Adrian College Wins Fourth-Annual YETI FLW College Fishing Open on Kentucky/Barkley Lakes

Chase Serafin, Cody Batterson Photo by Matt Pace.

March 7, 2018 • FLW Communications • Abu Garcia College Fishing

GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. – The Adrian College team of Chase Serafin of Highland, Michigan, and Cody Batterson, of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, won the fourth-annual YETI FLW College Fishing Open on Kentucky and Barkley lakes Wednesday with a two-day cumulative total of 10 bass weighing 50 pounds, 3 ounces. The victory earned the duo a $27,000 prize package, including a new Ranger Z175 boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude outboard, and a slot in the 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship.

The team said they spent the majority of the event fishing three main creeks, just north of Blood River. Serafin said they expected to target bass in bushes, but as temperatures fell their bass began to move toward deeper water.

“When we got down here on Friday, the weather was sunny and the water temps were in the high 50s, so we figured they’d be in the bushes,” said Serafin, a junior majoring in Business Marketing. “But as the week went on, there were some cold nights and the water temperatures fell to around 55 degrees.

"On Tuesday (Day One) we found that the fish were starting to pull out, so we fished parallel to the bushes, in like 10 to 15 feet,” continued Serafin. “We used (Rapala) DT-6 crankbaits, umbrella rigs and Terminator spinnerbaits and probably had around 23 pounds in 45 minutes.”

By Wednesday, the bass were at the mouths of the creeks on points. Batterson said they primarily used umbrella rigs and spinnerbaits to rack up a final-day limit of 25 pounds, 4 ounces.

“The catches were more scattered today,” said Batterson, a sophomore majoring in marketing. “We actually caught one of our three 6-pounders in the last half-hour of the tournament. We were back near the takeoff marina and decided to fish some riprap and got it on an umbrella rig. It was unbelievable – this whole week was unbelievable.”

Based on the total of 216 boats that entered, a total of 21 teams qualified for the 2019 College Fishing National Championship. The 21 teams that advanced were:

1^st: Adrian College – Chase Serafin, Highland, Michigan, and Cody Batterson, Pleasant Hill, Iowa, 10 bass, 50-3

2^nd: East Texas Baptist University – Jacob Sanders, Jacksonville, Fla., and Chad Poulsen, Bossier City, La., 10 bass, 42-13

3^rd: Bethel University – Garrett Enders, Mifflinburg, Pa., and Cody Huff, Ava, Mo., 10 bass, 41-15

4^th: Adrian College – Jack Hippe III, Davison, Mich., and Nicholas Czajka, Brighton, Mich., 10 bass, 41-5

5^th: University of North Alabama – Luke Mason, Florence, Ala., and Garett Marler, Olive Branch, Miss., 10 bass, 40-8

6^th: Adrian College – Alex Henderson, Mooresville, Ind., and John Franko, Clare, Mich., 10 bass, 39-12

7^th: Murray State University – Harbor Lovin, Fayetteville, Ohio, and Evan Bramhill, Northborough, Mass., 10 bass, 39-8

8^th: Bethel University – Hunter Louden, Springville, Tenn., and Seth Roberts, Jacksboro, Tenn., nine bass, 38-12

9^th: Campbellsville University – Dakota Cantrell, Decherd, Tenn., and Austin Moore, Smiths Grove, Ky., 10 bass, 36-1

10^th: Bethel University – Dakota Pierce, Ava, Mo., and Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, nine bass, 33-7

11^th: Iowa State University – Dylan Rague and Pat Morrison, both of Ames, Iowa, eight bass, 32-11

12^th: Slippery Rock University – Nathan Quince, Imperial, Pa., and Samuel Jenesky, Pittsburgh, Pa., nine bass, 29-7

13^th: Murray State University – Boris Moskoff, Murray, Ky., and Tyler Jennings, Metropolis, Ill., eight bass, 26-11

14^th: Virginia Tech – Tyler Dixon, Abingdon, Va., and Robert Pryer, Reidsville, Va., seven bass, 26-7

15^th: University of Pittsburg – Dominic Vitale, Shickshinny, Pa., and Henry Colberg, Pittsburgh, Pa., eight bass, 26-2

16^th: Murray State University – Mitchell Fort and Austin Gruner, both of Murray, Ky., six bass, 25-1

17^th: Saint Cloud State University – Chizta Xiong, Nowthen, Minn., and Jaret Baker, Grand Marais, Minn., seven bass, 25-0

18^th: Murray State University – Adam Puckett and Blake Albertson, both of Bloomington, Ind., seven bass, 24-15

19^th: Murray State University – Michael Lowry and Brian Koch, both of Murray Ky., nine bass, 24-10

20^th: Campbellsville University – Travis Hunt, Campbellsville, Ky., and Trevor Sagrecy, Springfield, Ky., six bass, 24-7

21st: Bethel University – Brad Ableman, Latham, N.Y. and Kristopher Queen, Catawba, N.C., six bass, 23-15

Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.

The YETI FLW College Fishing Open on Kentucky and Barkley lakes was hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau. The next event for FLW collegiate anglers will be a Southern Conference tournament scheduled for April 7 on Lake Texoma in Denison, Texas.

YETI FLW College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top ten teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open will advance to the 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship. Additional teams will qualify for the National Championship if the field size in regular-season events exceeds 100 boats.

The 2018 FLW College Fishing National Championship will take place May 30-June 1 on the Red River in Shreveport, Louisiana, and is hosted by the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission & Red River Waterway Commission.

YETI FLW 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 college fishing club that is recognized by their school.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow YETI FLW College Fishing on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat.

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 2018 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct 286 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa and Spain. 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 Snapchat.

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