Stephen F. Austin Wins College Fishing event on Toledo Bend with 19-1

6/20/2010 7:41:01 AM

College team fishes deep with Rapala crankbaits and big worms to take title


The Stephen F. Austin team of Robert Platt of Orange Park, Fla., and Ryan Watkins of Nacogdoches, Texas, won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Texas Division event on Toledo Bend Saturday with six bass weighing 19 pounds, 1 ounce. 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 bass club and $25,000 for the school they represent.
 
“We started out deep first thing in the morning and never got shallower than 19 to 25 feet all day long,” said Watkins, who is a junior kinesiology major. “We fished the north end of lake where there are a bunch of ridges and brushpiles. We threw a Rapala DT16 shad-colored crankbait and alternated that with an 11-inch NetBait soft plastic worm and a Red Bug-colored Zoom Trick Worm.
 
“The big one came on the crankbait,” Watkins added. “For some reason, they weren’t eating a drop shot (rig), so we relied on the Texas rigs and soft plastics. Our crankbait bite really died because of the lack of wind, but we ended up catching the majority of everything before 8:30. We caught our last keeper at 12:15.”
 
Watkins said the weather was perfect for the event, with just enough wind to keep the team cool.
 
“You know, the best thing about today was not winning the money,” said Watkins, who won the 2009 College Fishing event on Toledo Bend. “The best thing was winning back-to-back tournaments. It’s been a long time since I won back to back. It means a lot to me and adds a lot of credibility to my career and is always fun. But to do it at this level makes it that much sweeter.”
 
Rounding out the top five teams were LSU – Douglas McClung of Gramercy, La., and Travis Laurent of Gonzales, La., (six bass, 17-5, $5,000); Lamar University – Matt Morrison of Silsbee, Texas, and Danny Iles of Hemphill, Texas, (three bass, 12-6, $4,000); Baylor University – Brian Bauer of Waco, Texas, and Joseph Garland of West, Texas, (five bass, 12-2, $3,000); LSU-Shreveport – Gavin Havard of Bossier City, La., and Joe Landry of Shreveport, La., (three bass, 8-13, $2,000).
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