Meet the Hokies

Virginia Tech heading to CF National Championship

Virginia Tech anglers Andrew Blevins and Carson Rejzer start the final day of competition with a 3-pound lead. Photo by Brett Carlson. Anglers: Wyatt Blevins, Carson Rejzer.

February 11, 2010 • Brett Carlson • Abu Garcia College Fishing

(Editor’s note: Leading up to the inaugural National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship, which will be held at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tenn., April 10-12, CollegeFishing.com will post semiweekly feature stories highlighting the 25 teams that qualified. At stake in the tournament is a prize package of $100,000 and a chance to compete in the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup.)

Name: Andrew (Wyatt) Blevins (pictured at left)

Class: junior

Major: Fisheries Science

Hometown: Pulaski, Va.

Other interests: any competitive game

Name: Carson Rejzer (pictured at right)

Class: sophomore

Major: Building Construction

Hometown: Hampton, Va.

Other interests: hunting, saltwater fishing and anything outdoors

Club Web site: bassfishingteamatvt.com

Q&A

CollegeFishing.com: How were you introduced to fishing?

Blevins: I got started young. My first fish was a 25-pound king salmon in Alaska. I was born up there and still go back every summer to commercial fish for salmon with my family. After that fish the rest is history; my entire family helped my addiction mostly my uncles and my father. I like all types of fishing but one uncle in particular got me hooked on bass fishing so I guess I have him to thank for instilling my passion for tournament fishing.

Rejzer: My first fishing trip was when I was barely a year old. I’ve had a rod in my hand since before I can remember (somewhere around the Fisher-Price spincast era). I started out saltwater fishing and did some freshwater on the side, but really got into freshwater fishing when I was around 11.

CollegeFishing.com: What style/method of fishing are you most comfortable with?

Blevins: I like to think that I’m good at a little bit of everything. But growing up on a heavily pressured lake, finesse fishing has grown on me – whether it’s drop-shotting or finesse fishing a football jig. The drop-shot is probably my favorite for catching a limit though. No matter what lake I’m on it always seems to produce. Although they aren’t always big it makes me a feel a lot better when I get that fifth fish in the boat and can start looking for upgrades.

Rejzer: I’m most comfortable with shallow water and structure fishing. Typically I throw a jig or some sort of soft plastic.

CollegeFishing.com: What did it feel like to qualify for the inaugural National Championship? How do you plan to prepare for the big event?

Blevins: After I got over the disappointment of not being able to defend our day-two lead of 3 pounds (still kind of bitter about that) it was a good feeling of accomplishment. Not many kids in college get to say that they were in a national championship regardless of the sport. I just hope that I can make our fans and my family proud. I wouldn’t be where I’m at as a fisherman without my family.

As for practice, hopefully I’ll get down a few times before the off-limits period just to get a lay of the lake. I think knowledge of the lake’s features will be the best weapon because with the competition that’s going to be there you’ll have to know some secret spots where you can go and produce some fish in clutch situations. Hopefully growing up fishing river systems will give us an advantage over some of the West Coast teams. The other thing I’m hoping on is the smallmouth population. I don’t think that you can win on smallmouths (because of the size limit) but a team that can go out and catch a few over the size limit will have an advantage.

Rejzer: The Northern Regional Championship on Norman was by far my best tournament-fishing experience. It was disappointing to lose the top spot, but it will only make us stronger in the future. A lot of things went wrong that day and it really hurt us. Some were avoidable while others weren’t, but we learn from our experiences. We showed up to that tourney to make the top five, and I am very pleased to say that we did just that.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the National Championship. I’ve been doing a lot of research and it sounds like we’ll be there at the right time of year. As of now, I’m planning on getting out there as many times as I can before the tournament. It’s going to be a couple long trips, but this isn’t one you want to go unprepared to.

CollegeFishing.com: Tell us something interesting about yourself that most people wouldn’t know.

Blevins: Like I said earlier I was born in Alaska along with five of my six sisters (yes, six sisters). My family commercial fishes for salmon every summer and we still go back. We moved down here when I was young but we still have our house and land up there. It is probably my second favorite place in the world besides our home in Pulaski. The only reason I like it here better is because of the bass fishing.

Rejzer: I couldn’t tell ya.