Meet the Aggies II

Texas A&M University teammates Bates, Collins share their thoughts on qualifying for the 2012 National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship

Kyle Bates and Cody Collins caught the day's biggest sack - 19 pounds, 15 ounces - and put Texas A&M in the top spot at Somerville Lake. Photo by David A. Brown. Anglers: Kyle Bates, David Doonan, Cody Collins.

March 16, 2012 • Gary Mortenson • Abu Garcia College Fishing

(Editor’s note: Leading up to the 2012 National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship – slated for April 13-15 on Lake Murray in Columbia, S.C. – CollegeFishing.com will publish weekly, in-depth features stories of each of the 25 national championship team 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 2012 Forrest Wood Cup.)

Name: Kyle Bates (pictured on left)

Class: Alumni

Major: Construction Science

Hometown: Missouri City, Texas

Other interests: Golfing, wakeboarding and hunting.

Name: Cody Collins (pictured on right)

Class: Senior

Major: Wildlife Fisheries Science

Hometown: Port Aransas, Texas

Other interests: When I’m not fishing, I am usually hunting.

Club Web site: http://anglers.tamu.edu/

Q&A

CollegeFishing.com: How were you introduced to fishing?

Bates: I started fishing golf course ponds in the neighborhood with my dad. We would show up with 24 minnows and catch 24 2- to 3-pound bass. Being from Houston, most of my other fishing took place wading around the bays of the Texas coast.

Collins: I was brought up around fishing. My dad would take me wade-fishing on his back before I could walk. Growing up on the water really piqued my interest since all I had to do was walk out of my back door to be able to fish. We lived on a canal in Port Aransas, Texas, catching redfish, trout and flounder.

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

Bates: I’m most comfortable fishing crankbaits around shallow cover.

Collins: I’m most comfortable throwing a crankbait or fishing a Texas rig.

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?

Bates: It was extremely satisfying considering it was my last shot at the championship before graduation. It also made it special to qualify on our home lake and in front of our home crowd. As far as preparation, I plan on spending a lot of time studying maps and hopefully I’ll be able to spend a week in South Carolina for practice.

Collins: It was a great feeling. We knew that Lake Somerville was going to offer up some good fish but it was our job to put them in the boat. Although we caught the fish that we needed to, we didn’t win. But it was great knowing that we were going to be fishing on Lake Murray in the FLW College Fishing National Championship in April! I will be spending my spring break on the lake, trying to find some good-looking water.

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

Bates: I actually started out college on the Texas A&M baseball team. Baseball had consumed the majority of my time and effort up to that point in my life, and had served as my platform to compete. When things didn’t work out on the field, I had to find a new place to compete and fishing provided that for me. The rush that I used to get from hitting homeruns has been replaced with the rush of landing a 5-pound-plus bass in a tournament.

Collins: I had never bass fished before coming to college. My first bass fishing trip was during Hurricane Ike in 2008. I grew up around saltwater and never had a reason to go to freshwater fishing.