T
SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE – LAKE GUNTERSVILLE – FEB. 25
usculum College anglers Nick Hatfield of
Jonesborough, Tenn., and Corey Neece
of Bristol, Tenn., topped the largest field
ever for a collegiate bass fishing event – 248
boats – to win at Lake Guntersville. The pair
sacked a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds,
13 ounces by targeting prespawn bass at the
very back of shallow-water pockets using lip-
less crankbaits.
Hatfield and Neece caught all their fish on
two baits – a Strike King Red Eye Shad in sexy
shad color and a royalty-colored BOOYAH
One Knocker.
“We were sitting in 2 feet of water and
fishing really, really shallow,” says Hatfield, a
senior business administration major. “Our
trolling motor kept hitting the bottom and
kicking up mud, and we had to raise it up.”
The anglers had to deal with windy, post-
frontal conditions that complicated their
plan to fish shallow, but according to Neece,
a junior environmental science major, finding
protected pockets was key. They caught all
their fish out of two wind-protected pockets
by fishing slowly and methodically, often
making multiple casts to the same spot.
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