boat Ramp located at 2882 Beaver Creek Road in Apex, N.C., at 7:00 a.m. each morning. Weigh-ins will be held at NC State University – Carter Finley Stadium, Gate E, located at Lot 6000 Trinity Edwards Mill Road in Raleigh, N.C. beginning at 4 p.m. daily. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

The NC State University also is hosting the College Fishing Festival throughout the three day tournament. Students and fishing fans alike will be treated to live music, the National Guard Warrior Challenge, a Ranger Boat simulator, tailgate games, a sports zone along with contests for cash and several prize give-aways. The festival will take place at Carter Finley Stadium 2 – 4 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Saturday.

A National Guard hospitality fishing event will also be held Saturday. Takeoff will be at 8 a.m. at Ebenezer Boat Ramp and weigh-in will be at 1:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.

Thursday’s conditions:

Sunrise: 6:48 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 34 degrees

Expected high temperature: 63 degrees

Water temperature: 60-63 degrees

Wind: from the North at 10 mph

Max. Humidity: 20 percent

Day’s outlook: Sunny