Fishing continues success, prepares for championship

The Georgia College Bass Fishing team has been reeling in big catches and scores to finish up this semester.

The team has excelled year after year, and is currently ranked No. 7 in the nation out of approximately 300 colleges and universities.

The Georgia College team travels all over the southeastern United States to compete in tournaments.

The 16 member team recently had a club qualifier on March 12 and 13 to get team standings.

Of the 16 members, 13 participated in both days of the tournament. The two day tournament went really well and had some strong finishes.

The two day tournament was held on Lake Sinclair.

The team launched and weighed in at Little River Marina.

The purpose of a team qualifier is to rank the team in order according to the number of total points earned. These total points earned determine which team members will receive the privilege of traveling to upcoming tournaments to represent Georgia College.

The tournaments adhere to a very specific set of guidelines.

For the tournament, club members are paired up as boaters and non-boaters. These pairings are done through a random drawing to keep the teams of two as fair as possible.

Each member fishes for a five fish limit with the goal of having the most weight. The fish must be a minimum of 12 inches in length to count towards the total weight.

At the end of the day they weigh their five biggest fish and get points according to the total weight. In addition to the points received from their total weight, they receive 10 points just for showing up at the tournament.

“We are so excited to be traveling back to the championship, and we really hope to top our 8th place finish from last year.”

Grant Kelley, Sophomore angler

All tournaments are required to adhere to the catch and release rule, which means they throw back all of your fish at the end of the day. Also, it is required that they only use artificial bait as opposed to live bait.

The tournament was complete with two full days of fishing from sunrise to 3 p.m. On the first day of the tournament, every competitor caught at least one fish.

On the second day of the tournament, every competitor but one caught at least one additional fish.

The top three competitors were senior marketing major Zach Olson, senior management major Walker Smith, the team’s current president, and sophomore pre-engineering major Grant Kelley.

“I really feel like my preparation and determination paid off,” Olson said. “In bass fishing, as with any sport, it is really important to keep your head in the game and be able to react to change. Staying determined for the tougher conditions on day two really paid off with a close win.”

“I just love the competitive nature of bass fishing as a sport,” Kelley said. “I have been on the team for two years now and enjoy everything about being outdoors fishing with the team. Our team is really close and resemble a tight knit family.”

The team will host their last club qualifier for this season on April 2, at Lake Oconee.

“We really have some great anglers at this school and it is always a privilege and a challenge to compete against them,” Olson said.

The team is really pumped up about the College Bass Fishing National Championship that is rapidly approaching.

The championship will be held in May 2011 in Texas. The tentative members that will be attending the championship include Olson, Smith, Kelly, and sophomore engineering major Mitchell Dockery. In last year’s championship, the team placed eighth

“We are so excited to be traveling back to the championship and we really hope to top our eighth place finish from last year,” Kelly said.

Posted by Brooks McAlister on Apr 2 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.