SANDUSKY, Ohio (Sept. 11, 2017) – The Adrian College duo of Chase Serafin of Highland, Michigan, and Cody Batterson, of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, won the FLW College Fishing Northern Conference tournament at Lake Erie Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 2 ounces. The victory earned the Adrian bass club $2,000 and the team will now advance to compete at the 2018 FLW College Fishing National Championship, scheduled for May 30-June 2 on the Red River in Shreveport, Louisiana. It was the second-straight Northern Conference victory for the Adrian College bass club teammates Jarrett Martin and Zachary Graham earned a win on Lake Chautauqua in New York in July.
“It felt great to get the win,” said Serafin, a junior, majoring in business marketing. “We’ve got a lot of experience on Erie, and we had caught some good fish in practice. But, there was a small-craft advisory on the lake Saturday, so we were restricted to fish just in Sandusky Bay.
“We scrambled to look at our maps and we found two marinas that looked promising,” Serafin continued. “The first one we pulled into, another team from Adrian College was already in there. So we went to our second one and we started smashing them, right in the mouth of the marina. We drifted into the marina. There were only eight docks, but we caught at least 50 largemouth there.”
Serafin said that they caught their first limit on an Ike’s Old School-colored Rapala DT6 crankbait, then Serafin switched to a custom jig – homemade by teammate Conner Goff – with a Bugsy Baits USA Sick Craw trailer, while Batterson switched to a Smack Daddy Tube.
“You had to be snapping or cracking the jig and tube,” Serafin said. “You’d snap it two or three times and they’d crush it on the fall.
“I think the key for us was just finding that marina,” Serafin went on to say. “I think the fish were trying to leave and go to the main lake, but the wind just grouped them up back into the marina. It was an awesome day of fishing.”
The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2018 College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: Adrian College – Chase Serafin, Highland, Mich., and Cody Batterson, Pleasant Hill, Iowa, five bass, 17-2, $2,400
2nd: University of Michigan-Dearborn – Vincenzo Puleo, Wyandotte, Mich., and Austin Klotz, Westland, Mich., five bass, 16-12, $1,000
3rd: Slippery Rock University – Ryan Kozlowski, Cranberry Township, Pa., and Nathan Quince, Imperial, Pa., five bass, 15-2, $700
4th: Adrian College – Jarrett Martin and Zachary Graham, both of Gallipolis, Ohio, five bass, 14-12, $500
5th: Hocking College – Ross Holbrook, Somerset, Ohio, and Kyle Waller, Thornhill, Ohio, five bass, 14-3, $500
6th: Bowling Green State University – Corey Miller, Perrysburg, Ohio, and Jason Bailey, Port Clinton, Ohio, five bass, 14-1
7th: Adrian College – Zach Manneback, Howell, Mich., and Gunner Wilson, Fenton, Mich., five bass, 14-0
8th: University of Pittsburgh – Michael Dunn and Henry Colberg, both of Pittsburgh, Pa., five bass, 12-13
9th: Ohio State University – Jacob Jesionek, Hudson, Ohio, and Mason Dejarnette, Marysville, Ohio, five bass, 12-9
10th: Ramapo College – Alex Johnson, Milltown, N.J., and Zachary Orsino, Westville, N.J., five bass, 12-0
This FLW College Fishing Northern Conference event at Lake Erie was the third and final regular-season qualifying tournament for Northern Conference anglers in 2017. The next FLW College Fishing event will be a Southern Conference tournament, scheduled for Sept. 23 on the Red River in Shreveport, Louisiana.