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Editor's note: This is just one article from a recent issue of FLW Outdoors Magazine, which publishes both a Bass Edition and a Walleye Edition. To learn more about the magazine and how to subscribe, click here.
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January is one month of the year when even die-hard anglers won’t look at you like a mad man if you’d rather sit in a cozy recliner and watch college football than head to the lake. It’s understandable, considering the weather and it being college football bowl season.
As coincidence has it, most bass fishing football fans have something to talk about in January and into February. The top college football teams each season are traditionally from top bass fishing regions of the country, and a day spent arguing the Bowl Championship Series computer rankings gets the heart pumping as much as hunting up the hottest bite.
So, in honor of college football and all forms of collegiate rankings, and in the spirit of friendly college rivalries, it is time for some college debate aimed specifically at anglers. (Read entire article)
NC State BassPack
N.C. State Finishes 5th at Lake Okeechobee
21.Jan.2012
5th: North Carolina State University – Clint Benbow, Statesville, N.C., and Ethan Cox, West End, N.C.
(five bass, 11-8, $1,000)
N.C. State University Wins FLW College Fishing Title
20.Aug.2011
BUFFALO, N.Y. – The N.C. State University team of Casey Johnson of Raleigh, N.C., and Josh Hooks of Apex, N.C., won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Northern Division event on Lake Erie Saturday with five bass weighing 20 pounds, 4 ounces. The victory earned the team $10,000 to be split between the university and the university’s bass fishing club - $7,500 for the bass club and $2,500 for their school. The win also helped them advance to the Northern Division Regional Championship.
“This is awesome,” said Johnson, a junior biological sciences major. “Words can’t describe it. We had a day where nothing went wrong.”
Johnson said his team had an outstanding day on the water and boated about 40 fish, including only two non-keepers. Johnson said they lost only one fish during the course of the day.
The team employed the use of a drift sock to drift over a series of humps off of the main channel with a drop-shot rig. The team used a green and brown Jackall Cross Tail Shad to boat their fish.
“About 9:30 Josh put one in the boat that was about 5 ½ (pounds), and we were like, ‘We might have something going here,’” said Hooks, a sophomore engineering major. “Every fish we caught was like 3 ½ pounds or 4 pounds.
“This morning was phenomenal,” Hooks added. “Every time the drop shot hit the dirt they had it. We were doubled up five or six times easy.”
N.C. State Takes 5th at Lake Champlain
25.Jun.2011
5th: North Carolina State University – Jeff Bumgarner, Wade, N.C., and Ben Dziwulski, Woodbine, Md., five bass, 12-0, $2,000
BassPack Takes 1st and 3rd in FLW Northern Regional
RALEIGH, N.C. – You know you’ve had a great tournament when your winning
margin is greater than the combined final-round weights of your two
nearest competitors. Such was the case for NC State’s Jeff Bumgarner and
Will White, whose stellar performance earned them a first-place finish
at the National Guard FLW College Fishing Northern Regional Championship
on Jordan Lake.
Racking up a three-day total of 47 pounds, 6 ounces, the duo entered the final round in first place with a 7-pound, 8-ounce lead, but when the dust settled on day three, they had more than doubled that margin to 16-3. By comparison, the second- and third-place teams generated a total of 16-2 on day three. For their accomplishments, Bumgarner and White won $25,000 for their school and a Ranger 177TR with an Evinrude engine for their bass club.
The victory was the second consecutive CF Northern Regional title for NC State. Kevin Beverley and Ben Dziwulski, who finished third this year, won in 2009. White acknowledged the high level of competition he and Bumgarner faced with the other top-five teams.
NC State's Beverley and Dziwulski Take Third
Racking up a three-day total of 47 pounds, 6 ounces, the duo entered the final round in first place with a 7-pound, 8-ounce lead, but when the dust settled on day three, they had more than doubled that margin to 16-3. By comparison, the second- and third-place teams generated a total of 16-2 on day three. For their accomplishments, Bumgarner and White won $25,000 for their school and a Ranger 177TR with an Evinrude engine for their bass club.
The victory was the second consecutive CF Northern Regional title for NC State. Kevin Beverley and Ben Dziwulski, who finished third this year, won in 2009. White acknowledged the high level of competition he and Bumgarner faced with the other top-five teams.
