Northwestern State University Leads College Series Wild Card

Justin Cooper (left) and John Ledet of Northwestern State University take the lead on Day 2 of the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Wild Card presented by Bass Pro Shops on Lake Murray out of Ardmore, Okla., after catching 17 pounds, 10 ounces Friday for a two-day total weight of 33-6. 

June 10, 2016

Northwestern State University Leads College Series Wild Card

ARDMORE, Okla. — John Ledet and Justin Cooper credited the last fish they caught on Thursday for putting them in the lead on the second day of the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Wild Card presented by Bass Pro Shops.

“That big bass we caught clued us in on what to do today,” said Ledet.

The fish helped the Northwestern State University bass fishing team strategize to catch 17 pounds, 10 ounces of largemouth bass from Lake Murray. A cumulative weight of 33-6 puts the team from Natchitoches, La., ahead by the slim margin of less than 2 pounds.

Texas State University, buoyed by the heaviest catch of the tournament, moved into second place. Sam Stone and Evan Coleman caught 19-13, to add to the team’s overall weight of 31-14.

Zach Ziober and Dakota Ebare, the first-day leaders, dropped to third place with 30 pounds after landing only 12-6 today. The team is fishing for Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas.

Josh Bensema and Tyler Anderson, fishing for Texas A&M University, are fourth with 29-2. Aaron Belgard and Logan Laprarie, also of Northwestern State, are fifth with 28-11.

Ledet and Cooper moved from sixth place into the lead after Thursday. Like most of the top teams, they are fishing in shallow water early before the sun heats up the water. When that happens, the largemouth retreat to deeper water in the heat of the day.

“Today the shallow bite didn’t happen for us,” said Cooper.

At 11:30 a.m. the team only had two bass in the livewell. Then they recalled the payoff bass from Thursday.

“Timing is everything for what we are doing,” said Ledet. “The bass are moving between deep and shallow water, and being in the right place at the right time is the key.”

Lake Murray, at 5,700 acres, is small by comparison to most tournament lakes. It can handle the size of this field, even though mounting fishing pressure all week has the bass skittish. After recent heavy rains, the lake level is falling. Put the two together and tracing the movements of bass becomes a challenge.

Today the team focused on the deep bite after the shallow action failed to produce. Deep water, according to the team, is only about 10 feet deep.

Tomorrow will be different. The forecast calls for a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms, which will likely bring overcast skies. In bass fishing terms that means the topwater bite will likely be a factor early in the day.

Bass favor cloudy skies for added concealment when hunting for baitfish. Topwater lures imitate minnows and those factors should play a role tomorrow.

“We definitely hope that happens to get our shallow-water bite going,” said Cooper.

Bass fishing teams from more than 40 colleges and universities from throughout the nation came to compete. Tomorrow, the Top 20 teams will fish on Lake Murray.

Thirteen teams advance from this tournament to the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops. The tournament is July 28-30 in Campbellsville, Ky., on Green River Lake.

Several bonus awards are up for contention. Tournament leader Northwestern State University earned the Livingston Lures Leader Award worth $250 in merchandise from the lure company for leading on the second day .

The heaviest catch after three days gets the angler $250 from Bass Pro Shops for the Nitro Big Bag award. The angler catching the biggest bass in the tournament earns the Carhartt Big Bass award worth $500.

Tomorrow the weigh-in begins at 3:30 p.m. CT at Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant. Teams weigh on the same stage and venue in use for the GEICO Bassmaster BASSfest presented by Choctaw Casino and Resort.

