National Guard College Fishing Northern Conference sets sights on Ohio River
Third stop of Northern Conference set for August 5
LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. – National Guard FLW College Fishing is headed to the Ohio River/Tanners Creek Aug. 5 for the third of four stops in the Northern Conference. Forty college teams will be competing for a top award of $5,000 and a berth in the Northern Conference Championship tournament.
“Fishing on the Ohio River this time of year is always tough,” said Fatheadz pro Jacob Wheeler of Indianapolis, Ind. “There hasn’t been a lot of rain this year, and there is little to no current, which means the fish will not be positioned, they will be roaming. Anglers are going to have to stay focused. They’ll only be fishing for a couple of bites, so every bite is going to count.
“There are really only two options,” continued Wheeler. “Fish the main river and hit as many spots as you can looking for high-percentage areas such as mouths of creeks, laydowns and rock walls or fish the creeks. Tanners Creek and Hogan’s Creek will probably play a big role in this tournament. A lot of fish live up in the creeks.
“Baits to use would be crankbaits, crawdads in brown and green and finesse spinnerbaits. I expect the winning weight to be about 9 or 10 pounds.”
Anglers will take off from Lawrenceburg City Boat Ramp located on Highway 50 in Lawrenceburg, Ind., at 6 a.m. Sunday. Weigh-in will be at the marina beginning at 12:30 p.m. Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.
Schools competing in the Ohio River/Tanners Creek tournament include:
Bowling Green State University – Kevin Klensch, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Graham Best, Beaver Creek, Ohio
Central Michigan – Sheldon Miller, Frankenmuth, Mich., and Brandon Carman, Barryton, Mich.
Christopher Newport – Charlie Hill, Ashburn, Va., and Derek Berhalter, Farnham, Va.
College Misericordia – William Hazlett and Matt Garnjost, both of Allentown, Pa.
Fairmont State University – Ryan Radcliff, Parkersburg, W. Va., and Wil Dieffenbauch, Hundred, W. Va.
Glenville State College – Brandon Abbott, Gandeeville, W. Va., and Nick Lambert, Oceana, W. Va.
Grand Valley State – Scott Taege, Algonquin, Ill., and Matt Smartt, St. Clair Shores, Mich.
Hampden-Sydney College – Allen Luck, Richmond, Va., and Charles Parrish, Hampden Sydney, Va.
Kent State University – Josh Schlifer, Freedom, Pa., and Joshua Coe, East Liverpool, Ohio
La Roche College – Jonathan Coholich, Allison Park, Pa., and Richard Smith, Cheswick, Pa.
Liberty University – Chris Parent, Hermon, Maine, and Aaron Guimond, Lynchburg, Va.
Mansfield University – Kyle McKee, Newville, Pa., and Garrett Obrock, Mansfield, Pa.
Messiah College – David Dippold, Royersford, Pa., and Heather Hulstein, Grantham, Pa.
Michigan State University – Thomas Rumpf, Jr., Perrysburg, Ohio, and Luke Baker, Lansing, Mich.
Northwood University – Benjamin Nowak, Midland, Mich., and Travis Riedel, Falmouth, Mich.
Ohio State – Kyle Feucht, Marysville, Ohio, and Tyler Berger, Worthington, Ohio
Ohio University – Dan Burtenshaw, Athens, Ohio, and Victor Colella, West Middlesex, Pa.
Penn State – Seth Baker, State College, Pa., and William Fennell, Ligonier, Pa.
Radford University – Ryan McCarthy, Chantilly, Va., and Steven Jarrells, Radford, Va.
Ramapo College – Bob Rieder, West Milford, N.J., and Colin McNeill, Little Falls, N.J.
Rochester Institute of Technology – Jason Karol, Rochester, N.Y., and Byron Nield, Henrietta, N.Y.
Roanoke College – Reid Mizelle, Chesapeake, Va., and Ryan Anderson, Salem, Va.
Shepherd University – Joseph Lavelle, Alexandria, Va., and Kyle McHenry, Hamilton, Va.
Slippery Rock University – Benjamin Tawney, Stoystown, Pa., and Tyler Branca, Hermitage, Pa.
Springfield College – Daniel Patane, Canastota, N.Y., and Tyler Reid, Dighton, Mass.
State University of New York-Buffalo – Ryan Samland, Grand Island, N.Y., and Tony Piascik, Weedsport, N.Y.
State University of New York-Cortland – Scott Decker, Craryville, N.Y., and Albert Mercado, Wappingers, N.Y.
State University of New York-Plattsburgh – Spencer Oliver, Plattsburgh, N.Y., and Jason Leewe, Obernburg, N.Y.
University of Pennsylvania-Shippensburg – Lance Miller, Greencastle, Pa., and Hunter Chamberlin, Shippensburg, Pa.
University of Akron – Kyle Krug and Brenton Casto, both of Massillon, Ohio
University of Connecticut – Matthew Chouinard, Grafton, Mass., and Grant Cunningham, Unionville, Conn.
University of Dayton – Blake Glockner, Portsmouth, Ohio and Robert Petrick, Imperial, Pa.
Virginia Commonwealth – Austin Stanley, Ashland, Va., and Alexander Miller, Moseley, Va.
Virginia Tech – Sean Havens and Michael Freas, both of Blacksburg, Va.
Vermont Military Institute – Frederick Vilushis, Phenix, Va., and Ryan Dick, Manassas, Va.
Wayne State University – Jonathan Stroud and Andrew Smith, both of Harrison Township, Mich.
West Point – Cadet Justin Hunter and Nick Koop, both of West Point, N.Y.
West Virginia University – Corey Straight, Barrackville, W. Va., and Benjamin Ray, Morgantown, W. Va.
Western Michigan – Justin Schultz, Williamston, Mich., and Chase Sutherland, Battle Creek, Mich.
Xavier University – Ty Styons and Ian Goddard, both of Fairfield, Ohio
Four regular-season qualifying events are held in each conference – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southern and Western. The top five teams from each qualifying tournament will advance to one of five televised three-day National Guard FLW College Fishing Conference Championships, where the first-place team wins a Ranger 177TR bass boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard. The top five teams from each conference championship advance to the national championship.
College Fishing is free to enter and FLW 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.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing. Visit CollegeFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your school.
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