BEDFORD, Va. (May 1, 2017) – The Community College of Baltimore County duo of Michael Duarte and Matthew Iman, both of Baltimore, Maryland, won the FLW College Fishing Northern Conference tournament on Smith Mountain Lake Saturday after weighing a five bass-limit totaling 17 pounds, 13 ounces. The win earned their club a $2,000 scholarship and advanced the team to the 2018 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
“A win like this means a lot for our club,” said Iman, a sophomore majoring in nursing. “I think it will help us get the word out, and maybe even get more people to be involved. Michael (Duarte) and I just love to fish. We make a great team.”
Iman said the two started off the event by catching their biggest fish – a 6½-pounder – with a topwater bait off of a secondary point on the bend of a pocket. Around 10:30 a.m., they made their way up the Roanoke River.
“We stumbled upon some bedding fish when we pulled into one of our areas way up the Roanoke,” said Duarte, a freshman majoring in business and marketing. “The first one I caught was suspended under a dock. When they suspend under docks back home, that tells me they’re getting ready to pull up or are already spawning. We went along the shoreline and saw more fish spawning between the docks. They were stacked in there. We worked along a 100- to 200-yard stretch until 1 p.m., caught a limit, and culled once.”
Duarte said they used a wacky-rigged Yamamoto Senko to catch their fish, and rotated in a drop-shot rig with a Strike King Dream Shot when they wanted to place bait right on the spawning bed.
“The biggest key was hiding behind docks so the bass couldn’t see us,” said Duarte. “We would pull up, and if we didn’t get a certain bass to bite, we’d leave and come back to it after 15 minutes.”
The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2018 College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: Community College Baltimore County – Michael Duarte and Matthew Iman, both of Baltimore, Md., five bass, 17-13, $2,000
2nd: Liberty University – Brian Travers, West Jefferson, N.C., and Caleb Unger, Fry Fork, Va., five bass, 17-5, $1,000
3rd: Adrian College – Jarrett Martin and Zachary Graham, both of Gallipolis, Ohio, five bass, 16-5, $900
4th: The Apprentice School – Hunter Atkins, Carrsville, Va., and Kitt Moger, Suffolk, Va., five bass, 15-14, $500
5th: Adrian College – Caleb Taylor, Zionsville, Ind., and Nickolas Marsh, Commerce Township, Mich., five bass, 14-15, $700
6th: Schoolcraft College – Clayton Hatton, South Lyon, Mich., and Anthony Gilmore, Livonia, Mich., five bass, 14-14
7th: West Virginia University – Nolan Minor, Charlottesville, Va., and Casey Lanier, Sanford, N.C., five bass, 14-12
8th: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University – Elliott Roberson, Claudville, Va., and Ross Adams, Stuart, Va. five bass, 14-10
9th: Liberty University – Landon Riggleman, Lynchburg, Va., and Ethan Pitts, Gibsonia, Pa., five bass, 14-10
10th: Radford University – Zack Lemaster, Bedford, Va., and Matthew Cooley, Chesterfield, Va., five bass, 14-8