COLUMBIA, S.C. – When the Columbia PFG College Fishing Presented by Abu Garcia season kicks off with the National Championship on Lake Murray, last year’s winning team of Brody Robison and Peyton Sorrow could have the inside track on some history. In 15 years of national championships, the only time a team has won two is when Jake Gipson and Matt Wercinski went back-to-back in the first two events for the University of Florida in 2010 and 2011. In two prespawn events, one at Fort Loudon and the other at Kentucky Lake, the Gator duo put an indelible mark on college fishing history.
Since then, the National Championship has changed a lot – the events the Gators won had just 25 teams in them fishing out of provided boats, and the quality of competition was not nearly what it is now. In this event, there will be more than 150 teams fishing, and the collection of accomplishments in the field is tremendous – Dylan Nutt won two Toyota Series events, Levi Thibodaux made the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals Championship and Dylan Quilatan set the weight record for a Florida Toyota Series event. Though those 2010 and 2011 fields contained future pro anglers, triple-A winners, tackle shop owners and more, the Gators only had to handle one Jordan Lee.
Last year at Wheeler, the University of Montevallo students were fishing near school, and Robison was armed with a deep well of Tennessee River knowledge. This year, though they’re not the local favorites (that honor goes to Lander University, and especially to Andrew Blanton and Garrett Smith), Sorrow is a Carolina native, and in this one, he’ll get to fish on his home turf.
“My favorite lake in the country by a mile”
Last year on Wheeler – fishing on the Tennessee River, where he learned to fish – Robison took the lead. In fact, that same year, Robison finished 11th in the points in the Toyota Series Central Division – a schedule entirely contested on TVA fisheries. This year, the ball is more in Sorrow’s court.
“Murray is kind of where I learned to fish,” said Sorrow, who is from Abbeville, S.C., in range of the Savannah River fisheries and Murray. “My boat captain in high school, that was his favorite lake. Probably the first time I went down there, I was 12, and I really started going down there all the time when I was 14 – I’ve been fishing tournaments out there since that.”
In high school, Sorrow won a tournament and finished second in one at Murray, and he’s excited to launch the boat there for the National Championship.
“That’s probably my favorite lake, honestly,” he said. “Everywhere I’ve been, Murray is my favorite lake in the country by a mile. There’s 4-pounders everywhere; that place is crawling with fish in the 3- to 5-pound class.”
With a chance to do it big at home, he’s putting his time in.
“Ever since this was announced, I’ve been super excited for it,” he said. “When I was home for Christmas, I spent a ton of time out there, trying to get with the fish and stay with them. Honestly, I’m ready to get out there and get the thing rolling. I’m happy we have the opportunity to go back-to-back. The fact that we won last year, I’m still blown away by that.”
Last fall, Sorrow and Dalton Head won the Bassmaster Team Championship event at Lake Hartwell. Once again, it showed off how deep the Montevallo team is and how well Sorrow is fishing. With 14 teams in the National Championship this year, Sorrow and Robison are just part of the wrecking ball that is Montevallo fishing.
“There’s not necessarily ‘the guy’ on a lot of our teams,” Sorrow said, to explain why the school has been so good so often. “Maybe at first, there is ‘the guy’ in a boat. But, our guys are so open to learning that the other guy can learn fast. The hunger and the drive and the willingness to learn has helped our team tremendously. I know it has helped me a ton.
“Personally, I think I’ve reached a new level in how I approach tournaments and out on the water,” he said. “How me and Brody operate together has shaped how I fish by myself. I’ve learned a lot from him – how to think about things and break things down on the fly not setting a plan and trying to stick to it. I think that’s something we learned to do really well. We’ve been taking that and going out in our endeavors together and separate, and it’s showing.”
Considering how well he’s fishing and the fact that he’ll be competing at home, Sorrow has definitely allowed himself to consider the possibility to go back-to-back.
“It’s hard to even think about,” he said. “You’ve always got that little voice in the back of your head, like, ‘Nah, that can’t happen again.’ But it definitely can. It’s fishing; anybody could win the thing. I’ve thought about it, but I’m trying not to think about it and put pressure on myself.”
No easy path
While a back-to-back win for Robison and Sorrow would be a fun story to write, they have an extremely difficult path ahead of them. Among the more than 150 teams in the event, there are a bunch of accomplished anglers and local talent.
For instance, representing Montevallo as well, Peyton Harris and Head are fishing for their second National Championship win after topping the field in 2023 at the Kissimmee Chain. Also from Montevallo, Connor Bell and Nicholas Dumke are in the field, and Dumke finished second to Robison and Sorrow last year – fishing solo.
The University of North Alabama team has almost too much talent to list – in fact, a lot of the anglers qualified for it will be coming up from the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit event at the Harris Chain to fish the college event. Meanwhile, Blanton and Smith are joined by 10 other duos from Lander, all with strong experience in the Carolinas.
Plus, based about an hour from takeoff at Dreher Island, the University of South Carolina-Union has five teams qualified. Two teams from Erskine College and one Clemson University tandem am round out the local schools that will be in action on Murray. So, there’s no shortage of contenders in this event.