As befits a competition where a national title is at stake, the 2025 Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI National Championship Presented by Columbia PFG was a seesaw, day-to-day battle that demanded smart adjustments to changing conditions on Wheeler Lake. The Montevallo University team of Peyton Sorrow and Brody Robison earned the Falcons’ second National Championship in three years with a three-day total of 64 pounds, 15 ounces.
Here’s how the Top 10 got their jobs done at Wheeler Lake.
1. Sorrow and Robison move deeper to pick up Natty win
Newly crowned National Champions Sorrow and Robison made hay on Days 1 and 2 on shell beds running 2 to 5 feet deep before following the fish to deeper main-channel stumps up to 10 feet deep on the final day. A handful of baits accounted for the Montevallo team’s fish throughout the week, starting with gizzard shad-imitating 5-inch plastics like a Z-man Scented JerkshadZ on 3/16- and 1/4-ounce Queen Tackle L.S. Tungsten Jighead.
A Megabass Ito Vision 110 jerkbait, BOOYAH One Knocker lipless in golden shiner and unnamed Neko-rigged 6-inch worm also helped fill out their limits. Robison fished Hammer Rods while Sorrow fished 7-foot, 2-inch medium spinning rods and a 6-10 medium jerkbait rod from Khaotic Kustom Rods.
2. Dumke goes solo, finishes second with current-break pattern
Nicholas Dumke fished solo for the tournament and never dropped below third place, eventually finishing 5-15 back of fellow Montevallo anglers Robinson and Sorrow for second place. To catch his fish, Dumke spent his time in current-related hot spots, primarily targeting shell bars, stumps and rock piles.
Dumke’s baits of choice: a Rapala PXR Mavrik 110 in the pro blue color tied to Sufix Advance fluorocarbon (12-pound-test) spooled on a Shimano Curado 70 MGL K paired with an Ark Tharp Series “One Eyed Jack” model rod, a Rapala Crush City Freeloader (gizzard shad color) on heads ranging from 1/8 to 3/16 ounces and a Neko-rigged Rapala Crush City Janitor (1/8- and 1/16-ounce weights). For both the jighead minnow and Neko setups, Dumke wielded 7-foot, medium-power spinning rods and opted for 8-pound-test Sufix NanoBraid for his main line and 12-pound-test Sufix Advance fluorocarbon for the leader.
3. Fields and Freeman hit main river channel
The McKendree University duo of Ethan Fields and Jaxson Freeman nudged up a couple of places from fifth to third on Championship Friday with 18-10, primarily fishing the main river channel. They did the lion’s share of their work throughout the event with a 5-inch Deps Sakamata Shad soft jerkbait on a 3/16-ounce Keitech tungsten jighead, fished on 10-pound braid with a 12-pound Seaguar Tatsu leader. Fields also caught a couple on Day 1 on a Burtek Wrangler, a 5.7-inch minnow-style bait, fished on a Cashion Icon Series FFS spinning rod and Shimano reel.
4. Dellaporta and Pitts go shallow for fourth
Nicholas Dellaporta and Drew Pitts of Carson-Newman University spent most of their time in the backwaters of Wheeler Lake with a Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer at the ready, though they went offshore to start Day 3 in search of a couple kickers to try to put together the massive bag they’d need to have a chance at a win. They found some sandy pockets with reeds and grass and less than 2 feet of water that bass were either spawning in or moving into to spawn, finding new fish in those areas each day.
To avoid running out of fish, Dellaporta and Pitts tried to find as many of those shallow spawning pockets as possible and also mixed in a Beast Coast Lil’ Magnum 3/8-ounce jig (stealth PBJ color) to pick those areas apart. For the jig setup, they relied on a Shimano SLX 7-foot, 5-inch medium-heavy/extra fast rod and used the same series for the ChatterBait but opted for the 7-foot, 4-inch medium-heavy/moderate glass model.
