05-27-2011, 04:10 PM
Lake Lewisville, Texas - - On what was an overall tough day of fishing on Lake Lewisville, Dustin Huggins and Evan Barnes from Arkansas Tech University set the bar high when they dropped 17.31 pounds on the scales to claim the day one lead in the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship. The majority of the field of talented collegiate anglers struggled to put a five bass limit in the boat as only 21 limits were weighed in.
Two days of practice fishing produced only three keepers for the team from Arkansas Tech so they decided to start in an area where they shook off what they believed to be quality bass. After fishing their starting spot for 30 minutes without a bite, the Wonder Boys landed a 5 pounder to jump start their day. Although they never found a concentration of fish, Dustin and Evan managed to catch a total of 8 keepers throughout the day. "We just caught one here and one there," explained Evan. "We caught them flipping early then moved offshore later in the day where we caught them on football jigs and Carolina rigs."
Sitting in second place after day one with 17.07 pounds, Sonar Burghoff and Casey O'Donnell of the University of Central Florida like their chances to claim their first championship title. "We utilized the Navionics Platinum map chip to locate 20 key areas where we were able to get bites during practice," said Sonar. "We caught 15 keepers today fishing shallow with a variety of soft plastics and Secret Lures jigs. We'll determine the order in which we'll fish our spots tomorrow based on how the wind blows."
Holding down the third place position with 16.83 pounds, Drew Porto and Kenneth Anderson of the University of Arkansas had a good day following a practice period that was up and down. The team caught forty bass with their best five weighing approximately 16 pounds on the first day of practice, but followed that effort up with only three keepers yesterday. "We found fish suspended in 10-15 feet of water and also utilized finesse techniques to catch a total of 7 keepers today," revealed Drew. "We left them biting and believe that the warming weather will help us tomorrow."
Rounding out the top 10 is:
4th Arkansas Mook Miller & Kyle Billingsley 16.07
5th Tarleton State Matt Carr & Cody Morrison 15.26
6th SFA Ryan Watkins & Andrew Upshaw 14.56
7th Alabama Dustin Connell & Keith Kirkley 14.36
8th Purdue Chad Dunham & Jarred Coffing 14.34
9th Arkansas-Pine Bluff Scott Jones & Andrew Sanders 12.39
10th Oklahoma State Zack Birge & Blake Flurry 11.71
With the top three teams separated by less than half a pound, tomorrow's final day weigh-in promises to be one of the most exciting in the 6 year history of the championship event.
The full field of anglers will takeoff from Sneaky Pete's at safe light tomorrow and return for the final day weigh in beginning at 3:00. The national champions will be determined based on the highest combined weight from days one and two.
To follow all the action live from the water as well as the recaps from this week and see who's crowned the 2011 national champions, please visit www.CollegiateBassChampionship.com and www.Facebook.com/CollegiateBassChampionship .
Two days of practice fishing produced only three keepers for the team from Arkansas Tech so they decided to start in an area where they shook off what they believed to be quality bass. After fishing their starting spot for 30 minutes without a bite, the Wonder Boys landed a 5 pounder to jump start their day. Although they never found a concentration of fish, Dustin and Evan managed to catch a total of 8 keepers throughout the day. "We just caught one here and one there," explained Evan. "We caught them flipping early then moved offshore later in the day where we caught them on football jigs and Carolina rigs."
Sitting in second place after day one with 17.07 pounds, Sonar Burghoff and Casey O'Donnell of the University of Central Florida like their chances to claim their first championship title. "We utilized the Navionics Platinum map chip to locate 20 key areas where we were able to get bites during practice," said Sonar. "We caught 15 keepers today fishing shallow with a variety of soft plastics and Secret Lures jigs. We'll determine the order in which we'll fish our spots tomorrow based on how the wind blows."
Holding down the third place position with 16.83 pounds, Drew Porto and Kenneth Anderson of the University of Arkansas had a good day following a practice period that was up and down. The team caught forty bass with their best five weighing approximately 16 pounds on the first day of practice, but followed that effort up with only three keepers yesterday. "We found fish suspended in 10-15 feet of water and also utilized finesse techniques to catch a total of 7 keepers today," revealed Drew. "We left them biting and believe that the warming weather will help us tomorrow."
Rounding out the top 10 is:
4th Arkansas Mook Miller & Kyle Billingsley 16.07
5th Tarleton State Matt Carr & Cody Morrison 15.26
6th SFA Ryan Watkins & Andrew Upshaw 14.56
7th Alabama Dustin Connell & Keith Kirkley 14.36
8th Purdue Chad Dunham & Jarred Coffing 14.34
9th Arkansas-Pine Bluff Scott Jones & Andrew Sanders 12.39
10th Oklahoma State Zack Birge & Blake Flurry 11.71
With the top three teams separated by less than half a pound, tomorrow's final day weigh-in promises to be one of the most exciting in the 6 year history of the championship event.
The full field of anglers will takeoff from Sneaky Pete's at safe light tomorrow and return for the final day weigh in beginning at 3:00. The national champions will be determined based on the highest combined weight from days one and two.
To follow all the action live from the water as well as the recaps from this week and see who's crowned the 2011 national champions, please visit www.CollegiateBassChampionship.com and www.Facebook.com/CollegiateBassChampionship .