Bobcat Bassmen place 2nd Regional Finals

I won’t lie, when I first developed the idea for this blog, I figured that I would write about rugby, water polo, and maybe rodeo.  However, I was shocked to discover the number of bass fishing clubs and college fishing tournaments.  Every year, students from around the country represent their schools and fish competitively on the National Guard FLW College Fishing tournament.  Winners get scholarship money, and a chance to compete for the Forrest Wood Cup.

Teams are broken into five regions–Northern, Central, Southeast, Western, and Texas.  The Texas region includes teams from the Lone Star State, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexico.  College fishing does not care what conference (or NCAA status) your football team is in, as long as you are a four-year school.  Texas State anglers find themselves competing against dozens of schools throughout the region including A&M, LSU, Tarleton State, SFA, and North Texas.

In Mid-November, Texas State students Jay McCollum and Davis Cosner traveled to Natchitoches, LA to compete in the Texas Regional Championship.   Their three day total of 27 lbs, 9 ounces was  good enough to finish in 2nd place out of 20 teams.  The second place finish netted the duo $25,000 (with $12,500 for Texas State and another $12,500 for their club), and gives these Bobcat Bassmen an opportunity to participate in the National Championship tournament held in Knoxville Tennessee on April 10th – 12th, 2010.

Accompanying Texas State in the National Championship Tournament will be the rest of the Texas Region Top 5-

1. Texas A&M University
2. Texas State University
3. Tarleton State University
4. Northwestern State University
5. Baylor University

The following is an excerpt from College Fishing.com –

“I started second-guessing myself this morning, and I really had to tell myself to slow down,” Cosner said. “I started off fishing a jig, but then I started throwing a spinnerbait, and it paid off. We caught all of our keeper fish on spinnerbaits.”  The Texas State anglers used ½-ounce white Booyah spinnerbaits. Given the day’s dim conditions, they switched from metallic blades to painted blades. They caught their fish on spinnerbaits with chartreuse willow blades and white Colorado blades.   “The water was murky, and it was on the rise from all the heavy rain,” Cosner said. “Also, the sun wasn’t out, so metallic blades wouldn’t flash.”  McCollum said that diligence was his biggest ally today: “I had a plan, and that plan was to throw a spinnerbait all day. If I hadn’t have caught my last fish when I did, I probably would have put that rod down because my wrist was killing me.”

More information, including photos from this tournament can be found at – http://www.collegefishing.com/championship/2009-Northwestern-State-University.cfm

Chris Lehman

chris@bobcatfans.com