NC State's Beverley and Dziwulski Take Third
Beverley and Dziwulski may have missed their chance to repeat as regional champs, but their work ensured a double shot of top-five exposure for NC State. Five fish on day one
put them in second place with 11-11. On day two, they slipped to fourth
with four fish for 9-12. Day three brought a trio that weighed 9-8 and
raised them to third with a final weight of 30-15.
Beverley said that he and Dziwulski stuck with their pattern of cranking over wood and rocks. They started out using chartreuse baits, but switching to white with black backs appealed to the bigger fish.
Dziwulski, who blanked in the final round, said his partner’s final-round average of over 3 pounds was well within the realm of what they realistically expected. Practice yielded several large bass, but the cold snap that plagued the tournament days had their fish unsettled.
“It wasn’t really surprising to catch fish that size; it’s just the number of fish we’ve been catching has been the problem,” he said. “I know the fish are still there, but we just couldn’t get (more) of them to bite today.”
One of today’s fish turned frustration into jubilation. As Dziwulski recalled: “When Kevin caught his biggest fish, he was snagged on a stump, and when he popped it off the stump, the fish ate it. That was the third fish we’ve caught doing that, so whenever we got snagged, I said, ‘Sweeeet!’”
Beverley said that he and Dziwulski stuck with their pattern of cranking over wood and rocks. They started out using chartreuse baits, but switching to white with black backs appealed to the bigger fish.
Dziwulski, who blanked in the final round, said his partner’s final-round average of over 3 pounds was well within the realm of what they realistically expected. Practice yielded several large bass, but the cold snap that plagued the tournament days had their fish unsettled.
“It wasn’t really surprising to catch fish that size; it’s just the number of fish we’ve been catching has been the problem,” he said. “I know the fish are still there, but we just couldn’t get (more) of them to bite today.”
One of today’s fish turned frustration into jubilation. As Dziwulski recalled: “When Kevin caught his biggest fish, he was snagged on a stump, and when he popped it off the stump, the fish ate it. That was the third fish we’ve caught doing that, so whenever we got snagged, I said, ‘Sweeeet!’”
N.C. State wins CF Northern Division event on Mt. Island Lake
MOUNT HOLLY, N.C. — The N.C. State University team of Jeff Bumgardner of Wade, N.C., and Will White of Raleigh, N.C., won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Northern Division on Mt. Island Lake Saturday with six bass weighing 21 pounds, 3 ounces. The victory earned the team $10,000 to be split evenly between the university and the university’s bass-fishing club.
The win also helped them advance to the Northern Division Regional Championship where they could ultimately win a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower engine wrapped in school colors for their school’s bass club and $25,000 for the school they represent.
"We knew what we were going to do and we pulled up to our first spot, and that’s where we caught all of our fish,” said White, who is a senior Wood Products major. “We caught our limit by 10 o’clock. We actually caught five of our six by 9 o’clock and then it took just a little grinding to get that sixth fish off the rock pile.”
White said the team caught all of their fish on a crawdad-patterned crankbait. White said they caught seven keepers and lost one fish during the course of the day.
“We decided to come in to the weigh-in about 30 to 45 minutes early just to make sure we wouldn't have to worry about boat trouble or anything of that nature,” said Bumgardner, who is a sophomore General Studies major. (Read Entire Article)
MOUNT HOLLY, N.C. — The N.C. State University team of Jeff Bumgardner of Wade, N.C., and Will White of Raleigh, N.C., won the National Guard FLW College Fishing Northern Division on Mt. Island Lake Saturday with six bass weighing 21 pounds, 3 ounces. The victory earned the team $10,000 to be split evenly between the university and the university’s bass-fishing club.
The win also helped them advance to the Northern Division Regional Championship where they could ultimately win a Ranger 177TR with a 90-horsepower engine wrapped in school colors for their school’s bass club and $25,000 for the school they represent.
"We knew what we were going to do and we pulled up to our first spot, and that’s where we caught all of our fish,” said White, who is a senior Wood Products major. “We caught our limit by 10 o’clock. We actually caught five of our six by 9 o’clock and then it took just a little grinding to get that sixth fish off the rock pile.”
