FLW College Fishing Western Conference Invitational Set for Clear Lake
OutdoorHub 09.30.14
FLW College Fishing is headed to Clear Lake Oct. 11-12 for the Western Conference Invitational tournament. Forty-five college teams have qualified for this event and will be competing for a top award of $4,000 and a berth in the 2015 College Fishing National Championship.
“My favorite thing about fishing on Clear Lake is the diversity,” said Walmart FLW Tour pro Mark Daniels Jr., of Fairfield, California. “You can fish deep in 15 to 25 feet of water, or fish shallow in 0 to 5 feet of water. That allows for a lot of flexibility. You can fish shallow in the morning and not catch them, then still go fish deep and be in a position to win the tournament.”
Daniels predicted that competitors would find success shallow around the lake’s abundant grass with topwater frogs, jigs and swimbaits, or deep around rock piles with swimbaits, deep diving crankbaits or football jigs.
“For anglers without much knowledge of the lake, I would suggest they stay shallow and try to cover as much water as possible,” Daniels said. “A lot of the college anglers will probably have Navionics chips that show the offshore rock piles, but if you don’t have that information the best way to catch a good bag would be to stay shallow.
“Clear Lake is about 8 feet low right now,” added Daniels. “I’ve never seen it this low in my life. That low water will affect the fishing in a number of ways. The two major creeks in the lake are Cache Creek and Rodman Slough, and you can’t get in either of them right now. It will make the lake fish much smaller.”
Daniels estimated that the winning team would bring in about 44 pounds of bass over the course of this two day event.
Anglers will take off from Konocti Vista Casino Resort & Marina located at 2755 Mission Rancheria Road in Lakeport at 7:30 a.m. each day. Weigh-in will be held at the takeoff location starting at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday and at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Schools that have registered to compete in the Clear Lake tournament, which is hosted by the Konocti Vista Casino Resort & Marina, include:
California Polytechnic State University – Clayton Lauchland, Lodi, Calif., and Jonathan Fagot, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
California Polytechnic State University – John Zeolla, Oak Park, Calif., and Kyle Greenlaw, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
California State University-Chico – Alex Klein, Oroville, Calif., and Jeff Karnthong, Antioch, Calif.
California State University-Chico – Andrew Loberg, Rocklin, Calif., and Michael Braswell, Chico, Calif.
California State University-Chico – Chas Brannon, Santa Maria, Calif., and Michael Woods, Olivehurst, Calif.
California State University-Chico – Kevin Chen and Koulton Westbrook, both of Vacaville, Calif.
California State University-Fresno – Carl Nelson, Hanford, Calif., and Victor Evans, Fresno, Calif.
California State University-Fresno – Cory Kerber, Kerman, Calif., and Joseph Piedimonte, Salinas, Calif.
California State University-Fresno – Jeremy Pitts, Visalia, Calif., and Michael Cantu, Fresno, Calif.
California State University-Long Beach – Justin Gangel, Huntington Beach, Calif., and Alex Cox, Long Beach, Calif.
California State University-Sacramento – Ethan Clark, Elk Grove, Calif., and Matt Pagluica, Cameron Park, Calif.
California State University-Sacramento – Greg Taluban and Jeff Taluban, both of Sacramento, Calif.
Dixie State University – Mathew Baker and Nordel Erickson, both of St. George, Utah
Eastern Washington University – Cy Floyd, Wenatchee, Wash., and Tyler Wasilewski, Cheney, Wash.
Eastern Washington University – Jarred Walker and Nick Barr, both of Cheney, Wash.
Eastern Washington University – Taylor Throop and Mackenzi Brunner, both of Cheney, Wash.
Eastern Washington University – Travis Opel and Steven White, both of Spokane, Wash.
Humboldt State University – Alex Robbins, McKinleyville, Calif., and Joseph Schiavoni, Fairfield, Calif.
Humboldt State University – Christopher Childers, McKinleyville, Calif., and Erich Coulter, Arcata, Calif.
Humboldt State University – Drew White, Danville, Calif., and Graeme Lock, Arcata, Calif.
Humboldt State University – Tristan Merlaud, Sebastopol, Calif., and Rudy Directo, Alpine, Calif.
Northern Arizona University – Jim Herrero and John Herrero, both of Kingman, Ariz.
Oregon State University – Chase Cochran, Corvallis, Ore., and Ryan Sparks, Gearhart, Ore.
Oregon State University – Zach Martinez, Linden, Calif., and Zach MacDonald, Willits, Calif.
San Jose State University – Adam McAndrew, Santa Clara, Calif., and Joey Fortina, Ben Lomond, Calif.
San Jose State University – Patrick Friedman, San Jose, Calif., and Travis Bounds, Roseville, Calif.
San Jose State University – Roberto Munoz, Hollister, Calif., and Andrew Sumi, Hercules, Calif.
Sonoma State University – Brent Nelson, Santa Rosa, Calif., and Jake Banuelos, San Pablo, Calif.
University of California-Santa Cruz – Jason Coslovich, San Jose, Calif., and Tyler Brownell, Santa Cruz, Calif.
University of Idaho – Tanner Mort, Moscow, Idaho, and Austin Turpin, Coeurdalane, Idaho
University of Nevada-Reno – Anthony Milano, Reno, Nev., and Brandon Cramer, Petaluma, Calif.
University of Nevada-Reno – Jake Tessmann, Minden, Nev., and Bryce Yearman, Sparks, Nev.
University of Oregon – Kyle Schneider, Beaverton, Ore., and Jacob Wall, Jacksonville, Ore.
University of Southern California – Nick Nikchevich, Westlake Village, Calif., and Elliott Beckstrom, Santa Cruz, Calif.
University of the Pacific – Ryan Tsuda, Gilroy, Calif., and Sean Widger, Tracy, Calif.
Utah Valley University – Matt George, Orem, Utah, and Clif Gallagher, Eagle Mountain, Utah
Utah Valley University – Stephen Johnson, Bluffdale, Utah, and Joseph Peterson, Orem, Utah
Utah Valley University – Weston Probst, Midway, Utah, and Maegan Birdsey, Orem, Utah
Weber State University – Kory Tams, North Ogden, Utah, and Schafer Summers, Ogden, Utah
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. 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.
Contact
JODY WHITE
COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST
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