Northeastern State University Wins YETI FLW College Fishing Event on Lake Texoma

The Northeastern University team of Cody Metzger of Wagoner, Oklahoma, and Blayke Haggard of Gans, Oklahoma, won the YETI FLW College Fishing event on Lake Texoma with a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds, 4 ounces. Photo by Kevin Hunt. Anglers: Cody Metzger, Blayke Haggard.

April 9, 2018 • FLW Communications • Abu Garcia College Fishing

DENISON, Texas – The Northeastern State University team of Cody Metzger of Wagoner, Oklahoma, and Blayke Haggard of Gans, Oklahoma, won the YETI FLW College Fishing event on Lake Texoma on Sunday with a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds, 4 ounces. The victory earned the Riverhawk bass club $2,600 and a spot in the 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship.

The duo said that they spent the day targeting smallmouth bass on main-lake points, about 5 to 8 miles away from the takeoff ramp at Highport Marina.

“We were wearing short sleeves in practice, but the temperature dropped to 32 degrees the morning of the tournament,” said Metzger, a senior majoring in criminal justice. “We knew that fishing for largemouth were going to be tough, so we decided to target the smallmouth.”

“We focused on the points where the wind was blowing the hardest, fishing the mid to southeastern areas of the lake,” said Haggard, a sophomore majoring in cellular and molecular biology. “We had five or six points that we rotated through that all looked very similar, fishing in 4 to 10 feet.”

The Riverhawk club cited citrus shad-colored Bandit 200 crankbaits and a prototype Bandit squarebill crankbait as their most productive lures. They said that they caught 10 to 12 keepers.

“I think our timing was really key,” Metzger said. “The key was finding the right spots and then sticking it out to find a couple of good bites. A couple of people were fishing next to us, but they weren’t staying long enough. It had to be at the right time.”

“We had great execution,” Haggard went on to say. “I caught a 4-pounder early, then three casts later Cody put a 3½-pounder in the boat. Those early fish clued us in that we were doing the right thing. It also helped that we didn’t lose any fish, all day.”

The top 10 teams on Lake Texoma that advanced to the 2019 College Fishing National Championship are:

1st: Northeastern State University – Cody Metzger, Wagoner, Okla., and Blayke Haggard, Gans, Okla., five bass, 19-4, $2,400

2nd: Louisiana Tech University – Spencer White and Greg Herman, both of Minden, La., five bass, 18-14, $1,000

3rd: Colorado State University-Pueblo – Danielle Dupont and Austin Miles, both of Pueblo, Colo., five bass, 18-6, $500

4th: University of Louisiana-Monroe – Jacob Andrews, Monroe, La., and Luke O’Neal, Madisonville, La., five bass, 18-0, $500

5th: University of Arkansas – Samuel Meaders, Fayetteville, Ark., and Kyle Jessie, Pearcy, Ark., five bass, 17-15, $500

6th: Northeastern State University – Caleb Gibson and Tyler Winn, both of Tahlequah, Okla., five bass, 17-14

7th: Southern Arkansas University – Drake Vines, El Dorado, Ark., and Reed Barham, Hope, Ark., five bass, 17-10

8th: Oklahoma State University – Rhett Meyer, Stilwell, Okla., and Jake Biram, Tulsa, Okla., five bass, 17-4

9th: Tarleton State University – Hayden Pittman, Bergheim, Texas and Jarrett Robertson, Kerrville, Texas, five bass, 17-3

10th: University of Louisiana-Monroe – Hunter Freeman, Monroe, La., and Wesley Banks, Calhoun, La., five bass, 17-1

Complete results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.

The YETI FLW College Fishing event on Lake Texoma was hosted by the Denison Area Chamber of Commerce, and was the second of three regular-season qualifying tournaments for Southern Conference anglers in 2018. The next YETI FLW College Fishing event takes place April 21, when Northern Division anglers compete at the YETI FLW College Fishing event at Smith Mountain Lake in Bedford, Virginia.

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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