GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (April 29, 2024) – The King University duo of Tyler Altizer of Abingdon, Virginia, and Landon Lawson of Jonesborough, Tennessee, won the MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI event on Lake Guntersville Friday with a five-bass limit weighing 25 pounds, 6 ounces. The victory earned the Tornado bass club $2,000 and a qualification into the 2025 MLF College Fishing National Championship.
In practice, the King University team was able to put together two solid patterns: fishing shallow, grassy humps on the main lake and fishing brush piles.
“It was mainly any shallow water close to the main river; any hump or bar in less than 12 foot of water,” Lawson said about the grassy humps. “I was calling it ‘mini-ledges,’ like they’re not all the way out there yet, but they’re on their way.”
Unfortunately, the brush pile pattern totally evaporated during the tournament. Lawson said the brush was automatic in practice, with every pile good for a 3- or 4-pound fish. But in the tournament, they ran every piece of brush twice and never got a bite.
Instead, the Tornado anglers further dialed in the grass bite, staying on the lower part of the lake the entire day.
“We didn’t figure it out until the morning of the tournament that a lot of those bigger fish first thing in the mornings wouldn’t be on top up in the grass,” Lawson said. “They’d be out off the edges eating bait. We started fishing just off the grass line, and then when the sun got up about 12 o’clock we moved up into the grass.”
They used a combination of tactics to catch their fish. One angler would use Garmin LiveScope to pick off fish in the grass with a Neko-rigged Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Hit Worm Magnum, with the Neko weight glued in place using Avid Angler Solutions Fishing Glue. The other angler would sling a Strike King 6XD crankbait along the edge of the grass. That combo worked to perfection to earn the first MLF College Fishing win for Altizer and the third for Lawson.
“It was a great tournament,” Lawson added. “I’ve spent a lot of time on Guntersville. It’s one of my favorite places to fish, and it felt really good for it to pay off down there.”
The top 10 teams finished:
1st: King University – Tyler Altizer, Abingdon, Va., and Landon Lawson, Jonesborough, Tenn., five bass, 25-6, $2,000
2nd: Auburn University – Hayden Marbut, Birmingham, Ala., five bass, 22-13, $1,000
3rd: Dallas Baptist University – Braxon Hightower, Amarillo, Texas, and Luke Wenger, Lakewood, Colo., five bass, 22-10, $700
4th: LSU Shreveport – Miles Smith, Houma, La., and Levi Thibodaux, Thibodaux, La., five bass, 21-15, $600
5th: University of North Alabama – Dylan Nutt and Carter Nutt, Nashville, Tenn., five bass, 21-10, $500
6th: University of Montevallo – Logan Plueger, North Augusta, S.C., and Charlie Wright, Becker, Minn., five bass, 21-3
7th: Emmanuel University – Logan Fisher, Colbert, Ga., and Will Hart, Danielsville, Ga., five bass, 20-11
8th: University of North Alabama – Nathan Reynolds, Nashville, Tenn., and Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., five bass, 20-10
9th: University of Montevallo – Nicholas Dumke and Easton Fothergill, Grand Rapids, Minn., five bass, 20-10
10th: University of North Alabama – Tyler Finley, Mount Pleasant, Tenn., and Christopher Kistler, Harvest, Ala., five bass, 20-8
The top 12 percent of teams in the tournament qualified for the National Championship. A total of 243 teams competed on Friday, so the top 29 teams advanced to the National Championship. The full list of qualifiers and complete results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI event on Lake Guntersville was hosted by Marshall County Tourism and Sports. The next tournament for MLF College Fishing anglers will be the Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI event on Lake Havasu, May 5 in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
The 2024 MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI season features college teams from across the country competing in nine regular-season tournaments. The top 12 percent of teams from each regular-season tournament advance to the 2025 Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI National Championship.
Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, E3, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, General Tire, GSM Outdoors, Lew’s, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, REDCON1, Strike King, Suzuki, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, WIX Filters 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.
