on tour
mIssIssIPPI rIvEr, PraIrIE du CHIEn, WIs. – juLy 9
uW-PLattevILLe WInS centraL conference fInaLe
t
by Dominick Schenewerk
he mississippi river at Prairie du Chien was the site of the 2016 FLW College Fishing Central Conference season
finale, where 85 teams competed to qualify for the 2017 FLW College Fishing national Championship. despite the
risks and time loss associated with locking from one pool to the next, many teams chose to make the gamble. For
the university of Wisconsin-Platteville team of Colby Peterson and aaron gohla, the gamble paid off, and the Pioneers
earned the victory with a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 8 ounces.
“We had to lock up to Pool no. 9, and with the way barge traffic works, we were not really certain when the lock would
let us through [on the way back],” says gohla, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering. “We did not want to risk it and
not be able to get back to weigh-in on time, so we had to lock back through at 11 a.m.”
The pair scoured a 300-yard stretch and caught fish consistently every
few minutes within two passes between 8:30 and 10 a.m. of these relatively
rapid catches, eight of the fish were keepers, and the team culled only once.
gohla threw a Texas-rigged black and blue yamamoto senko with a
1/4-ounce weight, while Peterson threw a black and blue berkley Havoc
Pit boss. Their biggest catch of the day came on Peterson’s Pit boss.
The uW-Platteville team fished one other spot in Pool 9 with no luck
before locking back into Pool 10, where takeoff was held, and fishing
the rest of the day without catching any fish big enough to allow them
to cull. However, their limit held up at the scale, and gohla and
Peterson left the tournament with a win, qualification for the 2017
national Championship and $2,000 in club scholarships.
“We held our own out there, but never expected to win,” says
Peterson, a senior majoring in industrial technology management.
“We’re two of our club’s oldest members, so I guess it was our turn.”
CHauTauqua LakE, CHauTauqua, n.y. – juLy 23
Penn State dead-StIckS dockS for nortHern vIctorY
t
by Dominick Schenewerk
110
o close out the 2016 FLW College Fishing northern Conference season, 64 college teams tackled Chautauqua Lake
in hopes of sacking up enough weight to advance them to the 2017 FLW College Fishing national Championship. To
win it, the Penn state university team of Clayton Frey and derek Horner fished more than 100 docks in a prime area
of the lake to haul in five bass weighing 13 pounds, 3 ounces.
“I had a pretty decent plan, and it was to hit bemus bay first, then hit some docks on the south side of the lake,” says
Horner, a junior majoring in rehabilitation and human services. “Early in the morning we caught a couple in bemus, and
then I caught one good one about an hour into the tournament, and then another 2-pounder.
“When we got to the docks down south, the fish just weren’t there,” he continues. “We spent probably too much
time there trying to make them bite when they weren’t there, so my game plan was always to come back and hit
bemus because the fish always seem to reload up there.”
Horner and Frey booked it back to bemus to search out the rest of
their limit using a cinnamon brown-colored yamamoto senko as their
primary lure and a green pumpkin jakked baits football-head jig
rigged with a green pumpkin strike king rage Craw as a backup.
“We didn’t really pick apart any docks with the senko when we
returned unless we had caught fish on them previously,” adds Frey, a
junior wildlife and fisheries science major. “It was more just moving
through them and getting a couple of casts to them. We would just
cast the senko and let it sink to the bottom. you really didn’t have to
work it much.”
after a heartbreaking experience for Horner when a 5-pounder
broke him off on a dock, the team recovered with 10 minutes before
weigh-in and landed its final keeper. That last fish earned the club the
victory, $2,000 and a slot at the championship.
fLWfISHInG.com I october-november 2016