The Tusculum College Fishing Club took first place in this weekend’s YETI FLW College Fishing Southeastern Conference event at Lake Guntersville.
Tusculum took the top spot with a slim 3-ounce margin over runner-up, the University of Georgia and in the process topped the largest field ever assembled for a college bass fishing tournament at 248 teams.
According to tournament officials, the new participation record eclipses the previous mark of 214 teams set last season at the Bassmaster College Series Southern Regional at Lake Martin. The previous FLW record was set and later matched in 2016 at the FLW College Fishing Open on Kentucky Lake in April and the Southeastern Conference qualifier at Lake Chickamauga in September.
For its win at Guntersville, the Tusculum team of Nick Hatfield, a senior business administration major from Greeneville, and Cory Neece, a junior environmental science major from Bristol, earned a spot in the 2018 FLW College Fishing National Championship. The top 24 teams qualified for the championship from this event: the top 10 plus one additional team for every 10 teams over 100 that participated.
According to Neece, the keys to the team’s success were staying shallow around grass and accommodating for windy, post-frontal conditions.
“We found a lot of fish in practice, but the wind and the mud washed a lot of areas out because it was so bad out there today,” he says. “We had a couple of areas that were protected, and that’s where we caught our fish.”
He added. “You had to fish them real slow and had to pick the area apart to get them to bite, and really we were making multiple casts in the same spot. You know the fish are there. It’s just getting them to bite.”
As a result team being among the top 10 qualifiers in the tournament, the Fishing Club program received a donation of $2,000 from Fishing League Worldwide. The money will be put into the Tusculum Fishing Club program.
The Pioneer Fishing Club is sponsored by Dr. Jason Jones, assistant professor of physical education. Anyone interested in the club should email nickhatfield.nh@gmail.com.
Nick Hatfield and Corey Neece of Tusculum College