Eastern Kentucky University Wins FLW College Fishing Central Conference Event On Kentucky Lake

The Eastern Kentucky team of Ethan Snyder and Billy French (left) won the FLW College Fishing tournament title on Kentucky Lake after boating a total catch of 17 pounds, 9 ounces. For their efforts, the team walked away with $2,000 in prize money. Photo by Diana Hunt.

June 15, 2013 • MLF • Abu Garcia College Fishing

HARDIN, Ky. – The Eastern Kentucky University team of Ethan Snyder of Vine Grove, Ky., and Billy French of Hamilton, Ohio, won the FLW College Fishing Central Conference event on Kentucky Lake Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 9 ounces. The victory earned the club $2,000 and advanced the team to the FLW College Fishing Central Conference Invitational tournament.

“This feels awesome,” said French, a junior majoring in Nursing. “We were really getting frustrated out there today, and we took a break and regrouped and were able to put it all together at the end. Coming to the scales I thought we would have enough to qualify for the invitational, but I definitely didn’t think we had over 17 pounds.”

“I only live about three hours from the lake,” said Snyder, a junior majoring in Agronomy. “I fish it often, every summer. We came here last weekend and idled around for three days just looking for schools. We had 11 different schools marked, but a lot of the fish had moved on.”

The Eastern Kentucky team said that they fished the Tennessee River ledges, in 17 to 25 feet of water. Snyder estimated that the team caught only nine or 10 fish throughout the day, but all bit on a Strike King 6XD crankbait in both Tennessee shad and Citrus shad colors.

“The fishing definitely got much better in the afternoon,” Snyder said. “The wind changed directions, and I think it really made a difference for us.”

The top 15 teams that advanced to the Central Conference Invitational tournament are:

1st: Eastern Kentucky University – Ethan Snyder, Vine Grove, Ky., and Billy French, Hamilton, Ohio (five bass, 17-9, $2,000)

2nd: Murray State University – Justin Graben and Justin Berger, both of Murray, Ky. (five bass, 17-1, $1,000)

3rd: Purdue University – Garrett VanKirk, Ferdinand, Ind., and Ryan Spicer, Arcola, Ind. (five bass, 13-5, $500)

4th: University of Minnesota – Austin Felix, Eden Prairie, Minn., and Chris Burgan, Minneapolis, Minn. (five bass, 12-7, $500)

5th: Milwaukee School of Engineering – Scott Watry, Fredonia, Wis., and Justin Stiker, Waterman, Ill. (four bass, 12-7, $500)

6th: Indiana University – Sean Gillenwater, Bloomington, Ind., and Josh Collier, Ellettsville, Ind. (five bass, 12-6)

7th: University of Indianapolis – Chris Barcelona, Orlando Hills, Ill., and Jerrett Ban, Roachdale, Ind. (five bass, 12-3)

8th: Kansas State University – Garrett Cates and Kyle Alsop, both of Overland Park, Kan. (five bass, 11-9)

9th: University of Kentucky – Ryan Collins, Lebanon, Ohio, and Andrew Day, Versialles, Ky. (five bass, 11-1)

10th: University of Evansville – Nick Uebelhor and Eric Kieffner, both of Jasper, Ind. (four bass, 10-13)

11th: Indiana State University – Nicholas Gallina, Terre Haute, Ind., and Robert Nero, Carlisle, Ind. (five bass, 10-8)

12th: Southern Illinois University – Ryan Dunn, Harrisburg, Ill., and Stephen Crawley, De Soto, Ill. (four bass, 9-14)

13th: University of Dubuque – Jarett Svihlik, Erie, Ill., and Marcus Prull, Monticello, Iowa (five bass, 9-13)

14th: Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville – Jacob Hicks and Joseph Tischer, both of Morris, Ill. (four bass, 9-5)

15th: Missouri University of Science & Technology – William Kleine and Mitchell Kleine, both of St. Charles, Mo. (four bass, 8-8)

Complete results can be found at CollegeFishing.com.

FLW College Fishing teams compete in four qualifying events in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top fifteen teams from each regular-season tournament will qualify for one of five conference invitational tournaments. The top ten teams from each conference invitational tournament will advance to the 2014 FLW College Fishing National Championship.

The FLW College Central Conference Invitational tournament is scheduled for July 27-28 on the Detroit River in Trenton, Mich.

College Fishing is free to enter and FLW provides boats and drivers for each competing team along with travel allowances. All participants must be registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or unive

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing. Visit CollegeFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your school.