The
Utah Valley University team of Zachari Taylor and Aaron Warner won the
National Guard FLW College Fishing Western Conference event on Clear
Lake Saturday with five bass weighing 19 pounds, 10 ounces. The victory
earned the team $5,000. The win also helped them advance to the Western
Conference Regional Championship.
“This was both
mine and Zach’s first time on the lake,” said Warner. “Neither one of us
knew the lake at all so we started out doing what we know best,
drop-shotting, and caught a couple of bass right away. Things just kept
going from there. The morning bite was hot, we had six bass in the first
three hours and then nothing for the last three.
“We tried to keep
it simple and stick with things that we know work in Utah, Warner
continued. “We were mostly drop-shotting Robo Worms, beavers, and
Senkos.”
The team from
Utah Valley was originally wait listed and didn’t really expect to fish
much less win the tournament. They went along for the ride with another
team from Utah Valley with the hopes of getting the opportunity to fish
and maybe learning something new on a different lake if by chance they
did get the opportunity to fish. Neither young man ever expected today’s
outcome.
“Once we found
out that we jwere in the tournament our only goal was to catch five
fish,” said Taylor. “I think the biggest thing for us today was that we
were patient and really slowed down our fishing.
“We caught two
fish off of beds, this was the first time I have ever bed fished,”
Taylor went on to say. “We would cast on the beds and then back-off so
as not to spook the bass. We were two for two. Drop-shotting Robo Worms
and Senkos worked awesome for us.
Rounding out the top five teams and also advancing to the Central Regional Championship are:
2nd: Colorado State University – Keane Velez, Fort Collins, Colo., and Benjamin Robey, Pleasant Hill, Iowa
(five bass, 18-6, $1,500)
3rd:
Humboldt State University – Jen Edgar, Arcata, Calif., and Derrick
Hicks, Lincoln, Calif. (five bass, 16-15, $1,000)
4th: Arizona State University – Chris Fairbanks, Mesa Ariz., and Doug Coplan, Tempe, Ariz. (five bass, 14-6, $1,000)
5th: Humboldt State University – Joe Won, Arcata, Calif., and Shaun Maki, Chino Hills, Calif. (five bass, 13-15, $1,000)
