MANY, La. (Nov. 5, 2018) – The East Texas Baptist University duo of Brett Clark of Center, Texas, and Cody Ross of Livingston, Texas, won the FLW College Fishing tournament on Toledo Bend Saturday with five bass weighing 19 pounds, 3 ounces. The victory earned the Tiger’s bass club $2,400 and a slot in the 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship, scheduled for June 4-6, 2019 at the Potomac River in Marbury, Maryland.
“We started fishing up north of the Pendleton Bridge,” said Clark, a junior majoring in marketing. “We were fishing a sharp drop – almost like a ledge. It was 4-feet deep on top, and we had our boat sitting off of it in 20 feet and were just casting up to it.”
“We didn’t catch any fish in the first 35 to 40 minutes, so we packed up and got our life jackets on and went to crank up the outboard motor and it wouldn’t go,” said Ross, a freshman business major. “We tried to get it going for 5 to 10 minutes, then started making some calls to try to scramble and get another boat. Brett was on the phone with our coach and I went to the front and made a couple of casts and ended up catching a good one on a V&M Wild Thang worm.
“Brett hung up with the coach and we spot-locked with our Minn Kota Ultrex and went back to fishing,” Ross continued. “We ended up catching all of our fish there and had our weight by 9:30 or 10 a.m. Once it happened, it happened very quickly.”
The duo said their key baits Saturday was a Texas-rigged V&M Wild Thang worm (red bug) and a Texas-rigged V&M J-Mag worm (plum apple). They also added a few on a Strike King 6XD (brown back and chartreuse) crankbait.
“One of our teammates’ dad happened to be fishing on Toledo Bend as well and was kind enough to let us borrow his boat to finish the day,” Ross said. “We tried fishing similar areas, but the wind had gotten up at that point and the new boat was a little smaller than what we were used to so we fished back into creeks and tried to stay out of the waves.”
“The key for us ended up being the one specific area where we were broke down,” Clark went on to say. “It allowed us to be extremely thorough and really pick apart the entire area. We were confident that we had enough to qualify for the National Championship, but we definitely didn’t expect to win.”
The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2019 College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: East Texas Baptist University – Brett Clark, Center, Texas, and Cody Ross, Livingston, Texas, five bass, 19-3, $2,400
2nd: Texas A&M University – Connor Whisenant, The Woodlands, Texas, and Carter Henderson, Tyler, Texas, five bass, 15-2, $1,000
3rd: Henderson State University – Fletcher Nutt and Bryce Boatright, both of Sheridan, Ark., five bass, 14-6, $700
4th: McNeese State University – Annabelle Guins and Hayden Williams, both of Lake Charles, La., five bass, 12-12, $500
5th: Sam Houston State University – Dillon Harrell, New Caney, Texas, and Taylor Harp, Porter, Texas, five bass, 10-15, $500
6th: Northwestern State University – Maguire Parker and Tyler Pate, both of Stonewall, La., five bass, 10-14
7th: Louisiana College – Trace Moore, Orange, Texas, and Ben South, Jasper, Texas, five bass, 10-12
8th: Lamar University – Luke Potter, Bridge City, Texas, and Stephen Thomas, Woodville, Texas, five bass, 10-10
9th: Louisiana State University – Jordan Davenport, Baton Rouge, La., and Heath Pinell, Plaquemine, La., five bass, 10-8
10th: Stephen F. Austin State University – Will Hughes, Whitehouse, Texas, and Chandler Hayes, Sugar Land, Texas, three bass, 10-5