YETI FLW COLLEGE FISHING WINNING TACTICS
ON TOUR
YETI FLW COLLEGE FISHING
YETI FLW COLLEGE FISHING WINNING TACTICS
By Chad Love
72 noRtheRn conFeRence lake eRIe – sept. 9 adRIan colleGe
high winds stacking up fish in a protected marina was the key to victory for the Adrian College duo of Chase Serafin of Highland, mich., and Cody Batterson of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, who won the YETI FlW College Fishing Northern Conference tournament at lake Erie presented by Bass Pro Shops on Sept. 9. Their five-bass limit weighed 17 pounds, 2 ounces.
A small craft advisory on lake Erie the day of the tournament limited options for Serafin and Batterson, so they remained in Sandusky Bay and focused their efforts on a wind-protected marina. That pattern paid off, as the two quickly found fish.
“ I think the key for us was just finding that marina,” says Serafin, a junior studying business marketing.“ I think the fish were trying to leave and go to the main lake, but the wind just grouped them up back into the marina. It was an awesome day of fishing.”
Batterson, a sophomore biology major, caught the majority of his fish snapping a mike’ s Rx Baits tube( green pumpkin) through scattered eelgrass around the marina, while Serafin used a homemade jig tipped with a Bugsy’ s Baits USA Sick Craw trailer.
“ You had to be snapping or cracking the jig and tube,” Serafin says.“ You’ d snap it two or three times, and they’ d crush it on the fall.”
The pair also caught fish on a Rapala DT6( old school) crankbait and a Rapala BX Brat( haymaker).
soUtheRn conFeRence Red RIveR – sept. 23 lsU shRevepoRt
the lSU Shreveport team of Harrison Hopkins of Bossier City, la., and Ryan Antee of Hosston, la., barely had to crank its motor to win the YETI FlW College Fishing Southern Conference tournament at the Red River presented by Bass Pro Shops Sept. 23.
Hopkins and Antee stuck within a few hundred yards of the launch site in Bossier City, la., to catch a five-bass limit weighing 11 pounds, 7 ounces.
During the first couple hours of the tournament the pair threw a black buzzbait in 3 to 4 feet of water in and around a stump field they had pre-fished in practice. Once the sun got up, they targeted laydowns and brush piles by flipping a Texas-rigged Zoom UV Speed Craw.
“ Practice was really key for us in this tournament,” says Hopkins, a sophomore majoring in business.“ We found our fish on Wednesday and left them alone until the morning of the tournament. luckily, they were still there.”
“ We got three good keepers off the morning buzzbait bite, including one that was our biggest of the tournament,” says Antee, a sophomore business major.“ After the topwater bite slowed down we went to our midday pattern, where we ended up catching two more decent keepers to fill out our limit.”
flWfIshIng. com I november-december 2017