FLW College Fishing Northern Conference readies for final regular-season tournament at Chautauqua Lake
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. (July 15, 2016) – FLW College Fishing is headed to Chautauqua Lake on July 23 for the third and final regular-season bass-fishing tournament in the Northern Conference. A full field of college teams will be competing for a top award of $2,000 and a berth in the FLW College Fishing National Championship.
“I’ve got some great memories fishing at Lake Chautauqua,” said former Christopher Newport University angler Cody Griffey, who along with partner Peter Kenny won the FLW College Fishing event on Lake Chautauqua last season. “It was a very fun tournament to fish and my partner and I won by keying in on a specific area. I think either the grass or fishing docks will be the key patterns this year as well.”
Griffey said that a smallmouth pattern in the deeper, northern end of the lake could play a role but it was something that he and his partner Kenny never had materialize.
“We found an area which had three different types of vegetation – milfoil, coontail and eelgrass. That was the key for us that day, and we caught all of our fish very shallow, 1-foot of water or less.”
“All of our fish that we weighed in last year came on a swimjig,” Griffey continued. “We were rigging it with flukes and paddle-tail swimbaits. I also missed a couple of blowups on a frog, and I think both swimjigs and frogs should be popular baits in this event. I remember that some teams caught some solid limits fishing a Yamamoto Senko as well.
“The winning team will likely weigh in a five-bass limit right around 15 pounds,” Griffey went on to say. “I did miss a big one on the frog last year and that would have put us in the upper teens. The potential for a 20-pound stringer is definitely there.”
Anglers will take off from Long Point State Park, located at 4459 Route 430 in Bemus Point, New York, at 6:30 a.m. EDT Saturday. Weigh-in will be held at the State Park beginning at 2:30 p.m. Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.
Schools are allowed to register up until the morning of the tournament. Entries may be made either by phone or at CollegeFishing.com.
Schools currently registered to compete in the Chautauqua Lake tournament, which is hosted by the Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau, include:
Adrian College – Austin Fralick and Jason Richardson, both of Adrian, Mich.
Adrian College – Chase Serafin, Highland, Mich., and Ben Barrus, Blissfield, Mich.
Adrian College – Jake Hippe III, Davison, Mich., and Brandon Herzberg, Clarklake, Mich.
Kent State University – Zachary Asher, Sunbury, Ohio, and Eric Lamb, Amherst, Ohio
Kent State University – Alec Gabriel, New Philadelphia, Ohio, and Jordan Spiess, Bryan, Ohio
Kent State University – Matthew Holsinger, Massillon, Ohio, and Dante Gramuglia, Middlefield, Ohio
Kent State University – Logan Willoughby, New Philadelphia, Ohio, and Trevor Gillett, Kent, Ohio
Liberty University – Zachary Phillips, New Hartford, Conn., and Mike Healy, Hillsdale, Mich.
Mansfield University – James Grassi, Saxonburg, Pa., and Alec Engleman, Milton, Pa.
Mansfield University – Tyler Grabowski, Fairless Hills, Pa., and Ryan Fluharty, Perkiomenville, Pa.
Michigan State University – Kenny Bennett, Sterling Heights, Mich., and Seth Gibson, Union City, Mich.
Ohio State University – Jay Gramlich, Pickerington, Ohio, and Kyle Waller, Thornville, Ohio
Ohio State University – Michael Whitacre, Hudson, Ohio, and John Belluardo, Peninsula, Ohio
Paul Smith’s College – Taylor West, Lakewood, N.Y., and Jon Herrman, Oneida, N.Y.
Pennsylvania State University – Derek Horner, State College, Pa., and Clayton Frey, York, Pa.
Pennsylvania State University – Louis Mocniak, Washington, Pa., and Joseph Seidita, Covington Township, Pa.
Pennsylvania State University – Sean Cummins, Huntingdon, Pa., and Maurice Hudson, Broomall, Pa.
Ramapo College – Andrew Annuzzi, Old Bridge, N.J., and Marc Concato, Wayne, N.J.
Rochester Institute of Technology – Jacob Zaremski, Rochester, N.Y., and Zach Coutu
Saint Vincent College – Justin Yeckel and Jesse Yeckel, both of South Park, Pa.
Schoolcraft Community College – Anthony Gilmore, Livonia, Mich., and Clayton Hatton, South Lyon, Mich.
Shippensburg University – Dan Cornelius, Downingtown, Pa., and Colton Pifer, Telford, Pa.
Slippery Rock University – Cody Neal, Evans City, Pa., and Kyle Brown, Wexford, Pa.
Slippery Rock University – Evan Kretz, Pittsburgh, Pa., and Joel Hixon, Butler, Pa.
Slippery Rock University – Tyler Sheppard, Hermitage, Pa., and Logan Pollman, Slippery Rock, Pa.
Slippery Rock University – Nathan Quince and Ryan Kozlowski, both of Pittsburgh, Pa.
Stockton University – Kyle Castellini, Vineland, N.J., and Owen MulveyMcFerron, Fairfax, Va.
State University of New York-Brockport – Austin Littler, Camden, N.Y., and Ronald Penders, Rochester, N.Y.
University of Akron – Anthony Villalba, Silver Lake, Ohio, and Robert Webber, Elyria, Ohio
University of Akron – Bradley Mercier, Massillon, Ohio, and Dillon Denny, Wakeman, Ohio
University of Akron – Kevin Arnold and Michael DiRosato, both of Copley, Ohio
University of Maine-Orono – Brian Volkernick, Dixfield, Maine, and Cody Rubner, Acton, Mass.
University of Pittsburgh – Michael Dunn and Henry Colberg, both of Pittsburgh, Pa.
West Chester University of Pennsylvania – Thomas Arena, Carlisle, Pa., and Matt Woolcock, Springville, Pa.
West Virginia University – Kirkland Price, Madison, W.Va., and Bailey Gordon, Morgantown, W.Va.
West Virginia University – Michael Shughart, Shippensburg, Pa., and Branden Newcome, Ellamore, W.Va.
West Virginia University – Steven Slayton, Manassas, Va., and Matthew Combs, Dayton, Ohio
Western Michigan University – Jared Havenaar, Kalamazoo, Mich., and Collin Jump, Farmington Hills, Mich.
Youngstown State University – Stan Miketa, New Middletown, Ohio, and Mario Chance, Youngstown, Ohio
FLW College Fishing teams compete in regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top 10 teams from each regular-season tournament 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.
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 world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2016 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 235 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico and South Korea. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Periscope: @FLWFishing.
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