U of Nebraska Wins MLF College Fishing Tournament on the Mississippi River

LA CROSSE, Wis. (Aug. 1, 2022) – The University of Nebraska-Lincoln duo of Logan Russell of Clarks, Nebraska, and Trevor Schleich of Lincoln, Nebraska, won the MLF  College Fishing tournament on the Mississippi River Friday with a five-bass limit weighing 16 pounds, 9 ounces. The victory earned the Cornhuskers’ bass club $2,000 and a slot in the 2023 MLF College Fishing National Championship.

“We hit our first hole and didn’t have any bites, so we moved to an area that was in some backwater that had current,” Schleich said. “We caught two pretty good ones there and left that spot to go to another backwater area, and fished some hydrilla that had some current as well. And that turned out to be the pattern we found – we needed to be in current, or at least have it nearby.”

Schleich said the team caught 10 fish during the course of the day, six of which were keepers. He said the pair used a variety of baits, but the largest bass came on flipping jigs and football-head jigs fished in seven to eight feet of water. The pair threw what Schleich described as “Junk Fishing 101” - a mixture of square-bill crankbaits, frogs, Fluke-style baits, Texas-rigs and drop-shot rigs to fill their limit.

“Later in the day, we had our limit and only had about an hour and a half left, so we went back to the main river and our first spot, and we caught our last fish – a 5-pounder,” Schleich said. “That culled our smallest fish and punched our ticket to finish as strong as we did.

“We just went out and had a good time, and really, this win feels pretty dang good,” Schleich added.

The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2023 College Fishing National Championship are:

                1st: University of Nebraska-Lincoln – Logan Russell, Clarks, Neb., and Trevor Schleich, Lincoln, Neb., five bass, 16-9, $2,000
                2nd: Adrian College – Griffin Fernandes, McCordsville, Ind., and Hayden Scott, Ann Arbor, Mich., five bass, 16-0, $1,000
                3rd: Northeastern State University-Tahlequah – Levi Juby and Cooper Park both of Sperry, Okla., five bass, 15-9, $500
                4th: University of Montevallo – Logan Plueger, Augusta, Ga., and Charlie Wright, Becker, Minn., five bass, 15-7, $500
                5th: University of Missouri – Brett Hurst, Helena, Mont., and Hayden Moore, Sapulpa, Okla., five bass, 14-4, $500
                6th: University of Iowa – Gannon Courtright, Fairfield, Iowa, and Pierce Knarr, Markesan, Wis., five bass, 13-15
                7th: University of Iowa – Eli Johnson, McGregor, Iowa, and Ryan Lowe, Grinnell, Iowa, five bass, 13-14
                8th: Illinois Central College – Brady Barth, Bartonville, Ill., and Nicholas Howell, Peoria, Ill., five bass, 13-14
                9th: Emmanuel College – Easton Lindus, Woodville, Wis., and Matthew Zdrazil, Crawfordville, Fla., five bass, 13-12
                10th: University of Wisconsin-Stout – Bryce Dallas, Fall Creek, Wis., and Camden Trautlein, Eau Claire, Wis., five bass, 13-5

MLF also advances one additional team to the National Championship for every 10 teams over 100 that compete. A total of 124 teams participated in this event, so also advancing to the 2023 College Fishing National Championship are:

                11th: University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point – Nate Boenning, Waukesha, Wis., and Nathan Krause, Phelps, Wis., five bass, 13-5
                12th: McKendree University – Kyle Hopping, Lake St. Louis, Mo., and Evan Sutton, Highland, Ill., five bass, 13-3