FLW COLLEGE FISHING WESTERN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP SET TO COMPETE ON CLEAR LAKE
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LAKEPORT, Calif. (Oct. 6, 2015) – FLW College Fishing is headed to Clear Lake in Lakeport, California, October 17-18 for the Western Conference Championship tournament. Thirty college teams have qualified for this event will be competing for a top award of $4,000 and a berth in the 2016 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
“The lake is in great shape right now,” said Walmart FLW Tour pro Kevin Stewart of Elk Grove, California. “The water levels are up at least two feet higher than when we fished here last year and the fish are almost in their fall patterns. There are going to be many different ways for the college anglers to catch fish and teams will be able to fish to their strengths.”
Stewart said that anglers choosing to fish shallow would likely catch fish throwing topwater baits, jigs and jerkbait. He predicted that as the bass continued their migration into their fall patterns that more anglers would be opting to fish deeper with big deep-diving crankbaits, jigs and swimbaits.
“It’s Clear Lake, so the winning team is going to need to weigh in 20-plus-pound stringers in both days of competition,” Stewart went on to say. “The lake is extremely healthy right now and I think we’re going to see a great weekend of tournaments.”
Anglers will take off from the Konocti Vista Casino Resort & Marina, located at 2755 Mission Rancheria Road, in Lakeport, California, at 7 a.m. PT each day. Saturday’s weigh-in will be held at the Konocti Vista Casino Resort & Marina, beginning at 2 p.m. The top-15 teams will compete and weigh in on Sunday at the Konocti Vista Casino Resort & Marina at 2 p.m. All takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.
Schools registered to compete in the Western Conference Championship, which is hosted by the Konocti Vista Casino Resort & Marina, include:
California Polytechnic State University – Clayton Lauchland, Lodi, Calif., and John Zeolla, Oak Park, Calif.
California Polytechnic State University – Johan Eide, Sebastopol, Calif., and Colton Farquer, Oakdale, Calif.
California State University – Matthiew Grant, Bellflower, Calif., and Rick Zatarain, Long Beach, Calif.
California State University-Chico – Chas Brannon, Santa Maria, Calif., and Michael Woods, Olivehurst, Calif.
California State University-Chico – Frank Tomasello and Jakob Conlan, both of Morgan Hill, Calif.
California State University-Chico – Kevin Chen and Koulton Westbrook, both of Vacaville, Calif.
California State University-Chico – Travis Bounds, Roseville, Calif., and Andrew Loberg, Rocklin, Calif.
Dixie State University – Mathew Baker, Ogden, Utah, and Nordel Erickson, Saint George, Utah
Eastern Washington University – Cy Floyd, Wenatchee, Wash., and Travis Opel, Spokane, Wash.
Eastern Washington University – Laj Trip, Hayden, Idaho, and Kyle Sittman, Kennewick, Wash.
Humboldt State University – Tristan Merlaud, Sebastopol, Calif., and Rudy Directo, Alpine, Calif.
North Idaho College – Austin Paulsen, Post Falls, Idaho, and Isaac Aguilar, Coeur D’Alene, Idaho
Northern Arizona University – Jim Herrero and John Herrero, both of Kingman, Ariz.
Oregon State University – Eric Kennedy, Woodland, Calif., and Joseph Billmaier, San Jose, Calif.
Oregon State University – Chase Cochran and Wyatt Whitten, both of Corvallis, Ore.
Oregon State University – Zach MacDonald, Willits, Calif., and Zach Martinez, Linden, Calif.
Sacramento State University – Tanner Austin, El Dorado Hills, Calif., and Ethan Clark, Elk Grove, Calif.
San Jose State University – Joey Fortina, Ben Lomond, Calif., and Adam McAndrews, Santa Clara, Calif.
San Jose State University – Manuel Munoz, Hollister, Calif., and Patrick Friedman, Torrance, Calif.
Sonoma State University – B.J. Kendrick, Morgan Hill, Calif., and Landon Moore, San Dimas, Calif.
Sonoma State University – Jake Banuelos, Pinole, Calif., and Brent Nelson, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Sonoma State University – Brock Trudeau, Lancaster, Calif., and Jake Davidson, Sebastopol, Calif.
University of Nevada-Reno – Jake Tessmann, Minden, Nev., and Bryce Yearman, Sparks, Nev.
University of Oregon – Jacob Wall, Jacksonville, Ore., and Dalton Taylor, Eugene, Ore.
University of Oregon – Ryan Habenicht, Auburn, Calif., and Riley Russen, Redding, Calif.
University of Southern California – Nick Nikchevich, Westlake Village, Calif., and Elliott Beckstrom, Santa Cruz, Calif.
Utah Valley University – Weston Probst, Heber, Utah, and Corey Higgins, Lehi, Utah
FLW College Fishing teams compete in qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top fifteen teams from each regular-season tournament qualify for one of five Conference Championship tournaments. The top ten teams from each of the five Conference Championship tournaments will advance to the 2016 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 fishing club recognized by their college or university.
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.
