Fishing team members net strong finishes at events

The Georgia College Bass Fishing Team had a wonderful Christmas break tournament and is off to a great start for the Spring 2011 semester.

Christmas break is a busy time for everyone, but Tyler Fiscus, a junior environmental science major, and Jared Hendrix, a sophomore environmental science major, showed dedication and strength during their participation in the Auburn Christmas Clash.

The Auburn Christmas Clash is a fishing tournament that was held December 27-29, 2010 on West Point Lake in LaGrange, Ga.

The duo came in fourth place despite the brutal weather conditions and strong competition.

The tournament was two days of fishing and the team with the greatest weight at a five fish maximum took home the win.

Fiscus and Hendrix placed fourth, weighing in at 4.15 pounds on the second day of the tournament.

The weather was cold and the fishing was rough for the tournament participants.

After the first day, 10 out of 15 boats had fish, each with just one. The second day a mere five out of 15 had fish and those were ultimately the top five finishers.

“The fishing and weather were brutal, but when it’s like that you just have to do better than anyone else,” Hendrix said. “You just have to stick it out because you never know when you will get the bite that counts.”

The 18 member team participates in around one tournament per month, meets monthly, and practices whenever the weather is good.

“You know that if the weather is good, you are going fishing when you get out of class,” Hendrix said.

“We learn from each other. You have to learn from practice. Every time you go out on the water you learn something new,” Fiscus added.

The team’s dedication and practice has them named as a top 10 college fishing team.

Another successful pair attended the 2011 College FLW tournament at Lake Okeechobee and competed against 40 schools from across the southeast in the division qualifier on January 8th.

Mitchell Dockery, a sophomore engineering major, and Jared Kutil, a senior marketing major finished the tournament in 9th place.

“We are really proud that we were able to fish out of our element in south Florida and come back with a strong top ten finish for Georgia College,” Kutil said.

They placed 13th last year and outdid themselves this year despite the undesirable weather.

“The unfavorable conditions and limited fishing time did not stop us from having fun and catching three Okeechobee bass for eight pounds, eight ounces; with the largest being a six and a half pound giant caught by Mitchell,” Kutil said.

The next College FLW Southeast Division Qualifier is February 26, on Lake Guntersville in northern Alabama.

Currently, holding the number one spot for the Georgia College fishing team standings is Zach Olson, a senior marketing major who has been with the team since his freshman year.

“We all work very hard to represent Georgia College at the highest levels of competitive bass fishing. It is an honor to be on top of the leader board on a team with so many great anglers,” Olson said.

His dedication to the team and countless hours practicing and participating in tournaments has really paid off.

“While bass fishing does involve a great deal of skill, preparation and dedication, like any sport, a touch of luck here and there never hurts,” Olson said.

The team has been on campus since spring of 2008. Their current officers are President Walker Smith, Vice President Josh Futch and Tournament Director Zach Olson.

Dr. Allen Gee is the current faculty advisor.

Many members of the fishing team have fished for Georgia College since their freshman year and have been bass fishing since an early age.

“Bass fishing is a passion of mine. I breath, eat and sleep bass fishing,” Fiscus said.

Posted by Brooks McAlister on Jan 27 2011. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.