NORTH EAST, Md. (Sept. 15, 2013) – The West Virginia University team of Edward Rude III of Falling Waters, W. Va., and Mathew Gibson of Morgantown, W. Va., won the FLW College Fishing Northern Conference Invitational tournament on the Chesapeake Bay Sunday with a three-bass limit weighing 5 pounds, 4 ounces. Their two-day total of 8 bass weighing 19-3 earned the club $4,000 and qualified the team for the 2014 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
Rude and Gibson picked up their first FLW College Fishing victory by throwing out an unsuccessful practice and figuring out the winning pattern during tournament hours on the first day.
“I went out almost every weekend prior to the tournament,” said Rude, a sophomore majoring in Business. “All I learned in practice was that I couldn’t catch fish in the Chesapeake Bay. There were multiple days that I only caught one or two fish.
“On the first day we idled out about a quarter mile and started on the first dock on the right and just went down the bank junk fishing,” continued Rude. “We started putting pieces of the puzzle together and caught a couple off docks and a couple on a crankbait.
“We narrowed it down to an area where there was a mix of pea gravel and riprap,” said Rude. “We couldn’t catch them on high tide very well, but when the tide was slack and all the way out we could catch them. It was odd; I’ve never caught tidal-water fish on slack tides before.
“It felt great to qualify for the National Championship,” said Rude. “Last year I didn’t even make it to the Invitational and I fished my heart out for a shot at the National Championship.”
Rude and Gibson said they caught most of their fish on a craw and a shad-colored Rapala DT 4. The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2014 FLW College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: West Virginia University – Mathew Gibson, Morgantown, W. Va., and Edward Rude III, Falling Waters, W. Va. (eight bass, 19-3, $4,000)
2nd: State University of New York-Plattsburg – John McDougal, Queensbury, N.Y., and Nate Lewis, Middletown Springs, Vt. (10 bass, 18-6, $2,000)
3rd: Virginia Tech University – John Woodward, Blacksburg, Va., and Ricky Kassebaum, Salem, Va. (nine bass, 16-8, $1,000)
4th: Xavier University – Andrew Decilles, Batesville, Ind., and Ty Stysons, Fairfield, Ohio (four bass, 13-6, $1,000)
5th: Mansfield University – Matt Novitski, Kingston, Pa., and Colton Otto, Carlisle, Pa. (three bass, 9-0, $1,000)
6th: Northwood University – Zach Lowe, Huntington Woods, Mich., and Travis Riedel, Falmouth, Mich. (four bass, 8-11)
7th: Vermont Technical College– Tylor Lahue, Colchester, Vt., and William Waite, Hartland, Vt. (three bass, 8-8)
8th: Youngstown State University – Zachary Alcorn, New Philadelphia, Ohio, and Charles Cremeans, Youngstown, Ohio (three bass, 7-11)
9th: Slippery Rock University – Tyler Branca, Hermitage, Pa., and Benjamin Tawney, Stoystown, Pa. (two bass, 7-2)
10th: Ramapo College – Joseph Zapf and Andrew Zapf, both from Whippany, N.J. (two bass, 7-1)
FLW College Fishing teams compete in three qualifying events in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top 15 teams from each regular-season tournament will qualify for one of five conference invitational tournaments. The top 10 teams from each conference invitational tournament will advance to the 2014 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
College Fishing is free to enter and FLW provides boats and drivers for each competing team along with travel allowances. All participants must be registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or university.