Texas State-ment

Cosner-McCollum propel Texas State University atop leaderboard at 2010 FLW College Fishing National Championship

Texas State University team member David Cosner proudly displays his catch. Texas State University went on to grab the top qualifying spot heading into the finals of the 2010 FLW College Fishing National Championship. Photo by Gary Mortenson. Anglers: David Cosner, Jay McCollum.

April 11, 2010 • Gary Mortenson • Abu Garcia College Fishing

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – They say that everything is bigger in Texas. And so far that’s proven to be the case after the second day of competition at the 2010 National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship. With two Texas teams surviving today’s top-five cut – Texas State University and Texas A&M – it’s abundantly clear which state has bragging rights heading into the final day of championship competition Monday.

“It’s amazing,” said Texas State University team member David Cosner. “I’ve been fishing since I was 9 years old, and I never thought I’d make it to this point. We’re definitely surprised to be in first place. But we knew we had to catch at least one big fish every day, and that’s what we did. And it’s paid big dividends.”

“It feels awesome,” said Cosner’s teammate Jay McCollum. “This is only the first year we’ve had a bass club, so to be in first place at the national championship right now is just amazing. It’s a dream come true.”

Amazingly enough, while many teams had scouted Fort Loudoun Lake for weeks, Texas State University arrived at the start of the event with virtually no practice time at all.

“We only had one day of practice on Friday,” said Cosner, whose team recorded a tournament best two-day stringer weighing 22 pounds, 13 ounces. “But honestly, I think that helped us a little bit. We didn’t head out there with any preconceived notions. We just decided to fish our style and stick to our strengths, and it’s worked out.”

While the team members wouldn’t divulge exactly what presentations and strategies they have employed to date, they did give out a few hints.

“We’ve used the same pattern each of the past two days, and we’ll do the same thing again tomorrow,” said Cosner, who wowed his traveling fan base by weighing in a largemouth bass in the 6-pound range at both Saturday and Sunday’s weigh-ins. “We’re really covering a lot of water, and we’re catching fish at a variety of depths. Overall we’re making about a 15- to 20-minute run.”

With a 14-ounce lead and the top qualifying spot under their belts, do they like their chances of walking away with the tournament title and a $100,000 prize package during Monday’s final day of competition?

“I feel good about tomorrow,” said Cosner. “But I don’t want to assume anything. Whether we finish in first place or fifth place, we’ve had an amazing experience. It’s really been a lot of fun.”

University of Florida vaults into second place

After a decidedly mediocre day on the water during the opening day of competition, the University of Florida team of Jake Gipson and Matthew Wercinski knew they had to dramatically shake things up or be prepared to be sent packing. Relying on their past experience, the University of Florida team reached down deep, changed strategies and netted a monster 15-pound, 9-ounce stringer – more than 4 pounds greater than any other team during today’s competition. That brought their two-day total to 21 pounds, 15 ounces, which was good enough for a second-place qualifying finish.

And they couldn’t have been happier.

“It feels great,” said Gipson of his team’s accomplishment. “We spent a lot of time up here practicing, so when we came back to weigh-in yesterday (with a 6-pound, 6-ounce catch), we were really disappointed.

“Heading into today, we said we had to take a gamble. We had been running down the lower lake, where we had caught fish in practice, but it didn’t work out on that first day. So we decided to spend most of today fishing the middle lake. We thought if we could come back with 16 pounds, we might have enough to qualify for the finals. And we pulled it off. It’s just amazing.

“I still can’t believe we finished in second place,” continued Gipson. “We’re just so frustrated yesterday. We fished about 25 areas and only caught short fish. Then, toward the end of the day, we pulled up to a spot we found in practice and caught a few fish. And that really salvaged our day. And today, we went back to that spot, and that’s where (Matt) caught his two big fish.”

“It’s really unbelievable,” said Wercinski. “I didn’t catch a fish at all yesterday, and I weighed in two today that were about 6 pounds apiece. So I’m pretty happy right now.”

The duo said they are attacking Fort Loudoun Lake from a variety of angles.

“We’re fishing both shallow and deep,” said Gipson. “We’re targeting main-lake points, and we’re also fishing real shallow spawning areas. We have one primary pattern and a few secondary patterns to work with. And so far, it’s worked out.”

Texas A&M maintain grip on third place

While teams were bouncing all over the leaderboard in today’s competition, there was one bit of consistency in the form of Texas A&M. For the second day in a row, Texas A&M teammates Paul Manley and Andrew Shafer held on to third place overall. And because of that, they are now one of five teams fishing for a national championship title.

“It feels amazing,” said Shafer, whose team recorded a two-day total weight of 19 pounds, 13 ounces. “This is what we worked so hard for. Hopefully tomorrow we can go out there and win it.”

“It feels good,” said Manley. “We practiced for two weeks and been up here since March 26. So it’s pretty cool to see our hard work pay off.”

The duo said they’ve been targeting shallow rocky banks with crankbaits in the early morning hours and then switching up to a flipping technique once the sun rises higher in the afternoon hours.

“We’ve been fishing in anywhere from 2 to 10 feet of water, but our biggest fish have come in a foot of water or less,” said Manley. “We’ll probably do a lot of the same things tomorrow, but if conditions present themselves, we might do a little sight-fishing as well.”

Auburn tumbles to fourth

The Auburn University team of Dennis Parker and Shaye Baker were really looking like the team to beat after the first day of competition. However, all that changed on day two. Although the duo has still recorded the only 16-pound-plus stringer to date, their meager day-two total left them with a combined weight of 17 pounds, 12 ounces and a fourth-place qualifying position.

So while the bad news for the team is that they dropped out of first place, the good news is that they still qualified for the final day of competition despite their less-than-stellar day on the water.

“Our pattern that we had died today when the wind and the current died,” said Parker.

However, although the team would have liked to have done better on the second day of tourney action, they said that they were still more than pleased to be one of only five teams to qualify for the finals.

“It’s just an unbelievable opportunity to fish in the finals regardless,” said Baker.

Murray State University grabs last qualifying spot in finals

The most fortunate team in the entire championship to date has to be Murray State University. After turning in an outstanding performance of 15 pounds, 12 ounces in yesterday’s competition, the duo of Kalem Tippett and Steve Miller came up completely empty during today’s action.

As a result, both Tippett and Miller had to sweat out the entire weigh-in as each of the 25 teams took to the scales in an effort to knock them out of the finals. But in the end, only four teams recorded more weight, so, consequently and despite the long odds, Murray State University moved on to the finals.

“We squeaked in there,” said Tippett, clearly relieved by the amazing turn of events. “The second day always seems to come back and bite us. The same thing happened during the regionals as well. But we’re happy we made it. We’re really going to have to swing for the fences tomorrow.”

The 2010 National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship resumes Monday morning. The top five college teams will depart Ned McWherter Riverside Landing Park, located at 1648 Riverside Drive in Knoxville, at approximately 7 a.m. to kick off the final day of competition.