Meet the Racers

Murray State headed to CF National Championship

(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.)

Club Web site: www.murraystatebass.org

Q&A

CollegeFishing.com: How were you introduced to fishing?

Tippett: My dad introduced me to fishing as soon as I was old enough to hold a fishing pole. Until I was 16, the only fishing I ever did was on ponds and some old strip pits around home. I got involved with the Junior Bassmasters in 2005 and started fishing bigger lakes. As everyone knows, there is a big difference between fishing ponds and fishing high-pressured, large bodies of water. A guy from my hometown named Mickey Demoss kind of took me under his wing and showed me all the basics about fishing big water. Without his and my dad’s support, there is no way I would be fishing the championship this year. They have been the difference in just another boyhood dream about bass fishing and the possibility of that dream coming true.

Miller: It is kind of strange because my father was not really into the outdoors. My older brother did have a friend that had a lake house and property up in Michigan and he got me into it. We have had some very cool fishing adventures together. For a couple years we lived in the Florida Keys and worked on a charter boat. That was a great experience.

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

Tippett: I am most comfortable fishing off-shore structure, but I also love throwing a spinnerbait around shallow cover. When it comes right down to it, there is no bad way to catch a fish (other than maybe a rattletrap).

Miller: I really like power techniques like flipping, pitching and throwing crankbaits. So I guess I would be most comfortable with dirty, shallow water, but I am learning the deep techniques that my teammate Kalem is so good at. Considering our strengths, I think we make a pretty good team.

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

Tippett: Everything went as well as we could have hoped on the first day of the Regional Championship. Steve and I were sitting in second place, and we felt pretty confident in being able to catch 8 to 10 pounds a day for the remaining two days of the tournament. Needless to say, when we came in with only one fish the second day we were pretty disappointed (maybe even really disappointed). But we ended up squeaking into fifth to qualify for the National Championship. It is pretty awesome to be one of only 25 teams to be competing for $100,000 and a chance to fish the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW Outdoors and the National Guard have done far more than their fair share for college fishing, and I thank them for everything.

As far as preparation goes, I plan on spending at least four days during spring break and possibly three days the weekend before the tournament fishing Ft. Loudoun. If we don’t catch fish in the tournament, it won’t be because we didn’t put our time in practicing.

Miller: I felt a great sense of accomplishment when you consider how many teams there are competing. Each of the four qualifiers has 40 teams and the regional has 20, so to be among the final group of 25 that is going to the National Championship is quite an honor.

As soon as we qualified we started looking at maps and researching online. We are going to use our spring break and a couple weekends in March for on-the-water practice.

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

Tippett: I probably wouldn’t make a very good vegetarian because I don’t really like anything that is green. I am probably one of the pickiest eaters there ever was (not exactly the stereotypical college student who eats anything).

Miller: I bought my boat when I was a senior in high school and instead of going to the senior prom I went to the lake fishing. My girlfriend at the time was not happy.