White said the team caught all of their fish on a crawdad-patterned crankbait. White said they caught seven keepers and lost one fish during the course of the day.
“We decided to come in to the weigh-in about 30 to 45 minutes early just to make sure we wouldn't have to worry about boat trouble or anything of that nature,” said Bumgardner, who is a sophomore General Studies major. (Read Entire Article)
FLW Outdoors Magazine - January/February 2010
Where students don’t fall asleep in class. They get up early to hit the lake
01.Feb.2010
Top 25 bass fishing colleges
Where students don’t fall asleep in class. They get up early to hit the lake
01.Feb.2010
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NC State Wins FLW College Fishing Northern Regional Championship
Lake Norman, North Carolina
Wolfpack comeback
North Carolina State anglers Kevin Beverley and Ben Dziwulski rally to claim Northern Regional Championship09.Nov.2009
DAVIDSON, N.C. – On day one of the National Guard FLW College Fishing Northern Regional Championship, the North Carolina State team of Kevin Beverley and Ben Dziwulski caught four keeper bass. On day two they improved to five fish and, after the weigh-in, promised they would come in with a six-bass limit Monday. Promise delivered.
After two days of nary a cloud in the sky, day three on Lake Norman saw overcast conditions. This severely hurt the dock bite as the bass had little shade to relate to. Beverley and Dziwulski purposely stayed away from the docks for that reason – they were too inconsistent.
Instead they found three spots – a shoal in Davidson Creek, a rock quarry in Knox Creek and a concrete pier. All three of these spots were within shouting distance of each other.
After two days of nary a cloud in the sky, day three on Lake Norman saw overcast conditions. This severely hurt the dock bite as the bass had little shade to relate to. Beverley and Dziwulski purposely stayed away from the docks for that reason – they were too inconsistent.
Instead they found three spots – a shoal in Davidson Creek, a rock quarry in Knox Creek and a concrete pier. All three of these spots were within shouting distance of each other.
“Going into this tournament, I knew I didn’t want to fish docks,” said Dziwulski, a freshman business major. “I wanted to find something different, and I didn’t want to run around all day. Having three spots close was key.”
Dziwulski and Beverley’s go-to presentation was the drop-shot. They fished it with a Yamamoto Shad Shape worm, a Strike King 4-inch finesse worm and a Zoom Super Fluke Jr. Their most productive bait was the Shad Shape worm, which they termed “Gary” in an effort to keep it a secret from their fellow competitors.
At the shoal they fished in 50 feet of water. The spotted bass in the area were following shad on the bottom. During the day, the bass would drive the shad all the way to the lake’s surface.
“Eventually the spots would push the bait all the way to the top, and they’d start schooling. When that happened, we would pull out a Lucky Craft Sammy and a Reaction Innovations Vixen. I think the Vixen caught our biggest fish of the day, but that was the only one we got on top.”
At the rock quarry, they worked the edge where it dropped straight down from 20 feet to 50 feet. They would pitch their drop-shot and slowly drag it toward the edge. To get a bite, the bait had to be exactly positioned where the drop-off started. “We spent probably 50 hours of practice studying this quarry,” added Dziwulski. “We could see the bait, so we knew they were there. We just had to find a way to catch them.”
The concrete pier wasn’t a solid pattern like the other two. It was a gut decision made by Beverley, a sophomore who studies civil engineering.
“Kevin chose to stop at this concrete pier,” Dziwulski explained. “We hadn’t really fished it before, but we caught two keepers off it. Kevin just stepped up and made the right decisions. We came into today knowing we had to absolutely catch them, and Kevin made all the right calls. I am, like, absolutely blown away.”
Dziwulski and Beverley weighed four spotted bass and two largemouths Monday. Those were the only six keepers they caught, and they weighed 9 pounds, 6 ounces. Combined with 6-2 and 9-2, they finished with a three-day total weight of 24 pounds, 10 ounces. For winning the Northern Regional Championship, the Wolfpack earned a $25,000 check for their school as well as a new Ranger boat for the club.
“We wanted this to happen so bad,” said Beverley. “Now that it actually did, I am just speechless.”
Furthermore, Dziwulski and Beverley have already made spring break plans for March 2010. They will be in Knoxville, Tenn., practicing for the National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship, taking place April 10-12. (Read entire Article)
