Fresno State wins National Guard FLW College Fishing event at Cal Delta

Team of Davidian and Moua net $10,000 in scholarships

The Fresno State team of Sark Davidian of Cutler, Calif., and Kong Moua of Fresno, Calif., won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Western Division event on the California Delta Saturday with four bass weighing 19 pounds, 4 ounces. Anglers: Sark Davidian, Kong Moua.

May 30, 2009 • MLF • Abu Garcia College Fishing

OAKLEY, Calif. – The Fresno State team of Sark Davidian of Cutler, Calif., and Kong Moua of Fresno, Calif., won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Western Division event on the California Delta Saturday with four bass weighing 19 pounds, 4 ounces. The victory earned the team $10,000 to be split evenly between the university and the university’s bass-fishing club.

“I wanted this so bad,” said Moua, who is a junior Accounting major. “It was the last tournament of the year and we were just trying to make it to the regional championship. I’ve lost my voice from screaming while pulling in those monsters.”

“We had winds around 30 miles per hour, so we battled that all day,” said Davidian, who is a junior Business-Marketing major. “We managed to get a couple of nice keepers in the boat.”

The team’s “nice keepers” included a five-pound and 11-pound fish. Davidian said the 5-pounder came on a Texas-rigged Zoom Brush Hog and the 11-pounder fell for a red-on-red spinnerbait with red blades. The other two keepers were taken on a soft plastic stickbait.

“We wanted to come up and represent Fresno State and recruit young guys to come fish on our team,” Davidian said.

Rounding out the top five teams were Sacramento State – Stephen Lesieur of Rancho Murieta, Calif., and Matthew Paul of Loomis, Calif., (six bass, 16-3, $5,000); Sacramento State – Alec Brassington of Roseville, Calif., and Christopher Wong of Sacramento, Calif., (four bass, 15-6, $4,000); University of Oregon – Ross Richards and Reed Frazier, both of Eugene, Ore., (six bass, 12-0, $3,000); Humboldt State University – Hideaki Kubo of Eureka, Calif., and J.D. Jones of Arcata, Calif., (four bass, 11-6, $2,000).

FLW Outdoors announced the College Fishing trail in May 2008. The entire schedule, which is organized around the five Stren Series Divisions, can be found by visiting CollegeFishing.com along with rules, requirements and information on how to create a bass club.

Full-time students enrolled in four year colleges or universities are eligible to participate in the events. Schools can send two-person teams to each of the four qualifying events in their division, with each event limited to a maximum of 40 teams. Each team has the opportunity to win $10,000 for first and $2,000 through fifth place. Prize money is split evenly between the winning team’s club and the school they represent. The tournaments are free to enter, boats and drivers are provided and all collegiate teams receive a travel allowance. The top five teams in each qualifying event advance to one of five televised three-day National Guard FLW College Fishing Regional Championships.

Each school represented in a televised Regional Championship will have team shirts and boats provided by Ranger. The purse for each Regional Championship includes a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard wrapped in school colors for the winning club and $25,000 for the school they represent. Awards of $6,000 also extend through fifth place for the club and school to split evenly.

The National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship is a three-day televised event hosting the top five teams from each regional, 25 total teams. Teams will be provided shirts and wrapped Ranger boats towed by Chevy trucks for this competition. The purse for the championship ranges from $25,000 cash and a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Yamaha outboard wrapped in school colors for the winning club and $50,000 for the school they represent to $15,000 for fifth, split between the club and school.

The winning team will be declared the National Guard FLW Collegiate National Champion and will qualify for the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup presented by BP and Castrol in 2010. The winners will also receive use of a wrapped boat and Chevy truck for the Forrest Wood Cup.

FLW Outdoors, named after Forrest L. Wood, the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, is the largest fishing tournament organization in the world. FLW Outdoors also is taking fishing mainstream with FLW Fantasy Fishing, offering the largest awards possible in the history of fantasy sports, $10 million in cash and prizes. Sign up for Player’s Advantage for only $10 to get your edge and win.

For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, call (270) 252-1000. For more information about FLW Fantasy Fishing and Player’s Advantage, visit FantasyFishing.com.