Chico State wins National Guard FLW College Fishing event on Lake Roosevelt

Team nets $10,000 in scholarships

The top-five teams acknowledge the crowd during the finals of the National Guard FLW College Fishing event at Lake Roosevelt.

April 18, 2009 • MLF • Abu Garcia College Fishing

ROOSEVELT, Ariz. – The Chico State team of Matt Dixon and Spencer Moran, both of Chico, Calif., won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Western Division tournament on Lake Roosevelt Saturday with six bass weighing 15 pounds even. The victory earned the team $10,000 to be split evenly between the school and the school’s bass-fishing club.

“This is unbelievable,” Moran said. “We wanted it so bad and we fished so hard. It was well worth it.”

Moran said the team’s day started out slowly, so they relocated and Moran soon hooked a 7-pounder on a Senko.

“We were freaking out and jumping around and had to sit down in the boat for like 10 minutes and just breathe,” Moran said. “We were giving high-fives and everything it was so exciting.”

Moran said the team caught 10 to 15 fish during the course of the day, including six fish that measured more than 16 inches. The team threw spinnerbaits when it was windy and dragged Senkos and focused on deep structure with soft plastic baits weighted heavily.

“We’re so used to fishing from the shore,” Moran said. “This time we got to go out in a brand new Ranger with a super cool pro with all of these gizmos and gadgets and trolling motors … the experience was unbelievable. We had so much fun.”

“We had a great day of fishing and we just lucked out,” Dixon added. “I’m looking forward to regionals at the Delta. And the next tournament is at Lake Oroville, and that’s our home lake, so I’m pretty pumped for that.”

Rounding out the top five teams are University of Oregon – Carter and Ryan Troughton of Discovery Bay, Calif., (five bass, 10-14, $5,000); San Jose State University – Glen Wyatt of Vallejo, Calif., and Eric Andersen of San Jose, Calif., (five bass, 9-8, $4,000); Arizona State University – Mitch Kistner of Mesa, Ariz., and Craig Carroll of Chandler, Ariz. (five bass, 9-4, $3,000); Arizona State University – Brandon Service of Tempe, Ariz., and Jon Prosch of Scottsdale, Ariz. (five bass, 7-14, $2,000).

FLW Outdoors announced the College Fishing trail in May 2008. The entire schedule, which is organized around the five Stren Series Divisions can be found by visiting CollegeFishing.com, along with the rules, requirements and information on how to create a bass club.

Full time students enrolled in four year colleges or universities are eligible to participate in the events. Schools in each division can send two-person teams to each of the four qualifying events in their division, with each event limited to a maximum of 40 teams. Each team will have an opportunity to win $10,000 for first and $2,000 through fifth place. The prize money will be split evenly between the winning team’s club and the school they represent. The tournaments are free to enter, boats and drivers will be provided and all collegiate teams will receive a travel allowance. The top five teams in each of the qualifying events will advance to one of five televised three-day FLW National Guard Regional Championships.

Each school represented in a televised Regional Championship will have team shirts and boats provided by Ranger. The purse for each Regional Championship will be a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard wrapped in school colors for the winning club and $25,000 for the school they represent. Awards of $6,000 will also extend through fifth place for the club and school to split evenly.

The FLW National Guard College Fishing National Championship will be a three-day televised event hosting the top five teams from each regional, 25 total teams. The teams will be provided with team shirts and wrapped Ranger boats towed by Chevy trucks for this competition. The purse for the championship will range from $25,000 cash and a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard wrapped in school colors and $50,000 for the school they represent to $15,000 for fifth, split between the club and school.

The winning team will be declared the FLW National Guard Collegiate National Champion and will qualify for the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup presented by BP and Castrol in 2010. The winners will also receive use of a wrapped boat and Chevy truck for the Forrest Wood Cup.

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.