LUFKIN, Texas — Travis McGuire and Layne Bynum of Texas Tech University caught their second consecutive 28-pound limit to win the Bassmaster College Series Central Regional tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. The Red Raider teammates tallied a three-day College Series record of 69 pounds, 8 ounces to win by a whopping margin of 12-1 over the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
Persistence paid off for the Texas anglers as they toughed it out on one primary offshore spot, waiting for waves of big bass to funnel into the area for the duration of the tournament. McGuire and Bynum didn’t give up or hang their heads after a humbling 12-14 on Thursday’s competition day had them mired in 48th place.
“We were catching them when they were moving up to feed before they head to spawn,” McGuire said. “Those big fish always go deeper for the winter so we wanted to position ourselves where they were headed.”
The victors fished what they called a “highway,” which is what anglers refer to when an area has attributes that fish desire for prespawn and postspawn conditions. There is always a wave of fish moving deeper to the area or pulling up shallower during that transition. They picked apart that highway with four baits throughout the three-day event.
A big contributor was a Strike King 6XD deep-diving crankbait. They also used a football head jig, a swimbait and a Carolina rig. After struggling Thursday, they stayed with their gameplan because they knew the quality was there and they could see them on their electronics. It paid off bigtime as they caught the Bass Pro Shops Nitro Big Bag, which weighed 28-10 Friday and was worth a $250 gift card to Bass Pro Shops. The catch was anchored by the 10-2 Big Bass, which also garnered the team a $500 Carhartt gift card.
They utilized the second biggest bag of the event to pull away and take the victory over the first-day leaders Tyler Craig and Spencer Lambert of Louisiana-Monroe. They took a different approach to their second-place finish, as they focused on a ditch that was filled with hydrilla and plenty of bass. Every morning Craig and Lambert would load the boat with eight to 10 bass on a red lipless crankbait.
“I think those fish were pulling up at night and feeding in that ditch,” Craig said. “I found that spot two weeks ago and caught 12 or 13 fish and decided to leave it alone because it would probably be good this week.”
Thursday was the first day of the cold front and it paid big dividends for the duo, as they landed an 8-pounder and a 6-pounder to anchor their 24-8 limit.
“I don’t know what would’ve happened if it stayed warm during the tournament,” Lambert said. “But I think the really cold evenings stopped the bigger females from pulling up from deeper water into the area.”
The giant size may not have cooperated for them Friday and Saturday, but there were plenty of solid bass to sift through as they built a consistent mid- to upper teens weight. Tyler Rivet and Cameron Naquin of Nicholls State University took third place, Colt Benedict and Reed Foster of Dallas Baptist University placed fourth and Lawrence Kuznik and Dakota Moore of Louisiana-Lafayette placed fifth.
The Top 18 teams, excluding Murray State’s Hunter Mills and Jordan Hartman, will advance to the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops later this summer. Murray State isn’t in the Central Regional, but decided to fish Sam Rayburn for School of the Year points. Their regional is in May on Tennessee’s Cherokee Lake. For their Day 2 lead, Texas Tech was also awarded the Livingston Lures Leader Award of $500 in merchandise.
