BETHEL ISLAND, Calif. (May 17, 2014) – The Oregon State University team of Zach MacDonald of Willits, Calif., and Zach Martinez of Linden, Calif., won the FLW College Fishing Western Conference tournament on the California Delta Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds, 15 ounces. Their win qualified them for the 2014 Western Conference Invitational on Clear Lake.
“We started the day on a little tule point throwing vibrating jigs and spinnerbaits,” said MacDonald. “We caught a little one on the vibrating jig and then I caught our big one, a five-pounder, on the same bait within the first five minutes or so. Then the bite died down, so we moved and started throwing topwater frogs.”
The pair said that after their morning flurry they completed their limit and culled several times on topwater frogs along one stretch of water.
“The bite died for about two hours at the end of the day,” said Martinez. “The wind picked up a lot and the places we could fish got restricted. We caught about 10 bass all day, and we only lost a couple small ones that wouldn’t have helped our weight.”
“It felt good to win,” finished MacDonald. “We knew we had a good bag but we didn’t really expect to win when we pulled up to the marina. We’re definitely looking forward to the Invitational.”
MacDonald and Martinez said they caught most of their fish on a D&M Custom Baits Piranha Swim Jig and a Koppers Live Target Hollow Body Frog. The top 15 teams that advanced to the 2014 FLW College Fishing Western Conference Invitational are:
1st: Oregon State University – Zach MacDonald, Willits, Calif., and Zach Martinez, Linden, Calif. (five bass, 19-15, $2,000)
2nd: Fresno State University – Cory Kerber, Kerman, Calif., and Joseph Piedimonte, Salinas, Calif. (five bass, 18-0, $1,000)
3rd: San Jose State University – Patrick Friedman, San Jose, Calif., and Travis Bounds, Roseville, Calif. (five bass, 17-15, $500)
4th: Oregon State University – Chase Cochran, Corvallis, Ore., and Ryan Sparks, Gearhart, Ore. (five bass, 16-10, $500)
5th: Eastern Washington University – Cy Floyd, Wenatchee, Wash., and Tyler Wasilewski, Cheney, Wash. (five bass, 15-6, $500)
6th: California State University-Chico – Kevin Chen and Koulton Westbrook, both of Vacaville, Calif. (five bass, 15-1)
7th: University of California-Santa Cruz – Jason Coslovich, San Jose, Calif., and Tyler Brownell, Santa Cruz, Calif. (five bass, 15-0)
8th: University of Nevada-Reno – Brandon Cramer, Petaluma, Calif., and Anthony Milano, Reno, Nev. (five bass, 14-11)
9th: Humboldt State University – Tristan Merlaud, Sedastopol, Calif., and Rudy Directo, Alpine, Calif. (five bass, 14-11)
10th: Eastern Washington University – Jarred Walker, Westerville, Ohio, and Nick Barr, Cheney, Wash. (five bass, 14-4)
11th: California State University-Monterey Bay – Andrew Sjostrom, Marina, Calif., and Matthew Diaz, Castroville, Calif. (five bass, 13-9)
12th: California State University-Sacramento – Greg and Jeff Taluban, both of Sacramento, Calif. (five bass, 12-10)
13th: University of Nevada-Reno – Jake Tessmann, Minden, Nev., and Bryce Yearman, Sparks, Nev. (five bass, 12-7)
14th: California Polytechnic State University – John Zeolla, Oak Park, Calif., and Kyle Greenlaw, San Luis Obispo, Calif. (five bass, 11-4)
15th: Humboldt State University – Christopher Childers, McKinleyville, Calif., and Erich Coulter, Arcata, Calif. (five bass, 11-1)
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 2015 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
College Fishing is free to enter. 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.