Drury Wins on Lake of the Ozarks
Docks and brush are the ticket for Breeden and Smith
The Drury University duo of Cole Breeden of Eldridge, Missouri and Cameron Smith, of Nixa, Missouri, won the YETI FLW College Fishing event on Lake of the Ozarks presented by Bass Pro Shops with a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 9 ounces. The victory earned the Panthers’ bass club $2,650 and a slot in the 2020 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
“On our second day of practice for this tournament, we had found a few keepers biting out of brush piles in the Grand Glaize arm, so our plan was to start the tournament there,” says Smith, a junior at Drury University majoring in biology.
“Around 10 a.m. we had only caught two fish, and they were little ones,” adds Breeden, a sophomore majoring in architecture. “We knew we weren’t around the fish that we needed to do well, so we ended up running 5 or 6 miles to some new areas that we had caught fish at last year – basically looking for brush piles around docks.”
The duo says that they caught around 10 fish throughout the day targeting the docks – Breeden throwing a ½-ounce brown Chompers Football Jig with a green-pumpkin-colored Strike King Rage Craw, and Smith throwing a green-pumpkin brush-style jig with a green-pumpkin and purple-colored Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw trailer.
“We got our first bites when we were halfway back into the creeks, and that really clued us into where the fish were setting up, so we started hitting the middle halves of the creeks,” says Smith. “We were looking for bait – we could see big bowls of shad swimming around – and most of the fish came from the sides of the docks.”
Top 10 teams
1st: Drury University – Cole Breeden, Eldridge, Mo., and Cameron Smith, Nixa, Mo., five bass, 18-9, $2,650
2nd: Eastern Kentucky University – Mason Moore, Waynesburg, Ky., and Logan Estes, Kings Mountain, Ky., five bass, 15-4, $1,200
3rd: McKendree University – Tyler Christy, Bolingbrook, Ill., and Devan Rathbun, five bass, 14-10, $500
4th: McKendree University – Blake Jackson, Carterville, Ill., and Trevor McKinney, Benton, Ill., five bass, 14-7, $500
5th: Bemidji State University – Luke Gillund, Ham Lake, Minn., five bass, 12-15, $500
6th: University of Wisconsin-Stout – Will Reichert, Vernon Hills, Ill., and Noah Lindus, Woodville, Wis., four bass, 12-13
7th: University of Wisconsin-Platteville – Seth Korb, Custer, Wis., and Josh Gruen, La Crosse, Wis., five bass, 12-12
8th: McKendree University – Trey Schroeder, Crestwood, Mo., and Bailey Bleser, Burlington, Wis., five bass, 12-8
9th: Murray State University – Jordan Hartman, Murray, Ky., and Will Gentry, Utica, Ky., five bass, 11-12
10th: University of Wisconsin-La Crosse – Brady Fernette, La Crosse, Wis., and Devin Wallin, Soldiers Grove, Wis., five bass, 11-4
The YETI FLW College Fishing event on Lake of the Ozarks presented by Bass Pro Shops was hosted by the Tri-County Lodging Association. It was the third and final regular-season qualifying tournament for Central Conference anglers. The final event of the 2019 season for FLW College Fishing anglers will be a Southeastern Conference event – the YETI FLW College Fishing tournament on Lake Hartwell presented by Costa, Nov. 1 in Hartwell, Georgia.
YETI FLW College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. All participants must be registered, full-time students at a college, university or community college and members of a college fishing club that is recognized by their school. The top 10 teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open will advance to the 2020 FLW College Fishing National Championship, scheduled for Feb. 26-28 on the Harris Chain of Lakes in Leesburg, Florida. Additional teams will qualify for the National Championship if the field size in regular-season events exceeds 100 boats.