GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (March 5, 2018) – The University of Tennessee team of John Lambert of Blountville, Tennessee, and Logan Brewster of Maryville, Tennessee, won the largest collegiate fishing tournament of all-time – 273 boats – Saturday at the FLW College Fishing tournament on Lake Guntersville. The duo weighed a five-bass limit of 25 pounds, 9 ounces to best the massive field, which included Jake Fromm, starting quarterback for the NCAA College Football National Championship runner-up Georgia Bulldogs.
The victory earned the Volunteers bass club $2,400 and a spot in the 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship. Eleven limits in excess of 20 pounds were brought to the scale.
“We only caught 8 fish all day long, but they were the right size,” said Lambert, a sophomore majoring in construction science. “We were fishing in an area right across from the takeoff ramp at the State Park. We had our boat sitting in 6 feet of water and we were throwing into 2 feet, just slow burning our ChatterBaits over the grass.”
“The area we were fishing in Seibold Creek, targeting the grass,” said Brewster, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering. “We were very thorough – we knew the fish were there.”
Lambert said that he and his partner each threw green-pumpkin-colored vibrating jigs – Brewster, an EverGreen Jackhammer, and Lambert, a Z-Man Original ChaterBait, with green-pumpkin Yamamoto Zako swimbait trailers.
“I caught a couple on a RyPro Cyclebait, but all of our limit that we weighed came on the ChatterBaits,” Lambert said. “It took us awhile to figure it out, but slowing down was key for us. We had to fish it over the grass, but slowly.”
“The bait had to be ticking the bottom or the grass to trigger the bites, you couldn’t burn it too fast,” Brewster added.
The top 10 teams on Lake Guntersville that advanced to the 2019 College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: University of Tennessee – John Lambert of Blountville, Tenn., and Logan Brewster, Maryville, Tenn., five bass, 25-9, $2,400
2nd: University of South Carolina – Trevor Topken, Warwick, N.Y., and Brandon Biby, New City, N.Y., five bass, 24-7, $1,000
3rd: Bethel University – Cole Walker, Counce, Tenn., and Wilson Smith, Southaven, Miss., five bass, 22-4, $500
4th: University of North Alabama – Drake Tavel, Dora, Ala., and Parker Davis, Morris, Ala., five bass, 22-2, $700
5th: Mississippi State University – Tristan Hendrix, Hoover, Ala., and Grant Hyche, Sterrett, Ala., five bass, 22-0, $500
6th: Bethel University – Dax Ewart, Humboldt, Tenn., and Logan Millsaps, Jasper, Ga., five bass, 21-15
7th: University of Montevallo – Dallin Hatter, Brookwood, Ala., and J.T. Russell, McCalla, Ala., five bass, 21-4
8th: Calhoun Community College – Christopher Lupo, Huntsville, Ala., and Austen Willard, Athens, Ala., five bass, 20-14
9th: Presbyterian College – Thomas Broom and Andrew Snellgrove, both of York, S.C., five bass, 20-12
10th: Auburn University – Sean Murphy, Lutz, Fla., and William Phillips, Auburn, Ala., five bass, 20-5