Today’s Activity
# Fish Lbs – Oz
Accumulative
Name # Live # Fish # Live Lbs – Oz

1 John Ledet – Justin Cooper Northwestern State University 5 5 17-10 10 10 33- 6
2 Sam Stone – Evan Coleman Texas State University 5 5 19-13 10 10 31-14
3 Zach Ziober – Dakota Ebare Tarleton State University 5 4 12- 6 10 9 30- 0
4 Josh Bensema – Tyler Anderson Texas A&M University 5 5 15-13 10 10 29- 2
5 Aaron Belgard – Logan Laprarie Northwestern State University 5 5 14- 5 10 10 28-11
6 Hunter Louden – Bethel University 5 5 12- 3 10 10 28- 4
7 Ty Cox – Jake Houston Itawamba Community College 5 5 10-14 10 10 27-14
8 Zach Hurst – Austyn Fowler Tarleton State University 5 5 14- 7 10 10 27-13
9 JP Kimbrough – Jared Rascoe LSU Shreveport 5 5 11-11 10 10 27-12
10 CJ Knight – Mitchell Jennings Auburn University 5 5 18- 4 10 10 27- 6
11 Chris Blanchette – Dylan Allison University of South Carolina 5 5 11- 3 10 10 27- 2
12 Reed Foster – Zackery Hines Dallas Baptist University 5 4 13- 0 10 9 25- 7
13 Stetson Overton – Justin Seeton Tarleton State University 5 5 10-12 10 10 25- 0
14 Trent Newman – Nathan Wood Dallas Baptist University 5 5 13- 7 10 10 24-12
15 Brian Pahl – John Garrett Bethel University 5 4 12-11 10 9 24-11
16 Patrick Walters – Brian Sweeney University of South Carolina 5 5 11- 3 10 10 23-13
17 Morgan Locke – Logan Elton Florida State University 5 5 12- 2 10 10 23-12
18 Dawson Lenz – Evan Horne University of North Alabama 5 5 14-10 10 10 23- 3
19 Sheldon Rogge – Parker Davis Kansas State University 5 5 11-11 10 10 23- 3
20 Ty Dyer – Ricky Harris Bethel University 5 5 9- 3 10 9 23- 1
21 Jason Ashe – Western Carolina University 5 5 7- 8 10 10 22-10
22 Dalton Warrington – Chris Bradley Southwestern Oklahoma State University 5 5 13- 7 10 8 22- 7
23 Chris Zins – Zach Holliday University of Central Oklahoma 5 5 10- 4 10 10 22- 5
24 Jared Bourgeois – Parker White LSU 5 5 12-11 10 10 22- 1
25 Andrew Madison – Jose Palma University of Central Oklahoma 5 5 7-14 10 10 21-11
26 Dustin Nash – Thomas Merchant Northwestern State University 5 5 11-13 10 10 21- 7
27 Wyatt Frankens – Hunter Price Stephen F Austin University 5 4 10-12 10 9 21- 6
28 Adam Burkett – Christian Brown LSU Shreveport 5 5 7-14 10 10 21- 1
29 Makenzie Henson – Sloan Pennington U. of North Alabama 5 5 10- 6 10 10 20-11
30 Kyler Chelminiak – Alec Piekarski Bethel University 5 5 9- 1 10 10 20-10
31 Alex Murray – Alex Felder Southeastern Louisiana University 5 5 11- 3 9 9 20- 1
32 Nathan Martin – Joe Nakai U. of North Alabama 5 5 9-13 10 10 19-14
33 Taylor Umland – Justin Schick Illinois State University 5 4 14-15 8 7 19-11
34 Cameron Brooks – Mason Sapp Campbellsville University 5 5 10- 1 10 10 19-11
35 Wyatt Burkhalter – Taylor Teague University of West Alabama 5 4 12- 7 10 9 18-14
36 Tanner Crim – Zach Montalvo Tarleton State University 5 4 10- 1 10 9 18-13
37 Mitchell Mayard – Owen Richard LSU 4 4 9- 7 9 9 18- 6
38 Spencer Lambert – Thomas Soileau La Monroe 5 5 9- 5 10 9 18- 3
39 Tyler Woods – Robert Tweed Stephen F Austin State University 5 5 6- 4 10 10 18- 2
40 Cody Metzger – Conner Schwab Northeastern State University 5 5 11- 2 10 10 18- 2
