HUDDLESTON, Va. (June 7, 2022) – The Radford University team of Ruth Caudle, Alex Moss, Kent Clark and Jackson Norton, won the Major League Fishing (MLF) Wiley X College Faceoff at Smith Mountain Lake in Huddleston, Virginia, Saturday. The Highlanders bass club boated 15 bass weighing 30 pounds, 14 ounces to win the first Wiley X College Faceoff Event of the 2022 season and earn the win by a 3-pound, 1-ounce margin over Tennessee’s King University.
The Radford University team said that they knew the catch-weigh-immediate release format was very different from the five-fish format, so they changed their gameplan from Friday in order to catch as many fish as possible. They said that they spent the morning throwing topwater baits on the rocks to catch some fish left over from the shad spawn the previous night, then they spent the rest of the day keying on stretches of docks with a drop-shot rig.
The five teams that competed in the Wiley X College Faceoff at Smith Mountain Lake finished:
1st: Radford University – Ruth Caudle, Alex Moss, Kent Clark and Jackson Norton, 15 bass, 30-14
2nd: King University – Tyler Altizer, Dylan Thomson and Jacob Lovell, 13 bass, 27-13
3rd: Western Michigan University – Mason Jones, Jack Schable, Kert Antonowitsch and Cole Zagrzebski, nine bass, 24-15
4th: Virginia Tech University – Ryan Feehan, Daniel Weber, Caden Canaday and Lynn Chitwood, 11 bass, 24-9
5th: Penn State University – Anthony Riello, Jason Zubris, Dylan Crystaloski and Jakob Sorbera, three bass, 8-7
The Wiley X College Faceoffs are single-day tournaments where competitors fish in an MLF-style catch, weigh, immediate-release team format at each event. The College Faceoff tournaments occur the Saturday following an Abu Garcia College Fishing competition, on the same body of water. The results from the College Fishing tournament the previous day determine the 20 competitors for the Wiley X College Faceoff, with the top two teams (four anglers) from the top five schools in the regular season tournament qualifying to fish in the ten-boat faceoff the following day.
The Wiley X College Faceoff tournament on Smith Mountain Lake was the first of four Faceoff events for MLF collegiate anglers in 2022. The next Faceoff event for college anglers will take place on Saturday, July 30 at the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
MLF College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top 10 teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual Abu Garcia College Fishing Open will advance to the following season’s National Championship.
Proud sponsors of the 2022 MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, A.R.E. Truck Caps, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Gary Yamamoto Baits, General Tire, Lew’s, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Wiley X and YETI.
For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular College Fishing updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.