FLW College Fishing Southeastern Conference Opens on Lake Seminole
OutdoorHub 01.21.14
FLW College Fishing is headed to Lake Seminole Feb. 1 for the first of four stops in the Southeastern Conference. Fifty college teams will be competing for a top award of $2,000 and a berth in the Southeastern Conference Invitational tournament.
“I was just fishing on Seminole last week,” said Straight Talk pro Scott Canterbury of Springville, Ala., who finished third when the Rayovac FLW Series visited Lake Seminole in 2013. “The college anglers are definitely going to be fishing shallow. It’s all pre-spawn patterns right now.
“The key to this tournament will be finding the submerged vegetation and fishing around the grass,” Canterbury continued. “Look for the spawning areas. The fish will be staged up on the big flats. If you can find the right grass, hydrilla and coon tails you will have a good shot at winning.”
Canterbury said that he expects the most popular baits in this event to be Rat-L-Traps, jerkbaits and umbrella rigs
“For those that throw a Rat-L-Trap, they’ll be targeting 4 to 8 feet of water,” Canterbury continued. “The umbrella rig guys will be fishing a little deeper, from 6 to 12 feet.
“You’re fishing for eight to 10 bites all day long. You’re not catching 20 fish a day, but the ones that you do catch are going to average 4 or 5 pounds. I think the winning team will bring 24 to 26 pounds to the scales.”
Canterbury said that fish will be caught everywhere, but did give the college teams a little advice on where to start.
“The whole lake is good,” Canterbury went on to say. “But, I like to fish the main lake area within five miles of where the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers meet. I feel like that is the most fertile area of the lake. That being said, you can catch them anywhere on the lake.”
Anglers will take off from Bainbridge Earle May Boat Basin located at 100 Boat Basin Circle in Bainbridge, Ga., at 7:30 a.m. Saturday. Weigh-in will be held at the park beginning at 3 p.m. Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.
Schools competing in the Lake Seminole tournament, which is hosted by the Bainbridge Convention & Visitors Bureau, include:
- Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College – Hunter Coppolino, Fayetteville, Ga., and Taylor Thompson, Kennesaw, Ga.
- Auburn University – William Bates, Suwanee, Ga., and Candler McCollum, Little Rock, Ark.
- Auburn University – Garrett Roberts, Cullman, Ala., and Timmy Ward, Childersburg, Ala.
- Auburn University-Montgomery – Tyler Strock, Slapout, Ala., and Dalton Darnell, Millbrook, Ala.
- Bethel University – Matthew Roberts, Pulaski, Iowa, and Zach Parker, Jackson, Tenn.
- Birmingham-Southern College – Matthew Oliver, Gardendale, Ala., and Garrett Whitworth, Huntsville, Ala.
- Clemson University – Ross Burns, Columbia, S.C., and Isaac Nesbitt, Aiken, S.C.
- Coastal Carolina University – Kristin Forquer, Hedgesville, W. Va., and John Duarte, Middle River, Md.
- Columbus State University – Brad Davis, Winder, Ga., and Nathan Griffin, Midland, Ga.
- Darton State College – Wesley Griner and Will Myrick, both of Leesburg, Ga.
- Daytona State College – Thomas Oltorik, Deland, Fla., and Zach Ford, New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
- East Carolina University – Michael Corbishley, Raleigh, N.C., and Luis Navarro, Del Rio, Texas
- Elon University – William Gilbert, Manchester, Vt., and Nathan James, Greensboro, N.C.
- Faulkner University – Landon Olson, Blairsville, Ga., and Corey Legere, Montgomery, Ala.
- Florida Gulf Coast University – Christian Smith, Coral Springs, Fla., and Hunter Bozeman, Ocala, Fla.
- Florida State University – Cody Spears, Tallahassee, Fla., and Nicholas Harris, Marianna, Fla.
- Georgia College – Clayton Faircloth, Swainsboro, Ga., and Ramsey Wynne, Gray, Ga.
- Georgia Regents University – Wesley Steinmeyer Jr., Appling, Ga., and Justin Gill, Evans, Ga.
