East Carolina U Wins MLF College Fishing Tournament on Smith Mountain Lake

HUDDLESTON, Va. (June 6, 2022) – The East Carolina University duo of Bryce Fowler of Clayton, North Carolina, and Austin Woody of Burlington, North Carolina, won the MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing tournament on Smith Mountain Lake Friday with a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 8 ounces. The victory earned the Pirates’ bass club $2,000 and a slot in the 2023 MLF College Fishing National Championship.

“We came into this with no practice,” Fowler said. “We talked about it, and we just wanted to come into it and see what happened. We knew how to fish it and knew what they were going to be doing; we just had to make it all come together.

“We fished around a bit, and about noon we had a limit of 12 or 13 pounds,” Fowler added. “We were able to throw a topwater on rock piles to catch four fish over 4 pounds.“

Fowler said the team focused on rocky banks and rock piles around the Blackwater River area and caught about 30 fish during the day, 15 of which were keepers.

“This feels pretty incredible,” Fowler said. “To do it as seniors and leave a legacy for our team is special.”

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

                1st: East Carolina University – Bryce Fowler of Clayton, N.C., and Austin Woody of Burlington, N.C., five bass, 20-8, $2,000
                2nd: Adrian College – Matthew Davis, Saint Joseph, Mich., and Sam Shoemaker, Martinsville, Ind., five bass, 19-3, $1,000
                3rd: Erskine College – Jeremy Dellinger, Denver, N.C., and Adam Seagle, Lincolnton, N.C., five bass, 17-1, $500
                4th: King University – Tyler Altizer, Abingdon, Va., and Dylan Thomson, Shady Valley, Tenn., five bass, 16-11, $500
                5th: Adrian College – Russel Buffa, Fenton, Mich., and Matt Mosby, Dryden, Mich., five bass, 15-9, $500
                6th: Penn State University – Eric Wawrzyniak, Lebanon, Pa., and Jason Zubris, Plains, Pa., five bass, 15-0
                7th: Virginia Tech – Ryan Feehan, Haymarket, Va., and Daniel Weber, Fredericksburg, Va., five bass, 14-14
                8th: Radford University – Ruth Caudle, Pulaski, Va., and Alex Moss, Lambsburg, Va., five bass, 14-13
                9th: Western Michigan University – Kurt Antonowitsch, Kalamazoo, Mich., and Cole Zagrzebski, Steven’s Point, Wis., five bass, 14-11
                10th: Liberty University – Wyatt Kelley, Altavista, Va., and Broderick Luckey, Roanoke, Va., five bass, 14-8