KIMBERLING CITY, Mo. (April 9, 2016) – The Western Illinois University team of Alexander Bouldin of Girard, Illinois, and Matt Wolz of Joliet, Illinois, won the FLW College Fishing Central Conference tournament on Table Rock Lake Saturday with five bass weighing 16 pounds, 14 ounces. The victory earned the club $2,000 and advanced the team to the 2017 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
“Our goal was to come into this event and make the top-10 cut,” said Wolz, a junior majoring in fire science. “The entire tournament was a great experience. We couldn’t be more excited about making a run for the national title.”
The duo said they built their winning limit running the backs of isolated pockets on the James River, just south of Piney Creek.
“We focused on transition areas where bass were schooling around edges of small chunk rock and pea gravel,” said Bouldin, a senior majoring in law enforcement and justice administration. “We just kept trying to key in on the finer rock by cranking a jig in there and ended up catching some nice smallmouth early.”
“I think we hit eight or nine different pockets and fished slower through the areas that produced during practice,” said Wolz. “We wanted to keep dragging on those rocks in spots that fit our schooling pattern. It was nice to really slow down and see what the lake could produce.”
The duo said they primarily used a green-pumpkin-colored Gene Larew Biffle Bug rigged on a Biffle HardHead Jig, as well as a green Storm Wiggle Wort. The team’s stringer consisted of two smallmouth and three largemouth bass.
“We only had eight or nine bites all day, luckily five of them were the right kind,” said Bouldin.
The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2017 College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: Western Illinois University – Alexander Bouldin, Girard, Ill., and Matt Wolz, Joliet, Ill., five bass, 16-14, $2,000
2nd: Northern Illinois University – Chris Kobitter, Libertyville, Ill. & Riley Rollette, DeKalb, Ill., four bass, 16-11, $1,000
3rd: Missouri State University – Grant Gaskill, Sullivan, Mo., and Brandon Duemmel, Jefferson City, Mo., five bass, 16-2, $500
4th: University of Dubuque – Brian Goebel, Gratiot, Wis., and Austin Brimeyer, Dubuque, Iowa, five bass, 15-10, $500
5th: McKendree University – Reece Ellerbusch, Belknap, Ill., and Austin Chapman, Blue Mound, Ill., five bass, 15-3, $500
6th: Eastern Kentucky University – Logan Gabbard, Richmond, Ky., and Steven Petz, Strongsville, Ohio, five bass, 14-12
7th: McKendree University – Austin Niggli, Highland, Ill., and Brock Wilke, Saint Rose, Ill., five bass, 14-9
8th: University of Missouri – Austin Culbertson, Columbia, Mo., and Chandler Robertson, Sparta, Mo., five bass, 14-6
9th: Iowa State University – Dylan Rague, Carroll, Iowa, and Pat Morrison, Omaha, Neb., five bass, 14-4
10th: Moraine Valley Community College – Andrew Jensen and John Neubauer, both of Oak Lawn, Ill., five bass, 14-0
This FLW College Fishing Central Conference opener was the first regular-season qualifying tournament in the Central conference. The next event for Central Conference anglers is a tournament scheduled for May 14 on Lake Barkley in Kuttawa, Kentucky.