The top-five team finishers at the National Guard FLW College Fishing Northern Division event at Smith Mountain acknowledge the crowd shortly after final weigh-in. Photo by Diana Hunt.

March 27, 2011 • MLF • Abu Garcia College Fishing

HUDDLESTON, Va. – The Hampden-Sydney team of Dylan Bishop and Allen Luck won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Northern Division event on Smith Mountain Lake Saturday with five bass weighing 16 pounds. The victory earned the team $10,000 to be split between the university and the university’s bass fishing club – $7,500 for the bass club and $2,500 for their school. The win also helped them advance to the Northern Division Regional Championship.

“It was rough out there today, cold, rainy, windy, but we stayed with it and fished tough all day and things worked out for us,” said Bishop, a sophomore philosophy major. “All our fish came off rocky banks in 10 feet of water or less. We were using various colors of Rapala Shad Raps and were lucky enough to find a pattern early that worked for us and just stayed persistent all day long.

“Allen and I grew-up together, but this was the first tournament that I have ever fished with him and the first time I have ever been on this lake,” added Bishop.

Rounding out the top five teams and also advancing to the Northern Regional Championship are:

2nd: Wake Forest University – Ryan Casey and John Thomas, (five bass, 13-10, $3,000)

3rd: University of North Carolina, Wilmington – Joshua Dipaulo and Jacob Kupselaitis, (four bass, 13-7, $2,000)

4th: Virginia Tech – Carson Rejzer and Andrew Blevins, (five bass, 13-5, $2,000)

5th: Ramapo College – Charles Danza and Bob Rieder, (five bass, 13-1, $2,000)

The top five teams from each tournament qualify for the regional championship where the first-place team will win $12,500 cash for their school and $12,500 cash and a Ranger 177TR bass boat with a 90 horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard wrapped in school colors for their fishing club. The top five teams from each regional tournament advance to the national championship where the first-place team will win $25,000 for their school and $50,000 cash and a Ranger 177TR bass boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard wrapped in school colors for their fishing club.

College Fishing is free to enter and 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.

The next National Guard FLW College Northern Division tournament is scheduled for June 25 at Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh, N.Y. and is hosted by the City of Plattsburgh.

About FLW Outdoors

FLW Outdoors is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world offering anglers worldwide the opportunity to compete for millions over the course of 191 tournaments in 2011. FLW Outdoors has taken fishing mainstream with the world’s richest fantasy sports game, FLW Fantasy Fishing presented by Straight Talk, where competitors can play for free as well as sign up for Player’s Advantage to gain an edge. For more information about FLW Outdoors and FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FLWOutdoors.com or FantasyFishing.com.