News

LEWISVILLE, Texas (Sept. 19, 2008) – Just as day one’s surprise cloud cover caused a change in yesterday’s strategies at the 2008 BoatU.S. National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship, the return of bright sunny skies and no wind shook up the fishing and the field again today.

Included in the successes was the tournament’s biggest bag so far, a Baylor team’s 22-pound catch that jumped them from 36th place to 3rd.

Among those who struggled during college bass fishing’s largest tournament ever held were day one’s leader – the Virginia Tech team of Scott Wiley and Charlie Machek. The duo had only two bass today weighing 1.97 pounds. “We got quality bites again but broke off some solid fish, but when you fish close to a boat dock with 6 lb. line that’s a risk you take,” Wiley said.

Jumping into the lead and taking one of the five spots in Saturday’s final was the Texas Tech team consisting of Ryan Dupriest and Laramie Coggan, with five bass weighing 18.18 pounds for a total of 32.75 pounds. They moved up from 8th place yesterday.

We had absolutely nothing to speak of during practice, so we were very blessed today,” Dupriest said. “Today’s sunshine was just what we needed for what we found in practice.”

The other four teams advancing to the championship bout are the University of Arkansas’ Kazuki Kitajima and Bodie Drake with a five-bass limit weighing 16.40 pounds for a 31.49 total; Baylor University’s Jay Holland and Chris Gass with five bass weighing 22.05 pounds for a 31.36 total; Texas A&M-Kingsville’s Jerod Hawkes and Daniel Brock with five bass weighing 13.47 pounds for a 27.81 total; and Texas A&M’s Justin Rackley and Andy Shafer with five bass weighing 11.85 pounds for a total of 26.83. Rackley is one-half of last year’s defending championship team; his previous partner Trevor Knight graduated.

But the weights for each of the five teams no longer matter because all are zeroed to start the last and final day of competition. All other rules remain the same. Each team is allowed to weigh-in up to five bass that meet minimum length requirements: 12-inches for spotted bass and 14 inches for largemouth. The team with the heaviest weight for the final day will be declared the 2008 BoatU.S. NCBFC champions.
“I’m glad they zero our weights so we can start over tomorrow and have a real shootout,” said Texas Tech’s Dupriest. “Our plan is simple; catch and cull all day.”

It is the Arkansas team that looks to spoil a Texas top finish. Kitajima and Drake said they had several good keepers today and are confident going into tomorrow’s final. “We caught ‘em today and we think we can do it again tomorrow,” Drake commented.

Each of the five two-person teams will compete from tournament-provided Ranger boats equally equipped with Yamaha outboards, Garmin electronics and MotorGuide trolling motors.

Of the incentive awards open to all participants each tournament day, Jay Holland received the daily Abu Garcia Big Bass $1,000 scholarship for his 5.64 pounder. He and partner Gass were also awarded the Berkley Big Bag award receiving $1,500 in merchandise for today’s heaviest total catch.

“On the first day, we were way too serious about competing and knew going into day two that we’d need a huge sack to put us in the top five,” Baylor’s Gass said of today’s impressive catch. “We had a talk last night and decided that today we’d go out, have fun and take some of the stress out of it, and that’s the plan for tomorrow too.”

Saturday’s final weigh-in begins at 3 p.m. Central Daylight Time with the crowning of the national collegiate champions and awarding scholarships occurring at the conclusion. All activities take place at Sneaky Pete’s Marina and are open to the public.

The 2008 BoatU.S. NCBFC is sponsored by BoatU.S., BoatU.S. Angler, Ranger Boats, Cabela's, American Rodsmiths, Anglers' Legacy, Abu Garcia, Aviva Fishin' Buddy, Berkley, Costa Del Mar, EPIC Sports Video Cam, Falcon FTO tackle organizers, Fenwick, Frogg Toggs, Garmin, Gemini Sport Marketing, Lago Vista Lodge, Gene Larew Lures, MotorGuide, Power-Pole, Rapala's Fishing Frenzy, Sebile, Sperry Top-Sider, Stearns, TruckVault, Witz Sportcases, Yamaha, City of Lewisville, Sneaky Pete's Marina and Fox College Sports.

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