Bassmaster College Series Central Regional1/26/2017 - 1/28/2017Sam Rayburn Reservoir - Cassells-Boykin - Lufkin, TXSTANDINGS BOATER DAY 3 Name # Fish, # Live, Lbs – Oz, Accumulative # Fish, # Live, Lbs – Oz1 Travis McGuire - Layne Bynum Texas Tech University 5 5 28- 0 15 15 69- 82 Tyler Craig - Spencer Lambert University of Louisiana at Monroe 5 5 17- 2 15 15 57- 73 Tyler Rivet - Cameron Naquin Nicholls State University 5 5 18- 9 15 15 53- 94 Colt Benedict - Reed Foster Dallas Baptist University 5 5 16-13 15 15 51-135 Lawrence Kuznik - Dakota Moore University of Louisiana at LaFayette 5 5 10- 8 14 14 51- 26 TJ Tucker - Bennett Pierce Arkansas Tech University 5 5 13- 5 15 15 51- 27 Corbin Davis - Michael Rollert Texas A&M University 5 5 15-15 15 15 50-148 Matthew Bowden - Barton Courtney Texas Tech University 5 5 15-12 15 15 49-109 Hunter Mills - Jordan Hartman Murray State University 5 5 9- 0 15 15 48-1410 Justin Seeton - Dakota Ebare Tarleton State University 5 5 17- 4 15 15 48-1011 Hunter Freeman - Thomas Soileau University of Louisiana at Monroe 5 5 14- 6 15 15 47-1112 Dawson Cranford - Charles Norris University of Louisiana at LaFayette 5 5 12- 8 15 15 47- 013 Dillon Harrell - Dustin Moreno Sam Houston State University 5 5 10- 3 15 15 46- 514 Trent Newman - Zackery Hines Dallas Baptist University 5 5 14- 4 15 15 45-1315 Stetson Overton - Cason Kelley Tarleton State University 5 5 14- 4 15 15 44-1016 Brandon Simoneaux - Colby Ogden Lamar University 5 5 8- 8 14 14 44- 317 John Moore - Clark Mannas Texas A&M University 5 5 10- 1 15 15 43-1018 Aaron Belgard - Logan Laprarie Northwestern State University 4 4 9- 3 14 14 42- 119 Philip Gottsponer - Ethan Stokes Arkansas Tech University 5 5 9-14 15 15 40- 920 Turner Mason - Kaito Ajiro Colorado State University 2 2 2-12 11 11 33- 221 John Jay - Grant Pietsch Texas A&M University 9 9 30- 322 Tyler Woods - Robert Tweed Stephen F Austin State University 10 10 30- 123 Stephen Thomas - Luke Potter Lamar University 10 10 30- 024 Colby Simmons - Brandon Barber East Texas Baptist University 9 9 29-1425 Caleb Young - Marshall White University of Texas at Tyler 10 10 29-1226 Chris Zins - Zach Holliday University of Central Oklahoma 10 10 29- 527 Cody Barchenger - Garrett Bradford Stephen F Austin State University 10 10 29- 428 Taylor Tindall - Elijah Cain LA Tech 10 10 29- 029 Alex Murray - Trent Manuel McNeese State University 10 10 28-1230 Tucker Sargent - Wyatt Young Tarleton State University 10 10 28- 931 Josh Bensema - Bradley Fleming Texas A&M University 10 10 28- 932 Bo McGraw - Nathan White Texas A&M University 10 10 28- 833 Garret Whitley - Clayton Godfrey Stephen F Austin State University 10 10 27-1534 Brennan Soileau - Garrett McDonald LA Tech 10 10 27-1435 Phillip Borel - Dustin Nash Northwestern State University 10 10 27-1336 Josh Dugger - Jake Dugger Arkansas Tech University 10 10 27-1037 Tyler Stewart - Nick Joiner University of Louisiana at Monroe 10 10 27- 238 Eric Hanna - Jack Minnix Oklahoma State University 10 10 27- 139 Jay Lawson - Wyatt Frankens Stephen F Austin State University 10 10 26-1440 Chad Poulsen - Jared Penton East Texas Baptist University 10 10 26- 641 Cameron Simmons - Dexter Flick Oklahoma State University 9 9 25-1542 Dalton Warrington - Kooper Marsh Southwestern Oklahoma State University 10 10 25-1443 Bates Enmeier - Brady Lobue Oklahoma State University 10 10 25-1044 Justin Cooper - Johnny Ledet Northwestern State University 10 10 25-1045 Will Hughes - Chandler Hayes Stephen F Austin State University 10 10 25-1046 Hunter Fluitt - Maverick Jaggers UAM-CTC 10 10 25- 847 JP Kimbrough - Jared Rascoe LSU Shreveport 10 10 25- 248 Alex Torkleson - Dillon Roberts Rogers State University 10 10 24-1449 John-Michael Brattlof - Dakota Cline Stephen F Austin State University 10 10 23-1050 Jacob Keith - Brett Clark East Texas Baptist University 10 10 23-1051 Logan Wilson - Chance Cobb Tarleton State University 10 10 23- 652 Ryan Wood - Nathan Wood Dallas Baptist University 8 8 22-1353 Dakota Sparks - Levi Sharp LSU 10 10 22-1254 Gregory Green - Trevor Fox Northwestern State University 8 8 22- 655 Douglas Bell - Levi Harger Southern Arkansas University 8 8 20-1256 Nicholas Cantarella - Evan Cook Texas A&M University 8 8 20-1057 Hutton Leppert - Tanner Mizell Northwestern State University 8 8 20- 858 Kyle Pasket - Jackson Carrell Sam Houston State University 9 9 20- 