Meet the 49ers

Kinchen and Teer of UNC Charlotte share their thoughts about qualifying for the 2011 National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship

UNC Charlotte's Joe Kinchen and Tyler Teer grabbed a big lead on day one with a limit weight of 15-3. Photo by David A. Brown. Anglers: Joe Kinchen, Tyler Teer.

January 18, 2011 • Gary Mortenson • Abu Garcia College Fishing

(Editor’s note: Leading up to the 2011 National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship, slated to be held April 7-9 on Kentucky Lake at Murray State University, CollegeFishing.com will be publishing semiweekly feature stories highlighting the 25 national championship qualifiers. At stake in the tournament is a first-place prize package worth $100,000 as well as a chance for the winning team to compete in the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup.)

Name: Joe Kinchen (pictured on right)

Class: Senior

Major: Construction Management

Hometown: Mooresville, N.C.

Other interests: I enjoy all outdoor sports including, scuba diving, hiking, canoe, kayaking, rock climbing and am sure I would love sky diving if ever given the opportunity. I regularly scuba dive in lakes and quarries. This has helped me round out my fishing arsenal by giving me confidence in fishing deep-structure spots. A few years ago, fishing anything over 12 feet of water was really deep to me, but now I am comfortable fishing at any depth. Actually, my deepest bass came from 60 feet of water.

Name: Tyler Teer (pictured on left)

Class: Junior

Major: Civil Engineering Technology

Hometown: Burlington, N.C.

Other interests: I enjoy riding dirt bikes, playing golf, customizing cars and trucks.

Club Web site: www.unccbassfishing.com

Q&A

CollegeFishing.com: How were you introduced to fishing?

Kinchen: I was introduced to fishing as a baby by my father. He would load the boat with a diaper bag, rods and me. So I have never known a time when I have not been fishing.

Teer: I have been fishing since I was old enough to hold a rod. My dad got me started at an early age and taught me how to fish local ponds. I was never real serious about fishing until I was in my teens. I was planning on racing dirt bikes, but a week before my first race I wrecked while hitting a jump and cut my spleen in half. I was in the hospital for a week and couldn’t do anything but fish and play video games for half of a year. This got my dad and I very interested in fishing. Eventually, he bought a boat and we started competing in tournaments.

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

Kinchen: Flipping plastics and cranking.

Teer: North Carolina has a very wide variety of different types of lakes, which all fish differently. So, I feel comfortable using a wide variety of styles and methods. If I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be pitching and flipping wood and grass. I also enjoy fishing docks when in clear water using shaky heads and Senkos.

CollegeFishing.com: What did it feel like to qualify for the 2011 FLW College Fishing National Championship? How do you plan to prepare for the big event?

Kinchen: To date, qualifying for the 2011 FLW College Fishing National Championship felt like the biggest accomplishment of my life. I felt honored and privileged to be able to take part in such a great program hosted by the National Guard, and excited at the possibility of taking home a national championship. The goal is to win the national championship and advance to the Forrest Wood Cup; second place just won’t cut it. I plan on spending my entire spring break practicing on Kentucky Lake and finding locations where the bass should be holding in April. I have fished on Kentucky Lake twice before which gives me a slight advantage as to knowing where the bass relate during various times of year.

Teer: It felt great to qualify for the National Championship. We spent a lot of time pre-fishing for the Regional, so it was nice to see all of our hard work pay off. To prepare for the National Championship, we are planning on trying to pre-fish as much as we can. It is a pretty far ride from Charlotte, so we are planning on spending spring break on Kentucky Lake. We also will try to go one weekend before the tournament to see what the fish are doing.

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

Kinchen: When I was 13 years old, I went on a 50-mile canoeing and backpacking trip through Ontario, Canada and blew out my ACL in the middle of the trip. I hiked out the remaining 25 miles fishing all the while from a canoe. Later I had two reconstructive knee surgeries on my knee to get it back in working order.

Teer: While in high school, I earned money to fish tournaments by hauling scrap metal. I ran my own business with a friend of mine where we would haul scrap metal off people’s property and get paid for the metal at the scrap yard. Everyone called us a couple rednecks, but we made a lot of money, which helped pay for my tournaments.

I also make a lot of the lures I use. I make custom spinnerbaits, jigs, and soft plastics. It really helps to be able to make your own lures, since you can customize the baits and also experiment with different ideas.