University of Florida leads National Guard FLW College Fishing Southeast Regional Championship at Lake Monroe

Auburn University puts two teams in top five, hometown favorite University of Central Florida in seventh

Jake Gipson and Matthew Wercinski put the University of Florida in the top spot. Photo by David A. Brown. Anglers: Matthew Wercinski, Jake Gipson.

November 21, 2009 • MLF • Abu Garcia College Fishing

ORLANDO, Fla. – The University of Florida team of Matthew Wercinski and Jake Gipson both of Niceville, Fla., took the early lead at the National Guard FLW College Fishing Southeast Regional Championship on Lake Monroe Saturday with five bass weighing 12 pounds, 12 ounces.

Things turned out nicely for the team hailing from Niceville. They were able to make some adjustments to their game plan after today’s fishing was completely different than their practice on Friday. The bite was tough for them, but unlike many of their collegiate competitors that were complaining that “the big one got away”, they were able to capitalize on some of their bigger bites.

“We’re happy with what we got,” said Gipson, a senior in industrial and systems engineering. “It was a tough bite today. Between the two of us we only had two fish at noon. We were a little nervous most of the day, but we just stuck it out and were able to catch some nice fish late in the day.”

“In practice we were fishing some shell beds and had some really nice bites,” said Wercinski, a junior finance major. “But shell beds are hit or miss and today they didn’t produce anything. We’ll probably try them again tomorrow just to see if any fish came back. This tournament is all about running and gunning for us, we covered the entire lake at least once today and will do the same tomorrow.”

This is the University of Florida’s first year with an official bass club, but Wercinski and Gipson have been fishing together for nearly four years and have been in about 100 tournaments together. Casting “righty” and “lefty” they fish shoulder to shoulder from the front of the boat which is what they contribute much of their team success to.

Rounding out the top five teams are Kennesaw State University – Jake Akin of Powder Springs, Ga., and Thomas Frink of Kennesaw, Ga. (five bass, 10-3); Auburn University – Dennis Parker of Prattville, Ala., and Shaye Baker, of Reeltown, Ala., (six bass, 9-13); Young Harris College – Clint McNeal of Hickory Flat, Ga., and Brad Rutherford of Lavonia, Ga., (five bass, 9); and Auburn University – Richard Peek and Caleb Rodgers both of Centre, Ala., (six bass, 7-4).

“Lake Monroe is a hit or miss,” said Matthew Norman from the University of Central Florida. “The weather was good, we hit some today and we left some swimming; but we had a lot of fun and we are ready to go back tomorrow and try and make the top five.”

The top five finishers in the Southeast Regional will earn a spot in the National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship in Knoxville, Tenn., April 10-12, 2010. They will be fishing for a top prize package of $100,000 and a chance to compete in the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup.

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.

Anglers will take off from Monroe Harbour located at 531 N. Palmetto Avenue, Sanford, Fla., at 7 each morning. Weigh-ins will be held at the IOA Plaza on the University of Central Florida campus beginning at 4 p.m. each afternoon. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

Qualified teams in the Southeast Regional Championship include Auburn University; Clemson University; Coastal Carolina; Columbus State University; Faulkner University Freed-Hardeman University; Georgia Southern; Kennesaw State University; North Alabama; North Florida; University of Central Florida; University of Florida; University of Tennessee; University of Tennessee, Martin; and Young Harris College.

In conjunction with the Southeast Regional Championship, the Reel Life Festival, which features the National Guard Warrior Challenge, is being held on the IOA Plaza at the University of Central Florida. The festival begins at noon on Sunday and 3 p.m. Monday.

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.

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.

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.

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.