OSAGE BEACH, Mo. (Oct. 22, 2019) – The Drury University duo of Cole Breeden of Eldridge, Missouri and Cameron Smith, of Nixa, Missouri, won the FLW College Fishing tournament on Lake of the Ozarks with a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 9 ounces. The victory earned the Panthers’ bass club $2,650 and a slot in the 2020 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
“On our second day of practice for this tournament, we had found a few keepers biting out of brush piles in the Grand Glaize arm, so our plan was to start the tournament there,” said Smith, a junior at Drury University majoring in biology.
“Around 10 a.m. we had only caught two fish, and they were little ones,” added Breeden, a sophomore majoring in architecture. “We knew we weren’t around the fish that we needed to do well, so we ended up running 5 or 6 miles to some new areas that we had caught fish at last year – basically looking for brush piles around docks.”
The duo said that they caught around 10 fish throughout the day targeting the docks – Breeden throwing a ½-ounce brown Chompers Football Jig with a green-pumpkin-colored Strike King Rage Craw, and Smith throwing a green-pumpkin brush-style jig with a green-pumpkin and purple-colored Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw trailer.
“We got our first bites when we were halfway back into the creeks, and that really clued us into where the fish were setting up, so we started hitting the middle halves of the creeks,” said Smith. “We were looking for bait – we could see big bowls of shad swimming around – and most of the fish came from the sides of the docks.”
The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2020 College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: Drury University – Cole Breeden, Eldridge, Mo., and Cameron Smith, Nixa, Mo., five bass, 18-9, $2,650
2nd: Eastern Kentucky University – Mason Moore, Waynesburg, Ky., and Logan Estes, Kings Mountain, Ky., five bass, 15-4, $1,200
3rd: McKendree University – Tyler Christy, Bolingbrook, Ill., and Devan Rathbun, five bass, 14-10, $500
4th: McKendree University – Blake Jackson, Carterville, Ill., and Trevor McKinney, Benton, Ill., five bass, 14-7, $500
5th: Bemidji State University – Luke Gillund, Ham Lake, Minn., five bass, 12-15, $500
6th: University of Wisconsin-Stout – Will Reichert, Vernon Hills, Ill., and Noah Lindus, Woodville, Wis., four bass, 12-13
7th: University of Wisconsin-Platteville – Seth Korb, Custer, Wis., and Josh Gruen, La Crosse, Wis., five bass, 12-12
8th: McKendree University – Trey Schroeder, Crestwood, Mo., and Bailey Bleser, Burlington, Wis., five bass, 12-8
9th: Murray State University – Jordan Hartman, Murray, Ky., and Will Gentry, Utica, Ky., five bass, 11-12
10th: University of Wisconsin-La Crosse – Brady Fernette, La Crosse, Wis., and Devin Wallin, Soldiers Grove, Wis., five bass, 11-4