Fishing team hooks top-three sweep

The GCSU bass fishing team remained in Milledgeville during the last weekend of spring break to sweep the three top spots in a local tournament.

Georgia Southern hosted the first-ever Georgia Southern Collegiate Bass Fishing Series “Sinclair Showdown” on Lake Sinclair this past Saturday.

The GCSU fishing team entered eight teams, competing against 14 other teams from Southern, Abraham Baldwin, Valdosta State, the University of Georgia, Southern Polytechnic State and South Carolina.

Seniors Matt Henry and Kyle Edenfield show off their tournament-winning catch this past Saturday at the “Sinclair Showdown.” Henry’s largest fish (center) was the second biggest overall at the event.

Teams scoured the lake from 7 a.m. until the weigh-in at 3 p.m. for the largest five fish they could catch. The total weight of the fish made up the final score.

When all the totals had come in, GCSU swept the top three spots. The top pair was seniors Matt Henry and Kyle Edenfield. Freshman Grant Kelly and sophomore Tyler Fiscus placed second, and brothers Matt (freshman) and Mitch (sophomore) Dockery came in third. An award was also given for the largest single fish caught during the tournament. Henry, the fishing club’s president, caught the second largest fish overall, a bass weighing just over five pounds.

Knowing the lake was certainly beneficial for the GCSU team. Henry estimates that team members are on the lake practicing three or four times per week.

Kelly was able to take advantage of his experience on Lake Sinclair.

“I decided back during the winter that I would fish one spot during the tournament with high hopes of catching fish from it. My partner and I caught around 40 fish during the tournament. This key area held 90 percent of the fish we caught,” Kelly said.

Henry founded the club three years ago with current junior Jared Kutil. Henry has been fishing since he was two years old and wanted to represent GCSU at the competitive collegiate level.

“The collegiate fishing season runs year round, but the majority of the tournaments take place in the spring. There are approximately 20 tournaments that college teams can compete in over one year,” Henry said.

Edenfield, Henry’s partner for the tournament, decided to join the team after meeting Henry.

“I mainly compete because I fished constantly before I got to GCSU, but the main reason that I am on the team is because of Matt Henry,” Edenfield said. “I met him in class, and he introduced me. From that moment on I was hooked.”

The Dockery brothers (freshman Matt, left, and sophomore Mitch, right) bag their fish for the weigh-in at the Sinclair Showdown this past Saturday.

The fishing team has been looking to attract new members and gather support for the team. They receive funding from the university and some of the members adorn their vehicles with large magnets with the GCSU Fishing Team logo. The added awareness has lead new students to join the team.

“I have fished all of my life so when I heard GCSU had a fishing team, it helped me decide on going to GCSU,” Kelly said.

As the day warmed up, supporters of the team arrived to cheer the team on. Edenfield was glad that the day turned out so well.

“It was amazing to compete on our lake, and I have to say that we stood up to the challenge as a team by taking first, second, and third,” Edenfield said. “The guys on this team are awesome people and amazing fishermen, and we stood strong and protected our home waters well.”

Posted by Drake Simons on Apr 1 2010. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry