The Tarleton State University team of John Anderson and Tanner Morgan, both of Stephenville, Texas, won the inaugural National Guard FLW College Fishing Texas Division tournament on Falcon Lake with a five-bass catch weighing 29 pounds, 13 ounces. Photo by Joshua Comley.

January 7, 2010 • Patrick Baker • Abu Garcia College Fishing

(Editor’s note: Leading up to the inaugural National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship, which will be held at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., April 10-12, CollegeFishing.com will post semiweekly feature stories highlighting the 25 teams that qualified. At stake in the tournament is a prize package of $100,000 and a chance to compete in the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup.)

Name: Tanner Morgan (pictured at left)

Class: senior

Major: Wildlife Management

Hometown: Stephenville, Texas

Other interests: hunting, saltwater fishing (sharks and redfish)

Name: John Anderson (pictured at right)

Class: junior

Major: Agriculture Service and Development

Hometown: Tom Bean, Texas

Other interests: motocross racing, hunting, camping

School Web site: Tarleton.edu

Q&A

CollegeFishing.com: How were you introduced to fishing?

Morgan: My dad introduced me to fishing. I started down on the coast, fishing for trout and redfish, when I was about 3 years old. I began bass fishing in stock tanks with my dad and grandfather. My tournament fishing started in high school when we joined the local bass club.

Anderson: I have been fishing since I can remember. My dad started taking me bass fishing from when I was old enough to hold a rod. At the age of 4 or 5, I started fishing tournaments at the bass club level with my dad. From there, he and I fished hundreds of tournaments, both large and small.

CollegeFishing.com: What style of fishing are you most comfortable with?

Morgan: I am probably most comfortable with wacky worming. I actually won a boat using a wacky worm in hydrilla, so, needless to say, I have a lot of confidence in that technique.

Anderson: Dock fishing.

CollegeFishing.com: What did it feel like to qualify for the inaugural National Championship? How do you plan to prepare for the big event?

Morgan: Words cannot describe the feeling and the excitement I had when I realized we qualified for the national championship. We plan to prefish during our spring break, and we will also do lots of map study and make lots of phone calls prior to the tournament.

Anderson: It was an amazing feeling. That was our goal for the year, and we accomplished it. My partner and I will go up to Tennessee to prefish as often as we can.

CollegeFishing.com: Tell us something interesting about yourself that most people wouldn’t know.

Morgan: Most people don’t know that I am a national champion livestock exhibitor.

Anderson: I was a hardcore motocross racer all through high school. Then I had a bad wreck and broke six vertebrae in my back. I have four rods and 12 screws in my back now.