SFA Title - Tarleton State

December 22, 2008

TARLETON STATE CLAIMS COLLEGIATE BASS FISHING TITLE AT SFA BUCKETMOUTH BASS TOURNAMENT BY PERFECTING REACTION BITE

2008 SFA Bucketmouth Bass Tournament

At a time of year when most anglers would think slow is the way to go, the top performers in the Bucketmouth Bass Tournament hosted by the Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) Bass Club at Sam Rayburn Reservoir did just the opposite. The top teams this past weekend discovered that reaction baits were key in getting the big Rayburn bucketmouths to bite under changing weather conditions.

Thirty five teams from universities throughout the country competed in this event that was sanctioned by the Association of Collegiate Anglers. With this being the kick off event leading to the 2009 BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship both excitement and enthusiasm were very high among everyone involved. "College Bass Fishing continues to capture the nations attention and this event is further evidence to explosive growth nationwide of schools and college anglers willing to travel to compete literally for school pride and recognition" Colleigate Bass Fishing Championship director Wade Middleton stated.

Tarleton State - Chris and Tanner

The team of Chris Michels and Tanner Morgan from Tarleton State University took top honors this week on Rayburn. They did this in grand fashion by leading the event on day one with 18 pounds 13 ounces which was the biggest bag of the event. Michels and Morgan sealed the deal on day two with another limit of bass weighing in at 12 - 14, giving the team a two day total of 31 - 11. The team boated their fish on Sebile Flatt Shad lipless crankbaits that they were ripping out of hydrilla in anywhere from 2 to 8 feet of water, keying on ditches within the grass beds. Ironically, they fished a key stretch of water that they were sharing with the second place team. Almost all of the bites came after their lures made contact with the grass and were ripped free. The team said that they had a good practice, "I came down right after Thanksgiving. I was able to spend a whole week here. That's when we found our primary spot. It was a ditch running along side a point with grass on it. The fish just traveled in and out of there," stated Michels. Even though the team did catch a few fish on a spinnerbait, the lipless crankbait was their primary bait for the week. "Several of our big fish came on the Tequila Gold Sebile Flat Shad." The team also credited their 7.1 gear ratio Abu Garcia Revo reels as being a critical component of their presentation. "If you didn't have that 7.1 Revo you couldn't catch up fast enough to set the hook," Morgan said. Michels and Morgan stated that it means a lot to them to be able to represent their university in this way. The win allows the Tarleton State team to have all their lodging cost covered for the upcoming BoatU.S. Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship as part of their first prize winnings.

Tarleton State - Chris and Tanner

The SFA team of Andrew Upshaw and Ryan Watkins took second at their school hosted event - almost rallying enough for the win. Following day one, the team found themselves in eighth place with 12-3, which they considered a sub-par day. On day two the team slept in because neither of their alarms went off. They woke up after 6 a.m. and had to scramble to get to the launch site. By the time they arrived, the other boats had been released by the Tournament Director. Despite the fact that they got a late start, and forgot their front depth finder, the team found enough bass to almost claim the win again for SFA.


2008 SFA Bucketmouth Bass Tournament - Ryan and AndrewUpshaw and Watkins found most of their fish eating traps in 2 to 10 feet of water around hydrilla laden ditches as well. The team did catch a few fish on day two with chatterbaits and senkos, but ripping traps was their key pattern. The team fished a great deal of water while concentrating on key stretches. They would rotate water and change colors often in order to entice strikes. "There were depressions in the grass where we caught our fish, but as far as a key spot we didn't really have one," said Watkins. "A lot of the places we fished would go from 5 feet, to 6 feet, then back to 5 feet. It wasn't anything that anyone else would catch on to, but those types of depressions are where we caught them," said Upshaw. However, the team from SFA and the team of Michels and Morgan from Tarleton State found themselves sharing an area of water in which the team from Tarleton did most of their damage.

Mississippi State

David Halliwell and Bradley Sartain of Mississippi State stated that they were fishing hydrilla in about five feet of water with double willow leaf spinnerbaits and chatterbaits. They finished the event with a total weight of 27-08 pounds in third place.

Big Fish- Chip Porche

Big bass of the event, weighing 7 - 12, was weighed in by Chip Porche of the University of Oklahoma. Chip said that he caught the fish while slow rolling a spinnerbait around hydrilla early on the second day of the tournament. This makes the Oklahoma angler along with Alexander Finch of Western Kentucky (who had big bass honors on day one with a 6 -15), eligible to win an all expenses paid trip to Lago Vista Lodge at Lake Guerrero, Mexico. The trip will be hosted by Jeff Kriet and Wade Middleton. All of the bass catching action will be captured on camera and featured on Americana Outdoors. and Fishing Texas television shows.

Other great prizes were awarded to top finishers from Cabelas, Costa Del Mar, Sperry Top Sider Shoes and American Rodsmiths.

The 2009 BoatU.S. NCBFC is sponsored by BoatU.S., BoatU.S. Angler, Ranger Boats, Cabela's, American Rodsmiths, Take Me Fishing, Abu Garcia, Aviva Fishin' Buddy, Berkley, Costa Del Mar, EPIC Sports Video Cam, Falcon FTO tackle organizers, Fenwick, Frogg Toggs, Garmin, G2 XDS Series, Sport Marketing, Lago Vista Lodge, Gene Larew Lures, MotorGuide, Power-Pole, Rapala's Fishing Frenzy, Sebile, Sperry Top-Sider, TruckVault, Yamaha, City of Lewisville, Sneaky Pete's Marina.

For all the latest news on collegiate bass fishing make sure to visit www.CollegiateBassChampionship.com.

For a full list of the Results Click Here

The BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship staff would like to thank The Bass Federation and Stephen F. Austin University for all the hard work and effort to make this event possible.

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