EKU Wins Kentucky Lake Open

The Eastern Kentucky

University (EKU) bass team won its second college fishing title, back-to-back in fact, at the 2011 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Open on Kentucky Lake out of Paris, Tenn. last Thursday.

The team format of the Open allows each college club to send as many teams as they like,

with each team consisting of up to six anglers and three boats. EKU

claimed the Open title in 2010 when Tyler Moberly and Kyle Raymer

competed as a single boat team. This year, Tyler and Kyle, along with

teammates Jonas Ertel, John Smith, Matt Salmons and Will Pope, fished as

a three boat team and combined their talents and knowledge of Kentucky

Lake to successfully defend their Open title with a total weight of

42.73 pounds for two days and three bass per boat per day allowed.

 
Ertel and Moberly shared a boat and

located several schools of suspended bass, catching more than 100 fish per day,

including 50 small keepers. The pair also fished a spot that

yielded some better quality bass using swimbaits. Although their

teammates weren’t catching big numbers of bass, they succeeded in

catching some bigger fish from ledges with worms and jigs that helped

propel the EKU team to victory. The EKU anglers wish to thank J&J Marine,

who repaired an electrical problem with one of the boats at no charge

following the first day of competition.

 
After finding themselves in third place with

23.83 pounds on day one, The University of North Carolina-Charlotte team amassed a

tournament total of 41.27 pounds, which was good enough to claim second

place on Friday. Teammates, Eric Self, Tyler Beam, Shane Lehew and Adam Waters

shared three sweet spots located on main river ledges that produced

approximately 100 bass, with most in the 2 1/2-pound range. The

majority of the bass the team brought to the scale were caught using a

combination of Strike King 6XD crankbaits, 12-inch Berkley Power Worms and

watermelon craw ER football jigs.

 
Finishing in third place with a total

weight of 39.45 pounds, the University of North Alabama bass team stayed

close to Paris Landing Marina and maximized their fishing time. The

team caught all their bass from three sweet spots. One was a 20 feet deep

river ledge, another was a shell bed positioned on an island point and

the third spot was a sharp point on a river ledge that dropped from 10 to

19 feet and featured heavy cover. A combination of football jigs and

Carolina rigged soft plastics proved effective for tempting more

than 150 bass to bite. The team explained that they utilized their

Lowrance HDS Structure Scan units to locate the fish and their HydroWave

units to activate the schools of bass.

 
Adam Wozek, representing the

University of Tennessee-Knoxville, secured the Costa overall big bass

and Berkley day one big bass awards for his team by landing a 9.49-pound

lunker on a spot that teammate, David Lambert, located during the Open

event last year. The big bass was fooled with a Carolina rigged Berkley

Power Worm and was positioned on a shell bed located on a river ledge

that dropped from 13 to 15 feet.

 
The University of

Tennessee-Chattanooga team claimed the Berkley day two big bass award

when Robby Crosslin boated a 7.54 pound bass that was coaxed into biting

a Carolina-rigged Berkley Power Worm.

 
Rounding out the top 10:
 
4           Tennessee-Chattanooga             38.79
5           Northwest Shoals                                     37.88
6           Murray State                                                 37.05
7           Austin Peay                                                    36.95
8           Purdue                                                                 34.76
9           Tennessee-Martin                                  33.61
10         Louisville                                                         33.28

For complete standings, photo album and additional information, please visit CollegiateBassChampionship.com