Sam Houston State University fishing team of Clint Nowell and Jeff Randolph won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Texas Division event on Cross Lake Sat. with four bass weighing 15 pounds, 15 ounces. The victory earned the team $10,000 to be split evenly between the university and the university’s bass-fishing club. The win also helped them advance to the Texas Division Regional Championship where they could ultimately win a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower engine wrapped in school colors for their school’s club and $25,000 for the school they represent.
“This is awesome,” Randolph said. “There is no other place that you can do this, except for FLW. I am just feeling so lucky. We drove around the lake last night for about two hours, and then I finally found a lighted dock that looked good. It was in about 11-feet of water and I knew the fish would be coming to the top for warmth. The dock was also close to some brush piles that really helped too. We didn’t catch a lot, but it was enough!”
“Jeff had me driving around for hours last night,” Nowell said. “But then he finally saw the dock and knew it was the one that would work for us. We basically stayed in the same spot all day; we just kept going in one big circle! We caught ‘em all on peanut butter and jelly football jigs.”
Although this was the first time the team fished Cross Lake, the duo placed fourth at the Toledo Bend tournament last October to qualify for the 2009 Texas Regional, and they look forward to going back in 2010.
Rounding out the top five teams were Angelo State – Josh Seale and Austin (one bass 7-14, $5,000); Texas A&M – Paul Manley & Andrew Adcock (one bass, 5-10 $4,000); Texas A&M, Kingsville – Cody Burell & Jerod Hawkes (one bass, 5-4, $3,000); Stephen F. Austin – Robert Platt and Ryan Watkins (one bass, 3-8, $2,000).
FLW Outdoors announced the College Fishing trail in May 2008. Full-time students enrolled in four year colleges or universities are eligible to participate in the events. Schools can send two-person teams to each of the four qualifying events in their division, with each event limited to a maximum of 40 teams. Each team has the opportunity to win $10,000 for first through $2,000 for fifth place. Prize money is split evenly between the winning team’s club and the school they represent. The tournaments are free to enter, boats and drivers are provided by FLW and all collegiate teams receive a travel allowance. The top five teams in each qualifying event advance to one of five televised three-day National Guard FLW College Fishing Regional Championships.
