Meet the Hornets
Peter Lee and Robert Matsuura of Sacramento State share their thoughts about qualifying for the 2011 FLW College Fishing National Championship
(Editor’s note: Leading up to the 2011 National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship, slated to be held April 7-9 on Kentucky Lake at Murray State University, CollegeFishing.com will be publishing semiweekly feature stories highlighting the 25 national championship qualifiers. At stake in the tournament is a first-place prize package worth $100,000 as well as a chance for the winning team to compete in the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup.)
Class: Senior
Major: Criminal Justice
Hometown: Fresno, California
Other interests: I’m a huge sports fan, particularly football and basketball. My favorite NFL team is the Philadelphia Eagles and my favorite NBA team is the San Antonio Spurs. My favorite athlete of all-time is Tim Duncan from the Spurs because he illustrates how basic fundamental skills win not only games, but multiple championships.
Class: Junior
Major: Geography
Hometown: Sacramento, Calif.
Other interests: Wakeboarding.
Club Web site: sacstatebassfishing.com/
Q&A
CollegeFishing.com: How were you introduced to fishing?
Lee: I was first introduced to fishing by my dad. At a very early age my family and I would go out to the San Joaquin River right below Friant Dam in my hometown of Fresno, Calif., to fish for newly stocked trout by the Department of Fish and Game. It was here where I first learned how to tie my first fishing knots and ultimately catch my first fish.
Matsuura: My dad introduced me to bass fishing at a very young age. He had a blue Ranger with a 150-horsepower Mercury on the back that I will never forget. I rarely got to go fishing with him and my older brother because I was too young and did not know how to swim. When I was old enough to go, bass fishing was all I could think about. My toys as a child weren’t action figures, they were toy Ranger boats. I would actually pretend my living room was a lake and the rugs were waves.
CollegeFishing.com: What style/method of fishing are you most comfortable with?
Lee: The style I am most comfortable fishing with is Texas Rig – preferably with a baby brush hog to finish things off. This is what I first used when I started bass fishing so why change a good thing?
Matsuura: I’m most comfortable flipping and throwing topwater baits down in the Delta.
CollegeFishing.com: What did it feel like to qualify for the 2011 FLW College Fishing National Championship? How do you plan to prepare for the big event?
Lee: It is truly an honor to have qualified for such a unique and competitive fishing tournament. The National Guard and FLW Outdoors truly bring a fishing fantasy to life for me and many other college anglers who have qualified for this tremendous championship tournament. In preparation for such a big event, held on what I consider to be the foreign waters of the Midwest, I plan to do a lot of map homework and try to eliminate as much water as possible. That way I can keep my line in the water and hopefully get the strikes we need to bring the National Championship title home to Sacramento.
Matsuura: It feels awesome to qualify the championship. The main reason is just that chance to qualify for the Forrest Wood Cup. Since I am from the west region I am at a big disadvantage as there really isn’t much I can do to prepare. The one thing I have been doing is analyzing past FLW events and reading articles on the internet. But it’s mostly all dock talk and I never really rely on it.
CollegeFishing.com: Tell us something interesting about yourself that most people wouldn’t know.
Lee: Unfortunately for this section of the questionnaire there is not too much I have to say. I tend to be the type of person that does not have too much to hide; thus most people that I meet can take me as I am – a typical working college student who has an extreme passion for bass fishing.
Matsuura: N/A