859 Adam Deakin - Levi Kirk Colorado State University 8 8 20- 760 Collin Bode - Colby Bryant Sam Houston State University 9 9 20- 561 Chris Bradley - Andy Thurston Southwestern Oklahoma State University 10 10 20-062 Hunter Wellan - Jacob Curtis LA Tech 10 10 19-1463 Jose Palma - Andrew Madison University of Central Oklahoma 10 10 19- 564 Jake Biram - Rhett Meyer Oklahoma State University 7 7 18-1365 Zachariah Edwards - Zach Cantwell University of Central Oklahoma 9 9 18-1366 Scott McClellan - Adam Forester LA Tech 7 7 18-1167 Ryan Antee - Harrison Hopkins LSU Shreveport 8 8 18-1168 Jed Hebert - Grant Curran University of Louisiana at LaFayette 8 8 18-1069 Warren Basinger - Dalton Baker Southern Arkansas University 10 10 18- 470 Jordan Ogle - Ladd Owens Arkansas Tech University 6 6 18- 171 Devin Nichols - Luke O'Neal University of Louisiana at Monroe 7 7 17- 572 Alex Edgeman - Drew Fazzino University of Oklahoma 9 9 17- 173 Blaine Timonera - Nate Sleight University of Oklahoma 6 6 16-1374 Nate Holman - Jay Powers Northeastern State University 9 9 16-1275 Wayne Figg - Brady McFarland Texas A&M University 7 7 16- 676 Austin Miles - Tyler Hassler Colorado State University-Pueblo 7 7 15-1477 Connor Whisenant - Carter Henderson Texas A&M University 8 8 15- 978 Blake Crabb - Eagan Carnes Texas A&M Corpus Christi 6 6 15- 079 Chandler Burgay - James Marshall Stephen F Austin State University 5 5 14-1180 Mason Beatty - Noah Batts East Texas Baptist University 6 6 14- 581 Tanner Best - John Lange Texas Tech University 5 5 14- 382 Drew Fleming - Joe Rainwater UAM-CTC 6 6 13-1583 Lane McCartney - Tyler Hastings Rogers State University 6 6 13- 884 Joseph Cheek - Gavin Watts UAM-CTC 8 8 13- 785 Nick Gill - Cole Daniel University of Central Oklahoma 5 5 12- 686 Austin Anderson - Heidi Langschied Stephen F Austin State University 5 5 11-1287 Joey Tuminello - Sebastian Smith University of Louisiana at LaFayette 5 5 11-1188 Corbin Bogart - James Proctor Tarleton State University 5 5 11-1088 Seth Hausman - Ryan Frier Stephen F Austin State University 5 5 11-1090 Cole Perilloux - Hunter Adams LA Tech 5 5 11-1091 Ryan Gunter - Samuel Meaders University of Arkansas 5 5 10-1492 Hogan Beckley - Koby Dortch University of Louisiana at Monroe 4 4 10- 893 James Hovey - David Bercier McNeese State University 5 5 10- 394 Alec Castonguay - Kyle Dragulski Stephen F Austin State University 5 5 10- 195 Austin Cleveland - Kyle Everett LA Tech 5 5 9-1396 Blaise Weimer - Josh Shapland Oklahoma State University 5 5 9- 897 Jeff Ramsey - LSU Shreveport 4 4 8-1598 Jordan Wood - Blake Smith Lamar University 5 5 8- 999 Daniel Sparlin - Kyle Jessie University of Arkansas 3 3 8- 6100 Cody Finkbeiner - Jon Lucas Stephen F Austin State University 3 3 6-13101 Drake Dunlap - Will Hewat University of Arkansas 4 4 6-11102 Justin Diehl - Hunter Jolly Sam Houston State University 3 3 6-11103 Robert Ramsey - Tarleton State University 3 3 6- 3104 Justin Tatum - Blake Bauer Tarleton State University 3 3 6- 2105 Lewis Laurent - Bryce Coleman Southeastern Louisiana University 3 3 5-15106 Matt Glad - Brent Rome Jr LSU 3 3 5- 6107 Matthew Anthony - Taylor Barton Stephen F Austin State University 2 2 4- 9108 Tanner Smith - Matthew Lestage McNeese State University 2 2 4- 2109 Brandon Consalus - Wayne Carillo Tarleton State University 2 2 3-14110 Owen Richard - Mitchell Mayard LSU 1 1 2- 6111 Dylan Matherne - Brandon Daigle Southeastern Louisiana University 1 1 1-11112 Cody Hahn - Case Thompson Tarleton State University 1 1 1- 9113 Landon Darden - Steven Smith Southern Arkansas University 0 0 0- 0113 Jonathan Ham - Gannon Graves Stephen F Austin State University 0 0 0- 0113 Hunter Kaemmerling - John Forst Stephen F Austin State University 0 0 0- 0 BIG BASSDay Name - City, State Lbs-Oz1 Colt Benedict - Reed Foster Dallas, TX 8-142 Travis McGuire - Layne Bynum, Lubbock, TX 10-23 Travis McGuire - Layne Bynum, Lubbock, TX 8-9 TOTALSDay # Fish # Live Lbs-Oz # Limits1 475 475 1313-1 792 387 387 1046-2 633 96 96 268-3 18