East Central Wins on the Red
Frog and jig key the win
The East Central University team of Wyatt Smith of Depew, Oklahoma, and Trevor Yates of Norman, Oklahoma, won the FLW College Fishing Southern Conference event on the Red River Saturday with five bass weighing 16 pounds even. The victory earned the club $2,000 and advanced the team to the FLW College Fishing Southern Conference Championship tournament.
“This win is a major step forward for our club,” says Smith, a junior majoring in Environmental Health and Safety. “It’s going to give us more notoriety and hopefully help attract more anglers to the program.”
“We had a pretty tough practice,” says Yates, a freshman majoring in Business Marketing. “But, we were able to find an area in Pool No. 4 that we were confident in so we decided to hit it during the tournament.”
“For a while we were the only ones dissecting the area,” explains Smith. “I caught a decent keeper on a green-pumpkin Gene Larew Biffle Bug around 9:30 a.m. We couldn’t figure out any patterns, so we junk-fished around wood just trying to find more bites.”
Smith says the duo’s primary baits were a black SPRO Bronzeye Frog and a black and blue V&M Jig with a craw trailer.
“I think we won because we fished slower,” Yates speculates. “We knew the fish were going to be finicky because of the cold front that came in last weekend. We also chose to throw a frog in the muddy water, which is unconventional.”
The top 15 teams that advanced to the Southern Conference Championship tournament on Grand Lake are:
1. East Central University – Wyatt Smith and Trevor Yates – 16-0 (5) – $2,000 Club Scholarship
2. Dallas Baptist University – Jacob Sepeda and Chase Winston – 14-13 (5) – $1,000 Club Scholarship
3. Nicholls State University – Jess Robertson and Tyler Rivet – 13-1 (5) – $500 Club Scholarship
4. Texas Christian University – Brogan Cooper and Joseph Sanderson – 12-13 (5) – $500 Club Scholarship
5. Tarleton State University – Dakota Ebare and Jacob Beyer – 12-11 (5) – $500 College Club Scholarship
6. University of Arkansas – Chaz Miller and Travis Harriman – 12-5 (5)
7. Dallas Baptist University – Trent Newman and Nathan Wood – 12-3 (5)
8. Nicholls State University – John Authement and Wesley Landry – 12-3 (5)
9. Stephen F. Austin University – Robert Tweed and Tyler Woods – 11-12 (5)
10. Texas A&M University – Evan Cook and Brennan Fertig – 11-6 (5)
11. Northwestern State University – Justin Cooper and John Ledet – 11-6 (5)
12. Northwestern State University – Robert LaFitte and Bailey Walker – 11-3 (5)
13. Stephen F. Austin University – John-Michael Brattlof and Zachary Thames – 11-1 (5)
14. University of Oklahoma – Charles Vang and Landon Dixon – 10-15 (5)
15. University of Louisiana-Monroe – Brian Eaton and Tyler Craig – 10-12 (5)
This FLW College Fishing Southern Conference event was the third and final regular-season qualifying tournament. The next event for Southern Conference anglers is the Southern Conference Championship, scheduled for Oct. 17-18 on Grand Lake in Grove, Oklahoma.
FLW College Fishing teams compete in qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top fifteen teams from each regular-season tournament will qualify for one of five Conference Championship tournaments. The top ten teams from each of the five Conference Championship tournaments will advance to the 2016 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
College Fishing is free to enter. All participants must be registered, full-time students at a college, university or community college and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or university.
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