Havasu on the Horizon
FLW College Fishing Western Conference kicks off Feb. 7
LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. – FLW College Fishing is headed to Lake Havasu Feb. 7 for the first of three regular-season stops in the Western Conference. A full field of college teams will be competing for a top award of $2,000 and a berth in the Western Conference Championship tournament.
“This time of year, there are a couple of different patterns that you can run on Lake Havasu,” said Strike King Lures pro Cody Meyer, of Auburn, California, a six-time Forrest Wood Cup qualifier. “The lake has a lot of big smallmouth and largemouth in it. I’d look for rock and gravel in the main lake, or possibly some scattered grass, and target the smallmouth. Anglers looking to fish for largemouth will be targeting the man-made structure.
“The man-made structure looks like a big jungle of plastic,” Meyer continued. “They are actually big cages made out of PVC pipe. The largemouth love to hang out there. If I was fishing the tournament, though, I’d be fishing the main lake and targeting the smallmouth because you’ll find some largemouth mixed in as well.”
Meyer said that jerkbaits, swimbaits, jigs and drop-shot rigs would all be popular baits amongst the college anglers
“Havasu can be tricky and it tends to get progressively tougher each day,” said Meyer. “With the Rayovac FLW Series event going on the same week, the key will be to have multiple patterns and multiple areas. I think a few teams will figure it out and that a 20-pound winning stringer is a definite possibility.”
Anglers will take off from the Windsor Beach boat ramps at Lake Havasu State Park, located at 699 London Bridge Road in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., at 7 a.m. MST Saturday. Weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 2 p.m. Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.
Schools are allowed to register up until the morning of the tournament. Entries may be made either by phone or at CollegeFishing.com. Schools currently registered to compete in the Lake Havasu tournament, which is hosted by the Lake Havasu City Convention & Visitors Bureau, include:
California Polytechnic State University – Johan Eide, Sebastopol, Calif., and Colton Farquer, Oakdale, Calif.
California State University – Seth Meyer, Lancaster, Calif., and Rick Zatarain, Long Beach, Calif.
California State University – Matthiew Grant, Bellflower, Calif., and Ryder Etson, Long Beach, Calif.
California State University-Chico – Chas Brannon, Santa Maria, Calif., and Michael Woods, Olivehurst, Calif.
California State University-Chico – Kevin Chen and Koulton Westbrook, both of Vacaville, Calif.
California State University-Chico – Travis Bounds, Roseville, Calif., and Andrew Loberg, Rocklin, Calif.
Dixie State University – Mathew Baker, Ogden, Utah, and Nordel Erickson, Saint George, Utah
Dixie State University – Todd Walker, Star Valley, Wyo., and David Ballou, Hurricane, Utah
Sonoma State University – Brock Trudeau, Lancaster, Calif., and Jake Davidson, Sebastopol, Calif.
Sonoma State University – Jake Banuelos, Pinole, Calif., and B.J. Kendrick, Morgan Hill, Calif.
University of Nevada-Reno – Jake Tessmann, Minden, Nev., and Bryce Yearman, Sparks, Nev.
University of Oregon – Jacob Wall, Jacksonville, Ore., and Mitchell Cole, Jefferson, Ore.
University of Oregon – Ryan Habenicht, Auburn, Calif., and Riley Russen, Redding, Calif.
University of Southern California – Nick Nikchevich, Westlake Village, Calif., and Elliott Beckstrom, Santa Cruz, Calif.
FLW College Fishing teams compete in qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top fifteen teams from each regular-season tournament will qualify for one of five Conference Championship tournaments. The top ten teams from each of the five Conference Championship tournaments will advance to the 2016 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
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 fishing club recognized by their college or university.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing. Visit CollegeFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your school.