41 Garrett Stone – Collin Chandler University of Georgia 5 5 9- 8 9 9 18- 0
42 Cody Peak – Jeff Roman Clayton IV Mississippi State University 5 5 9- 9 10 9 17-14
43 Jordan Ledbetter – Taylor Schmitt McKendree University 5 5 10- 6 10 10 17- 9
44 Cody Cleary – Max Gresham Valdosta State University 5 5 10-13 10 10 17- 6
45 Caleb Garvin – CJ Holbrook Mississippi State University 5 5 9- 3 10 10 17- 2
46 Clayton Godfrey – John-Michael Brattlof Stephen F Austin State University 5 5 8-12 10 8 17- 2
47 Tyler Craig – Hunter Freeman La Monroe 5 5 7- 5 10 10 16-15
48 Michael Corbishley – Austin Warmus East Carolina University 5 5 7- 7 10 10 16-14
49 Dillon Harrell – Dustin Moreno Sam Houston State University 4 4 6- 9 9 9 16-13
50 Adam Neill – Thomas Mistead University of Alabama 5 5 7-12 10 10 16-11
Today’s Activity
# Fish Lbs – Oz
Accumulative
Name # Live # Fish # Live Lbs – Oz
51 Forrest Sears – Greg Dean Wallace State Comm College 2 2 3-10 7 7 16- 9
52 Eric Hanna – Oklahoma State University 5 4 8- 7 10 8 16- 9
53 Jacob Fournier – Jared Bascle Nicholls State 5 5 7- 9 10 10 15-13
54 Brock Wilke – JT Russell McKendree University 4 4 10- 5 9 9 15- 5
55 Dakota Sparks – Levi Sharp LSU 5 5 7- 5 9 9 14-13
56 Garrett Goettee – Grant Pietsch Texas A&M University at Galveston 5 3 10-14 8 6 14- 6
57 Dakota Cline – Stephen F Austin University 3 3 8- 9 8 7 14- 5
58 Cody Billings – Daulton Smith University of Georgia 5 5 7-11 9 9 14- 3
59 Jared Baker – Layton Jones Georgia Southern University 5 5 6- 9 10 9 14- 3
60 Jacob Reome – Daniel Rupee Clemson University 5 5 6-11 10 10 14- 2
61 Zachary Bodford – NC State University 3 3 7- 5 8 8 14- 2
62 Nicholas DiCamillo – Justin Hettinga New Mexico State University 4 4 5- 9 9 9 13-14
63 Levi Umland – Heartland Community College 3 3 5- 1 8 8 13-12
64 Ryan Kennedy – Frank Lillig Kennesaw State University 3 3 3-11 8 8 13- 8
65 Chandler South – JR Wright Itawamba Community College 4 4 8- 7 6 6 13- 1
66 Mack Hicks – Alice Lloyd College 5 5 7- 1 9 9 12-12
67 Alex Schieman – Garrett Reynolds Georgia College 5 5 8- 8 8 8 12- 8
68 Tyler Brown – Baylor Ronemus Clemson University 2 2 4- 0 7 7 12- 4
69 Charles Conger – Jackson Moody Kennesaw State University 5 5 5-10 9 9 11-15
70 Nick Ratliff – Grant Adams Campbellsville University 0 0 0- 0 5 5 10-12
71 Adam Carman – Justin Mayfield Campbellsville University 2 2 2- 8 7 7 10- 8
72 Armando Ortiz – Roy Zhang Auburn University 1 1 2- 6 6 6 9-14
73 Ashley Ruggles – Jeff White Drury University 4 4 6- 7 7 7 9-11
74 Tyler Moses – Brennan Soileau LA Tech 4 3 4-10 8 7 9- 8
75 Derek Louderbaugh – Drury University 2 2 2- 6 5 5 6- 0
76 Cameron Simmons – Cameron DeBorde Oklahoma State 4 4 4-12 5 5 5-13
77 Scott Fair – Northwestern State University 0 0 0- 0 2 2 4- 1
78 Landon Tucker – Valdosta State University 1 1 2- 0 2 2 3-11
79 Benjamin Webster – Andrew Deloney University of Alabama 1 1 1- 1 3 3 3- 7
80 Logan Shaddix – Ethan Flack University of Alabama 0 0 0- 0 1 1 1- 3
Name City,State Lbs-Oz
BIG BASS
Day
1 Trent Newman – Nathan WoodDallas, TX 4-10
2 Sam Stone – Evan Coleman Austin, TX 7-11
Day # Live Lbs-Oz # Limits
TOTALS
# Fish
1 362 352 737- 6 62
2 345 334 719-12 58