Bryan College Wins on Hartwell
Red squarebill up the river does the trick
The Bryan College duo of D.J. Barber of Gardendale, Alabama, and Matt Brown of Corbin, Kentucky, won the YETI FLW College Fishing Southeastern Conference tournament on Lake Hartwell with a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 14 ounces. The victory earned the Bryan College bass club a $2,000 club scholarship and also advanced the team to the 2018 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
“We ran about 25 to 30 minutes up the Seneca River to a pocket with dirty water,” says Barber, a sophomore majoring in business management. “We had found the area in practice and caught a couple of fish, so we decided to start the tournament there. After we pulled up, before I could even stand up and grab my rod Matt caught a 6-pounder on his first cast.”
“For the next 40 minutes we caught them on every cast,” says Brown, a freshman majoring in business marketing. “We were throwing a red squarebill crankbait – I can’t share the name of it, though. It is an old Tennessee secret and I have some old friends that would kill me if I shared it.
“We caught around 20 fish there, and then it turned off,” Brown says. “We spent the rest of the day spot fishing and trying to upgrade, but we never caught anything bigger. We had our full weight by 9:15 (a.m.).”
“I think that the color red was also key,” Barber says. “I threw a different colored squarebill in practice on that spot and I didn’t get bit. But, when Matt tied that red one on, it was literally the first cast.”
The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2018 College Fishing National Championship are:
1. Bryan College – D.J. Barber, Gardendale, Ala., and Matt Brown, Corbin, Ky., five bass, 18-14, $2,000 Club Scholarship
2. Clemson University – Robert White, Greenville, S.C., and Derek Freeman, Anderson, S.C., five bass, 16-8, $1,400 Club Scholarship
3. Kennesaw State University – Cody Smith, Gainesville, Ga., and Spencer Guthrie, Acworth, Ga., five bass, 16-0, $700 Club Scholarship
4. Bethel University – Alec Piekarski, Greenfield, Wis., and Kyler Chelminiak, Franklin, Wis., five bass, 15-12, $500 Club Scholarship
5. University of Georgia – Justin Sisavath, Duluth, Ga., and Jordan Parisian, Dallas, Texas, five bass, 15-4, $500 Club Scholarship
6. Western Carolina University – Jason Ashe, Cullowhee, N.C., and Alex Walsh, Robbinsville, N.C., five bass, 14-10
7. Lander University – Kevin Latham, Greenwood, S.C., and David Branham, Donalds, S.C., five bass, 14-9
8. University of North Georgia – Ty Johnston, Jefferson, Ga., and Tristan Thomas, Lula, Ga., five bass, 14-9
9. University of Tennessee – Bradley Devaney, Oliver Springs, Tenn., and Saxton Long, Pulaski, Tenn., five bass, 14-5
10. Jacksonville State University – Brandon Padilla, Roswell, Ga., and Chase Chastain, Anniston, Ala., five bass, 14-0
FLW also advances one additional team to the National Championship for every 10 teams over 100 that compete. A total of 176 teams participated in this event, so the following teams also advanced to the 2018 National Championship.
11. University of North Alabama – Austin Mize, Sheffield, Ala., and Parker Davis, Morris, Ala., five bass, 13-11
12. University of Georgia – Collin Chandler, Donalsonville, Ga., and Garrett Stone, Atlanta, Ga., five bass, 12-13
13. Georgia State University – Hayden Hillyer, Atlanta, Ga., and Christian Cook, Roswell, Ga., five bass, 12-11
14. Savannah College of Art & Design – Jaci Skipper, Taylor, Ala., and Ryleigh Tyson, Savannah, Ga., five bass, 12-8
15. Haywood Community College – Justin St. Onge and Ryan McLaughlin, both of Fairview, N.C., five bass, 12-4
16. Clemson University – Garrett Addis, Central, S.C., and Aaron Banquer-Glenn, Clemson, S.C., five bass, 12-1
17. Bryan College – Nathan Bell, Riceville, Tenn., and Cole Sands, Dayton, Tenn., five bass, 12-0
This YETI FLW College Fishing Southeastern Conference at Lake Hartwell was the third and final regular-season qualifying tournament for Southeastern Conference anglers in 2017. The next YETI FLW College Fishing event is a Central Conference tournament scheduled for April 1 on the Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri.
YETI FLW College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top ten teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments, along with an additional qualifier for every 10 teams over 100 that compete, along with the top 20 teams from the annual YETI FLW College Fishing Open will advance to the 2018 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
College Fishing is free to enter. All participants must be registered, full-time students at a college, university or community college and members of a college fishing club that is recognized by their school.