RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (July 26, 2014) – The University of Arkansas team of Jonny Schultz, Maumelle, Ark., and Sam Horn, Fort Smith, Ark., won the FLW College Fishing Southern Conference tournament on Lake Dardanelle Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds, 5 ounces. The victory earned the club $2,000 and advanced the team to the FLW College Fishing Southern Conference Invitational tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir.
“We grew up around these parts,” said Horn, a freshman majoring in Chemical Engineering. “We knew the summer patterns and we knew to have a shot at winning you had to be out deep.”
“We rotated through four spots today that we knew had potential and we happened to catch fish off all four of them,” said Schultz, a freshman studying Economics. “All of our fish came off of hard spots on the bottom. There wasn’t much to them except that they had a lot of bait around them. You had to be making one specific cast to get bit. If you didn’t make exactly the right cast you didn’t get bit.
“We had one really nice flurry around 2 o’clock when they were pulling current,” continued Schultz. “Other than that, we were just catching quality fish all day.”
The pair said they caught all of their fish on a Sexy Shad-colored Strike King 6XD crankbait and that all of their spots were in 10 to 15 feet of water.
“We’re just finishing up our first year of FLW College Fishing and it has been a fun ride for sure,” said Horn. “We figured it would take 20 pounds to get the win, so we feel very blessed.”
The top 15 teams that advanced to the 2014 FLW College Fishing Southern Conference Invitational are:
1st: University of Arkansas – Jonny Schultz, Maumelle, Ark., and Sam Horn, Fort Smith, Ark. (five bass, 19-5, $2,000)
2nd: Stephen F. Austin State University – Shelby Hutchens, Spring, Texas, and Owen Best, Buna, Texas (five bass, 14-13, $1,000)
3rd: Louisiana State University-Shreveport – J.L. Sepulvado, Zwolle, La., and Jared Rascoe, Stonewall, La. (five bass, 14-6, $500)
4th: University of Louisiana –Monroe – Blake Alford and Tyler Stewart, both of West Monroe, La. (five bass, 11-15, $500)
5th: Texas A&M – Luke Domas, Orange, Texas, and Brennan Fertig, Sunrise Beach, Texas (five bass, 11-2, $500)
6th: Southern Arkansas University – Brette Pitard, El Dorado, Ark., and Matthew Underwood, Magnolia, Ark. (five bass, 11-2)
7th: University of Arkansas-Little Rock – Tyler Hamby, Little Rock, Ark., and Zachary Rollings, Mabelvale, Ark. (four bass, 10-15)
8th: Stephen F. Austin State University – Garret Whitley, Quinlan, Texas, and Alec Castonguay, Rockwall, Texas (five bass, 9-9)
9th: Texas Tech University – Layne Bynum and Travis McGuire, both of Lubbock, Texas (four bass, 9-8)
10th: Angelo State University – Matthew Freeman and Logan Clark, both of San Angelo, Texas (five bass, 9-2)
11th: Louisiana State University – Brennan Vosburg and Dane Lecoq, both of Morganza, La. (four bass, 8-3)
12th: Lamar University – Cameron Lafleur, Orange, Texas, and Justin Royal, Vidor, Texas (three bass, 7-15)
13th: Arkansas Tech University – Brandon Rieve, Sheridan, Ark., and Sawyer Grace, Russellville, Ark. (three bass, 6-9)
14th: University of Texas-Arlington – Jordan Jarrett, Mansfield, Texas, and Jacob Britt, Forney Texas (four bass, 6-8)
15th: Stephen F. Austin State University – Tyler Woods, Mansfield, Texas, and Andrew Lange, Silsbee, Texas (four bass, 6-7)
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 2015 FLW College Fishing National Championship.