HOT SPRINGS, Ark. (Sept. 22, 2013) – The University of Arkansas team of Kenneth Anderson and Drew Porto, both of Fayetteville, Ark., won the FLW College Fishing Southern Conference tournament on Lake Hamilton Sunday with five bass weighing 7 pounds, 14 ounces. The victory earned the club $2,000 and advanced the team to the FLW College Fishing Southern Conference Invitational tournament.
“The first time that Drew or I had ever seen the lake was this morning,” said Anderson, a senior majoring in Landscape Architecture. “It feels great to come out and get the win. We have a lot of experience at Sam Rayburn, and we’re pumped that we qualified for the Invitational.”
The Razorback duo said that they were more comfortable fishing deep water, and opted to not head to the bank like the majority of competing teams Sunday.
“We had a game plan coming in to fish deep,” said Porto, a senior Business Marketing major. “Most Arkansas lakes are pretty similar, and we thought that those fish were probably still transitioning from their summer patterns. A lot of teams focused on the shallow water, but we knew coming in that we wanted to target the deep points at the mouths of creeks.”
The team used a combination of Bomber Fat Free Shad crankbaits and a Yum Money Minnows to catch an estimated 12 fish throughout the day and bring one of only four five-bass limits to the scales.
“We’re super excited to get a chance to fish the Invitational,” Porto went on to say. “We both love Sam Rayburn and it is a great match for our preferred fishing styles. Just like this event, we’re not going to have any time at all to pre-fish. But we’re going to try our best, and see what happens.”
The top 15 teams that advanced to the Southern Conference Invitational tournament are:
1st: University of Arkansas – Kenneth Anderson and Drew Porto, both of Fayetteville, Ark. (five bass, 7-14, $2,000)
2nd: Stephen F. Austin University – Shelby Hutchens, Spring, Texas, and Owen Best, Buna, Texas (five bass, 7-0, $1,000)
3rd: Northeastern State University-Tahlequah – Dylan Duncan and Kyrston Dozier, both of Kansas, Okla. (five bass, 6-11, $500)
4th: Henderson State University – William Stone, Arkadelphia, Ark., and Theron Asbery, Grove, Okla. (five bass, 5-14, $500)
5th: Baylor University – Tyler Torwick, San Diego, Calif., and Connor Case, Plano, Texas (four bass, 5-13, $500)
6th: Texas A&M University – Brennan Fertig, Medina, Texas, and Adam Weesner, Sugar Land, Texas (four bass, 5-12)
7th: University of Arkansas-Little Rock – Zachary Rollings and Tyler Hamby, both of Bryant, Ark. (four bass, 5-2)
8th: University of Arkansas-Monticello – Richard Harris and Ryan Crowley, both of Monticello, Ark. (four bass, 4-13)
9th: University of Oklahoma – Caleb Masters, Bixby, Okla., and Johnathan Haines, Tulsa, Okla. (four bass, 4-13)
10th: Henderson State University – Shane Stoddard, Hot Springs, Ark., and Cobey Wingfield, Malvern, Ark. (four bass, 4-8)
11th: Southern Arkansas University – Jose Cifuentes, Clinton, Ark., and Lindsey Witham, Benton, Ark. (three bass, 4-5)
12th: Louisiana Tech University – Tyler Moses, Deville, La., and Brandon Greco, Shreveport, La. (four bass, 3-14)
13th: Lamar University – Justin Royal, Evadale, Texas, and Colby Ogden, Kountze, Texas (three bass, 3-11)
14th: Tarleton State-Stephenville – James McCaleb, Stephenville, Texas, and Marshall Hughes, Port Neches, Texas (three bass, 3-11)
15th: Harding University – Todd Tyler Williams, Southwest Ranches, Fla., and Jordan Smith, Searcy, Ark. (two bass, 3-8)
Three regular-season qualifying events are held in each conference – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Texas and Western. The top 15 teams from each qualifying tournament will advance to one of five two-day FLW College Fishing Conference Invitational tournaments, where the first-place team wins $4,000 for their club. The top 10 teams from each Conference Invitational advance to the 2014 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.
The FLW College Southern Conference Invitational tournament is scheduled for Oct. 5-6 at Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Jasper, Texas, and is hosted by the Jasper-Lake Sam Rayburn Area Chamber of Commerce.