5. Berlinsky and Dimauro focus on productive schools
University of North Alabama anglers Tripp Berlinsky and Bryce Dimauro’s biggest player was the jighead minnow, but they also caught fish on a swimbait, vibrating jig and lipless crankbait. They focused their time on three or four bigger schools of fish, rotating around those schools throughout the days until one of them fired.
The minnow was a smelt-colored Z-Man Jerk ShadZ on a 3/16-ounce Owner Range Roller jighead. A 5.5-inch Scottsboro Tackle Top Hook swimbait; 3/4-ounce green pumpkin Z-Man Evergreen Chatterbait Jack Hammer with a white Yamamoto Zako trailer; and a Copper Red Baits Snatchin’ Shad completed the arsenal.
6. All about clean water for Gilroy and O’Barr
University of Alabama’s Cooper Gilroy and Hayden O’Barr kept it simple to notch the sixth-place finish, targeting fish in clean, deep water near steep banks. Their baits and setups were fairly uncomplicated as well: a Rapala Freeloader on a 6-foot, 10-inch medium/extra fast TigeRodz Eternity rod and a Megabass Ito Vision 110 (bone) jerkbait on a 6-foot, 10-inch medium-power TigeRodz Revelation spinning rod.
7. Godwin and Odom stay shallow for Top 10 finish
One of three Montevallo teams that finished in the Top 10, Brenton Godwin and Hunter Odom hovered in ninth place through the first two days and nudged up a couple of spots on the final day with 17-8. They stayed shallow all week, catching most of their fish on a hodgepodge of 3/8-ounce black/blue and pink swim jigs with white Strike King Rage Tail Menace and pearl NetBait HexTek Rascal Craw trailers.
They also put fish in the live well with a modified Hildebrandt Snagless Sally combined with a NetBait Spanky and similar Reaction Innovations swimbait, and a black/blue Z-Man ChatterBait Elite EVO with a green pumpkin Strike King Rage Tail Craw. Godwin mostly used a 7-1 Halo BB Casting rod while Odom ran a 13 Fishing Defy Black rod.
8. Smith and Wadsworth stay put for eighth
Stone Smith and Drake Wadsworth of Northwestern State University never left their primary area in three days of competition. That area – a set of three islands that split the main river channel and featured a bunch of current and rocky current breaks – had enough fish to propel the duo to eighth. They caught those fish on a Neko-rigged Zoom Mag Finesse Worm (green pumpkin) with a 1/8-ounce weight spooled on Shimano Vanford reels paired with 6-foot, 10-inch medium-light G. Loomis GCX rods. They didn’t use forward-facing sonar to catch their fish, but they did use it to identify structure that could be hiding fish tucked away from the current.
9. Barry and Bullock get off to fast start with jighead minnow
The Blue Mountain Christian University duo of John Barry and Blake Bullock made themselves known as a threat right out of the gate with two 21-pound bags on Days 1 and 2. Their biggest player was a Sakamata Shad on either 1/8-ounce Scottsboro Tackle Hellfire Finesse or Gamakatsu Nano Alpha Horizon Head jigheads. They also weighed in fish thanks to a matte morning dawn Big Bite Baits Nekorama Worm on a 3/16-ounce Neko head; a modified True Bass Shuttlecock hair jig; and a 3/8- and 1/2-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer in spot remover – trailers were a Rapala CrushCity Freeloader or Castaic Baits Jerky J.
10. Deep, shallow both play for Faulkner and Piton
Going with a two-pronged approach, Riley Faulkner and Szymon Piton of Carson-Newman caught fish both offshore with a Z-Man Jerk ShadZ and in a backwater pond that bass were using as a spawning area with a Texas-rigged Strike King Rage Bug on a 1/4-ounce weight for flipping wood and a Z-Man/Evergreen ChatterBait Jack Hammer for covering water. They cycled between a Shimano Zodias 7-foot, 3-inch medium-heavy spinning rod (Jerk ShadZ) and a Shimano Zodias 7-foot, 2-inch medium casting rod and Dixie Custom 7-foot, 7-inch heavy/fast casting rod for their shallow presentations.