Final exam
FLW College Fishing Central Regional finalists attempt to land tournament title on Kinkaid Lake
CARBONDALE, Ill. – Well, it hasn’t been easy by any stretch. But as the top five collegiate teams departed the marina shortly after 7 a.m., anglers were hopeful that the past week of intense study and trial by fire on Lake Kinkaid will finally pay huge dividends. With each of the top five teams having already qualified for the 2012 FLW College Fishing National Championship – an amazing accomplishment in its own right – anglers can now set their sights on procuring the other main goal of this event, capturing the FLW College Fishing Central Regional Championship title.
“We’ve qualified for the championship, which was one of our main goals, and now we can focus solely on winning,” said Jimmy Morrow, whose Northwestern squad leads all teams heading into the final day of competition on Kinkaid Lake. “If we don’t win now, we’d be disappointed.”
“Winning this tournament would be huge,” said Morrow’s partner, Matthew Kestufskie. “We hoped we could make the (final) five but we never thought we’d be sitting here in first place on the final day. If we won the title, it’d really be a big deal back on campus. We really want to win.”
However, just like the previous two days of competition, today promises to be another grueling day on the water. With teams struggling all week just to bring in one fish, the Northwestern team – which boasts a total catch of 12 pounds, 14 ounces, nearly 2 pounds more than their next closest competitors – is in the driver’s seat, literally and figuratively.
“We’re finally starting to understand how the fish are behaving,” said Kestufskie. “We spent a lot of time doing research on this lake before we got here and it’s finally paying off.”
“I think we might hit a morning spot real quickly and then go to our primary spot for the rest of the day,” added Morrow. “We don’t want to waste any time today. In the area we’re fishing we don’t catch many short fish at all. All the fish we’re catching are quality bites. And I think if we can catch two keepers today we’ll be in really good shape.”
However, therein lies the rub. All week, anglers have been able to catch fish. That really hasn’t been the issue. They just haven’t been able to catch many fish measuring 16 inches or longer – the legal length required to bring fish to the scales.
Other teams acknowledge the difficulty of making up ground this week on Kinkaid Lake.
“The most important thing is to go out there and get 16-inch bites,” said Jody Derks, whose University of Wisconsin Stevens Point team currently sits in second place overall with a catch of 10 pounds, 6 ounces. “I think the key for us is going to be those first 20 or 30 minutes because that’s when we’ve been catching most of our bigger fish.”
“We’re going to stick with we’ve been doing all week – punching grass mats,” said Kestufskie. “The only thing that makes us nervous is that (that technique) didn’t work out so great yesterday. But it’s kind of too late in the tournament to start switching (tactics) now.”
But no matter what the final outcome, UW Stevens Point team members believe they’ve already accomplished their main objective.
“I want to win this tournament badly,” said Kestufskie. “But I’m just jacked to have qualified for the national championship.”
“Yeah, we’re going to the national championship,” added Derks. “And you can’t ask for more than that.”
While the other three teams in the finals, Indiana University (fifth place), Kansas State University (fourth place) and SIU-Edwardsville (third place), will have a tough task in catching the leaders, it’s not out of the question that they can pull off the upset, even though all three of those squads are more than 5 pounds out of first place.
“Is the pressure off? I don’t know if the pressure is off,” said Ryan Patterson of Kansas State University, who remains the only angler to qualify for the finals fishing solo – the end result of partner scheduling conflict. “I mean, we’re fishing for $50,000.”
Click here for a complete list of results.
Tourney format and event logistics
In today’s competition, the final five Central Regional teams will compete for a top award of $50,000 to be split between the school and bass fishing club; $37,500 for the bass club, which includes $12,500 in cash as well as a Ranger 177TR with a 90 horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard wrapped in school colors, and $12,500 for their school.
Saturday’s final weigh-in will be held at approximately 4:30 p.m., or upon the completion of the SIU-North Dakota State football game. Today’s weigh-in is free and open to the public.
Each of the top five teams from FLW College Central Regional Championship have already earned an automatic berth into the 2012 FLW College Fishing National Championship, which features a first-place award of $100,000; $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.
SIU will again host today’s College Fishing Festival. Students and fishing fans alike will be treated to the National Guard Warrior Challenge, a Ranger Boat simulator, tailgate games, a sports zone along with contests for cash and several prize giveaways. The festival will take place at the SIU Arena from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Bass-fishing fans take note
Coverage of the Central Regional Championship will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS. That episode of “FLW Outdoors” will air Nov. 20 from 1-2 p.m. ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide.
Want to watch Saturday’s FLW College Fishing Central Regional Championship weigh-in live but can’t make it in person? Then tune into FLW Live on FLWOutdoors.com shortly before 4 p.m. Central time to watch live streaming video and audio of today’s weigh in.
Saturday’s conditions
Sunrise: 6:58 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 60 degrees
Expected high temperature: 84 degrees
Water temperature: 68-72 degrees
Wind: SSE at 3-11 mph
Humidity: 51 percent
Day’s outlook: sunny
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