Ramapo College steals the lead at FLW College Fishing Northern Conference Championship

Bolstered by an 8-pound, 13-ounce catch, the Ramapo College team of Jeffrey Voss (left) of Secaucus, N.J., and Joseph Zapf of Whippany, N.J., finished the opening day of competition on Philpott Lake in second place overall. Photo by Gary Mortenson. Anglers: Jeffrey Voss, Joseph Zapf.

September 14, 2012 • MLF • Abu Garcia College Fishing

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – The Ramapo College team of Jeffrey Voss of Secaucus, N.J., and Joseph Zapf of Whippany, N.J., stole the lead from Fairmont State University at the National Guard FLW College Fishing Northern Conference Championship presented by Mercury on Philpott Lake Friday with a five-bass limit weighing 9 pounds, 11 ounces. Their two day total weight of 18 pounds, 8 ounces leads Fairmont State University, their closest competitor, by 1 pound going into the final day of competition. Teams are competing for a Ranger Z117 bass boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and a berth in the National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship.

“We are using a drop-shot in water that is anywhere from 20 to 60 feet deep targeting brush piles,” said Zapf, a senior in accounting. “The key has been fishing slow.

“It’s a great feeling to be in this position, to have a chance to become repeat champions,” Zapf went on to say. “There was a lot of pressure to come down here and do well and now that we are in the top-five we’re in it to win. We’re fishing with a lot of confidence, we put in a lot of practice and we are going to follow the same game plan tomorrow to hopefully bring home a win.”

The team from New Jersey said they came down to Philpott Lake and fished for eight days prior to the lake going off- limits. Attributing their practice time to their success the team feels they have learned the lake well enough and have enough fresh water to fish tomorrow to become back to back Northern Conference Champions.

“We caught what we weighed in 30 minutes,” said Voss, a junior majoring in information systems. “We are seeing most of our fish on graphs and basically dropping the bait right on top of their head. All our bass came off of one main spot, but within that spot there is one tiny `sweet’ spot that all our fish came out of today. We only fished two areas today trying to save a few spots that we haven’t fished yet for tomorrow.”

The top five teams competing tomorrow and also qualifying for the National Championship are:

1st: Ramapo College – Jeffrey Voss, Secaucus, N.J., and Joseph Zapf, Whippany, N.J., 10 bass, 18-8

2nd: Fairmont State University – Ryan Radcliff, Parkersburg, W. Va., and Wil Dieffenbauch, Hundred, W. Va., 10 bass, 17-8

3rd: State University of New York-Plattsburgh – Chris Benninger, Grand Island, N.Y., and Richard Lee, Port Kent, N.Y., 10 bass, 15-13

4th: Virginia Tech – Jody White, Shaftsbury, Vt., and David Bryant, Covington, Va., 10 bass, 14-4

5th: Virginia Tech – Anderew Jackson, Lebanon, Va., and Patrick Snellings, Fredericksburg, Va., 10 bass, 14-0

Anglers will take off from Twin Ridge Recreation Area located at State Road 624, Twin Ridge Marina Road in Henry, Va., at 7 a.m. Saturday morning. Final weigh-in will be at Walmart located at 976 Commonwealth Boulevard, in Martinsville, Va., beginning at 4 p.m. Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.

Fans will be treated to the FLW Expo at Walmart on Saturday from noon-4 p.m. prior to weigh-in. The Expo includes interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by sponsors. Fans can also learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities. All activities are free and open to the public.

Four regular-season qualifying events were held in each conference – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southern and Western – the top five teams from each regular-season event qualified for one of five conference championships. The top five teams from each conference championship advance to the National Guard FLW College Fishing 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.

Coverage of the Northern Conference Championship will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs Dec. 16 from 1-2 p.m. EST. “FLW” is hosted by Jason Harper and is broadcast to more than 559 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.

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.