Chico State Wins YETI FLW College Fishing Western Conference Tournament on Clear Lake presented by Costa

The Chico State University duo of Carson Leber of Dixon, California, and Chad Sweitzer of Chico, California, won the 2019 YETI FLW College Fishing event on Clear Lake presented by Costa with a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 9 ounces. The victory earned the Wildcats’ bass club $2,000 and a slot in the 2020 FLW College Fishing National Championship. Photo by Rob Matsuura. Anglers: Carson Leber, Chad Sweitzer.

May 20, 2019 • FLW Communications • Abu Garcia College Fishing

LAKEPORT, Calif. – The Chico State University duo of Carson Leber of Dixon, California, and Chad Sweitzer of Chico, California, won the YETI FLW College Fishing event on Clear Lake presented by Costa Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 9 ounces. The victory earned the Wildcats’ bass club $2,000 and a slot in the 2020 FLW College Fishing National Championship.

“We ran south and fished near Rattle Snake Island, mostly rock and offshore in 12- to 20-feet-of-water,” said Sweitzer, a junior majoring in accounting. “It was a tough tournament to get bigger fish. We caught a ton of solid 2- to 3-pounders, then Carson caught a big 5½ to 6-pounder and that was the difference maker for us.”

The duo said that they caught the majority of their fish with ½-ounce brown and purple Pepper Custom Baits Football jigs with brown and purple Strike King Rage Craws.

“Near the end of the day we started throwing a Megabass Vision 110 jerkbait on offshore grass and we caught around 10 keepers,” said Leber, a senior majoring in concrete industry management. “It was awesome and I wished we would have tried that a little earlier. But, our key bait throughout the day was definitely the jig.”

The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2020 College Fishing National Championship are:

1st: California State University-Chico – Carson Leber, Dixon, Calif., and Chad Sweitzer, Chico, Calif., five bass, 17-9, $2,650

2nd: New Mexico State University – Ty Faulconer, Santa Clarita, Calif., and Daylon Smith, Frazier Park, Calif., five bass, 16-11, $1,200

3rd: California State University-East Bay – Yuan Liu, Hayward, Calif., and Zane Kazaka, Clearlake, Calif., five bass, 15-4, $500

4th: Washington State University – Madden Tobeck, Eatonville Wash., and Nathan Baespflug, Sumner, Wash., five bass, 14-9, $500

5th: California Polytechnic State University – Hugh Cosculluela, The Woodlands, Texas., and Patrick Ellis, San Diego, Calif., five bass, 13-15, $500

6th: Sonoma State University – Josh Hanna, Danville, Calif., and Logan Green, Arroyo Grande, Calif., five bass, 13-11

7th: California Polytechnic State University – Wyatt Debusk, Paso Robles, Calif., and Dane Morris, Agoura Hills, Calif., five bass, 13-5

8th: California Polytechnic State University – Ryan Scarcella, Gilroy, Calif., and Sam Morita, Sebastopol, Calif., five bass, 12-8

9th: California Polytechnic State University – Hadyn Evans, Lower Lake, Calif., five bass, 12-5

10th: University of California-Merced – Kalib Caples, Sebastopol, Calif., and Herbie LeBlanc, Merced, Calif., five bass, 12-4

Complete results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.

The YETI FLW College Fishing event on Clear Lake presented by Costa was hosted by the Konocti Vista Casino Resort & Marina. It was the second of three regular-season qualifying tournaments for Western Conference anglers. The next event for FLW College Fishing anglers will be the YETI FLW College Fishing at the Chesapeake Bay presented by Bass Pro Shops, May 31 at the Chesapeake Bay in Edgewood, Maryland.

YETI FLW College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. 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. The top 10 teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open will advance to the 2020 FLW College Fishing National Championship. Additional teams will qualify for the National Championship if the field size in regular-season events exceeds 100 boats. The Potomac River and Marbury, Maryland, will play host to the 2019 FLW College Fishing National Championship, June 4-6, 2019.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow YETI FLW College Fishing on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

About FLW
FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2019 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct more than 290 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Portugal, South Africa and Spain. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

# # #