LSU wins College Fishing Southern Conference event on Toledo Bend

Richard Murdock and Beau Hadskey used chatterbaits and jigs to earn first place for LSU. Photo by David A. Brown. Anglers: Richard Murdock, Beau Hadskey.

February 16, 2013 • MLF • Abu Garcia College Fishing

HEMPHILL, Texas – The LSU team of Richard Murdock of Lawrenceville, Ga., and Beau Hadskey of Baton Rouge, La., won the FLW College Fishing Southern Conference event on Toledo Bend Reservoir Saturday with five bass weighing 20 pounds, 13 ounces. The victory earned the club $2,000 and advanced the team to the FLW College Fishing Southern Conference Invitational tournament.

“Last weekend my partner and I had some really good pre-fishing action going,” said Hadskey, a petroleum engineering major. “We were fishing up north and catching them pretty good. But today there were waves out there that were four-feet tall. We chose to stay down on the south end of the lake where it was calmer and ended up doing all of our fishing between Mill Creek Bay and Six Mile Bay.

“We caught all of our fish in six-feet of water or less today,” Hadskey continued. “It wasn’t necessarily a grass bite, but we were mainly focusing on the side of points. It really didn’t matter where we were on the lake. We were catching them in the main lake and back in the coves. The key to our success was fishing the shallow areas along the sides of points. We didn’t catch many fish out on the points themselves, but once we got along the sides, we started getting bites.

“We were swimming a jig and using a lipless crankbait,” Hadskey went on to say. “We looked for water that was a little bit colored because we weren’t getting as many bites in the clear water. The main baits that were producing for us were brightly colored chartreuse and crawfish patterns.”

This is Hadskey’s first brush with FLW College Fishing success. His partner, Richard Murdock, a natural resources ecology management major, is a little more experienced. He has been fishing with FLW College Fishing since 2011 and competed in the National Championship last year at Lake Murray and placed 16th.

The top 15 teams that advanced to the Southern Conference Invitational tournament are:

1st: LSU – Richard Murdock, Lawrenceville, Ga., and Beau Hadskey, Baton Rouge, La. (five bass, 20-13, $2,000)

2nd: Hardin-Simmons University – Randy Sullivan, Woodson, Texas, and Hubbell Allen, Graham, Texas (five bass, 16-11, $1,000)

3rd: Stephen F. Austin – Robert “Blaze” Platt, Kennedale, Texas, and Kyle Turner, Tyler, Texas (five bass, 15-1, $500)

4th: McNeese State University – Ty Griffin, Lake Charles, La., and Andrew Gary, Iowa, La. (five bass, 14-8, $500)

5th: LSU – Brett Matherne, Westwego, La., and Logan Mount, Leesville, La. (five bass, 12-13, $500)

6th: U. of Louisiana-Monroe – Blake Alford, West Monroe, La., and Paul Clark, Monroe, La. (five bass, 12-10)

7th: Stephen F. Austin – Jordan Grimm, West, Texas, and Jordan Lane, North Richland Hills, Texas (five bass, 12-3)

8th: Arkansas Tech University – Ryan Dorsett, Woodlawn, Ark., and Evan Barnes, Russelville, Ark. (five bass, 12-1)

9th: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi – Jacob Heath and Kennedy Schwartzburg, both of Corpus Christi, Texas (five bass, 10-13)

10th: University of North Texas – Michael Worley Bedford, Texas, and Branden Barnett, Denton, Texas (five bass, 10-9)

11th: McNeese State University – Quinton Trammel, Lake Charles, La., and Colt Reeves, Singer, La. (two bass, 10-2)

12th: Texas Christian University – Joseph Sanderson, Fort Worth, Texas, and Guillermo Gonzalez, Miami, Fla. (four bass, 9-2)

13th: Oral Roberts University – Zach Vankeulen, Overland Park, Kan., and Jonathan Williamson, Rocky Point, N.C. (five bass, 8-13)

14th: Louisiana Tech University – Matthew Loetscher, Many, La., and Caleb Boudre, Doyline, La. (four bass, 7-10)

15th: Texas A&M-Galveston – Noah Blackmon, Gladewater, Texas, and Roy Buxton, Dickinson, Texas (four bass, 6-13)

Complete results can be found at CollegeFishing.com.

Three regular-season qualifying events are held in each conference – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Texas and Western. The top 15 teams from each qualifying tournament will advance to one of five two-day FLW College Fishing Conference Invitational tournaments, where the first-place team wins $4,000 for their club. The top 10 teams from each Conference Invitational advance to the 2014 FLW College Fishing National Championship.

College Fishing is free to enter. 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 FLW College Southern Conference qualifying tournament is scheduled for Sept. 22 at Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Ark., and is hosted by the Hot Springs Convention & Visitors Bureau.

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.