ANGELO STATE LEADS FLW COLLEGE FISHING SOUTHERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP

Ethan George and Josh Seale of Angelo State brought a 16-pound bag in on day two to capture the lead of the National Guard FLW College Fishing Southern Conference Championship. Photo by Kyle Wood. Anglers: Josh Seale, Ethan George.

October 5, 2012 • MLF • Abu Garcia College Fishing

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The weather turned cool and overcast Friday for the second day of the National Guard FLW College Fishing Southern Conference Championship on Lake Dardanelle. Teams adapted to the changing conditions, however, and the Angelo State team of Ethan George of Breckenridge, Texas, and Josh Seale of San Angelo, Texas, weighed in five bass for 16 pounds even to stand atop the leaderboard with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 28 pounds, 8 ounces. They lead Stephen F. Austin, their closest competitor, by a slim 3 ounces going into the final day of competition. Twenty college teams from around the region are participating in the tournament and 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.

“Today started out fast like every other day,” said George. “We got out there and went straight to our spot. We were the last boat to take off and probably the first boat to start fishing. We were fishing at 7:05 and we had a limit in the boat at 8:00. We didn’t cull a fish after that. The first five were the fish that we weighed.”

Seale said the team caught a total of 10 fish during the course of the day fishing their primary spot. He added the team isn’t catching a large number of bass. Instead, they’re focusing on catching a solid limit and allowing the fish to replenish for the next day of the tournament. Seale said that one area is the only spot the team is targeting.

“We’re allowed five rods apiece, and we’ve both got four swimbait rods,” George said. “We’re pretty much never putting that swimbait rod down all day long, and we’re throwing it shallow – 6 inches to 2 feet of water.”

George said changing weather in the tournament will make it hard to predict how the fish will react on the final day of competition.

“We’ll just have to see,” he said. “It could push them up and get them hungry so they’ll feed, or it could push them down and make them hunker up and not do anything.”

“All we can do is go out there and fish our fish,” Seale added. “We’ve already qualified for the national championship. We’re just thankful to be in this position. We don’t have anywhere to run. We know we have fish located, and if they are there, great, and if not, we did our best.”

The top five teams fishing Saturday, who also qualified for the FLW College Fishing National Championship are:

1st: Angelo State – Ethan George, Breckenridge, Texas, and Josh Seale, San Angelo, Texas, 10 bass, 28-8

2nd: Stephen F. Austin – Kyle Turner, Tyler, Texas, and Robert Platt, Kennedale, Texas, 10 bass, 28-5

3rd: Lamar University – Danny Iles, Evadale, Texas, and Justin Royal, Hemphill, Texas, nine bass, 28-1

4th: University of Louisiana-Monroe – Paul Clark, Pineville, La., and Brett Preuett, Monroe, La., nine bass, 27-7

5th: LSU-Shreveport – Joseph Landry, Haughton, La., and Gavin Havard, West Monroe, La., 10 bass, 26-13

For complete results visit CollegeFishing.com.

Anglers will take off from Lake Dardanelle State Park located at 100 State Park Drive in Russellville, Ark., at 7 a.m. Saturday morning. The final weigh-in will be at Walmart located at 2409 E. Main St. in Russellville beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday. 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-ins. The Expo includes Ranger boat simulators, 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 Southern Conference Championship will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs Dec. 30 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.

About FLW

FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing unparalleled fishing resources and entertainment to our sponsors, fans and host communities. FLW is offering anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2012 over the course of 191 tournaments across five tournament circuits, each providing an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW is committed to providing a lifestyle experience that is the “Best in Fishing, On and Off the Water,” through a variety of platforms including tournaments, outdoor expos and the world’s richest fantasy sports game – FLW Fantasy Fishing. For more information about FLW and FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FLWOutdoors.com or FantasyFishing.com and look for FLW on Twitter and Facebook.