- Georgia Southern University – Cody Shepherd and Luke Greenwell, both of Statesboro, Ga.
- Georgia State University – Adam Acker, Douglasville, Ga., and Austin King, McDonough, Ga.
- Lander University – Matthew Smith and James Hunter Smith, both of Honea Path, S.C.
- Middle Georgia State College – Ethan Wallace and Taylor Kirby, Macon, Ga.
- Mississippi College – Quentin Bremenkamp, Gulfport, Miss., and Will Hedgepeth, Clinton, Miss.
- Mississippi State – Taylor Odom, Meridian, Miss., and Josh Cameron, New Orleans, La.
- Newberry College – Michael Sexton, Summerville, S.C., and Joe Tompkins, Charleston, S.C.
- North Carolina State University – Chris Fesmire, Raleigh, N.C., and Kyle Richardt, Lynn, Mass.
- Polk State College – Austin Bell and Forrest Greenfield, both of Winter Haven, Fla.
- Samford University – Andrew Brown and Will Worthington, both of Cullman, Ala.
- Seminole State College – Michael Skat, Sanford, Fla., and Phillip Heyde, South Bend, Ind.
- South Alabama – Ethan Wages and Logan Marston, both of Mobile, Ala.
- Southern Polytechnic State University – Grant Kelly, McDonough, Ga., and David Sherry, Marietta, Ga.
- Tennessee Tech University – Matt Allen, Cookeville, Tenn., and Zach Youngblood, Silver Point, Tenn.
- University of Alabama – Keith Kirkley, Northport, Ala., and Frankie Appaluccio, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
- University of Alabama-Birmingham – Matt Lipscomb, Springville, Ala., and Gregory Cain, Locust Fork, Ala.
- University of Central Florida – Patrick Teaf, Tallahassee, Fla., and Chad Bass, Orlando, Fla.
- University of Florida – Shelby Concon, Fruitland Park, Fla., and Kyle Smith, Macclenny, Fla.
- University of Georgia – Byron Kenney, Griffin, Ga., and Brian Rosso, Watkinsville, Ga.
- University of Mississippi – Christian Braswell, Gulfport, Miss., and Costa Kell, Dallas, Texas
- University of Montevallo – Tanner Ellis and Austin Herring, both of Alabaster, Ala.
- University of North Alabama – Dawson Lenz, Peachtree City, Ga., and Evan Horne, Florence, Ala.
- University of North Carolina-Charlotte – Jacob Whitaker, Fairview, N.C., and Brandon Kersnowski, Waxhaw, N.C.
- University of North Florida – Brock Lee, Jacksonville, Fla., and Rich Rittichai, Orlando, Fla.
- University of Southern Florida – Nick Ahearn, Sebring, Fla., and Matthew Reeves, Hilliard, Fla.
- University of Southern Mississippi – Jeremy McGee, Wiggins, Miss., and Kevin Wabel, Perkinston, Miss.
- University of Tennessee – Jackson Minnich and Parker Hurst, both of Knoxville, Tenn.
- University of Tennessee-Chattanooga – Lance Geren, Cleveland, Tenn., and Parker Bacon, Nashville, Tenn.
- University of West Georgia – Kenny Johnson, Newnan, Ga., and Bradley Rilling, Fayetteville, Ga.
- Valdosta State University – Michael Harback and Taylor Minick, both of Valdosta, Ga.
- Wake Forest University – John Reel, Spartanburg, S.C., and Thomas Gravitt, King, N.C.
- Western Carolina University – Austin Neary, Cullowhee, N.C., and Zack Hicks, Cherokee, N.C.
FLW College Fishing teams compete in three qualifying events in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top 15 teams from each regular-season tournament will qualify for one of five conference invitational tournaments. The top 10 teams from each conference invitational tournament will advance to the 2015 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
College Fishing is free to enter and FLW Outdoors provides boats and drivers for each competing team along with travel allowances. All participants must be registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or university.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing. Visit CollegeFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your school.
