National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Day One
Category: press release
Sep 19th, 2008 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Sep 19th, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Surprise cloud cover benefits some anglers; frustrates othersRecord big bags and big bass come to the scales LEWISVILLE, Texas – A spectacular morning sunrise had the 2008 BoatU.S. National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship (NCBFC) anglers thinking it was going to be another carbon copy day of what they had during their three practice days – calm and sunny. Instead, it wasn’t long after that a high cloud cover and light but consistent breeze took over for most of the tournament hours. Those with good topwater and shallow patterns were pleased with the change. Others who had been relying on bright skies to hold the fish tight in and around cover found themselves scratching their heads and searching for some new places. Overall, though, it was a great fishing day, and new BoatU.S. NCBFC records for single-day combined weights were set by the field of collegiate anglers. When all teams had weighed in, 37 were successful in catching their five-fish limits, setting up a showdown heading into Friday’s second round, which will wrap up with only the top five teams moving on to compete in Saturday’s final round.On top after day one is the Virginia Tech team of Scott Wiley and Charlie Machek with their five-fish limit weighing 19.60 pounds. They also had the big bass of the day, a 7.98 pounder. “We actually caught them better today than what our practice was,” said Wiley. “But I’m confident we’re doing something that nobody else is. It’s a technique we use back home in Virginia. We don’t expect much to change so we’re confident about another good day tomorrow.” Wiley and Machek’s total provided a separation of less than one-quarter ounce over second place finishers of the day, the Eastern Kentucky University team of Andrew Luxon and Richard Cobb. They had five bass weighing 19.42 pounds.Rounding out the top five teams were: 3rd place, Southeast Missouri State’s Taylor Gorton and Mike Rains with 18.28 pounds; 4th place, Tarleton State University’s (Texas) John Anderson and Kent Andries with 16.05 pounds; and 5th place, University of Alabama – Birmingham’s Tim Waits and Braxton Setzer with 15.15 pounds. Visit www.collegiatebasschampionship.com to view full field results.Returning champion Texas A&M’s Justin Rackley and his new partner, Andy Shafer, finished the day in 7th place with 14.98 pounds. “We had to fish differently today than we did during practice because of the lack of sun, but our daily weight stayed about the same,” Rackley said.The teams with the most success weren’t sharing many secrets about what they did to catch their fish because the entire field of anglers will fish again on day two. Only the top five teams advance to Saturday. They fish from tournament-provided Ranger boats equally equipped with Yamaha outboards, Garmin electronics and MotorGuide trolling motors. Of the incentive awards open to all participants, Wiley received the daily Abu Garcia Big Bass $1,000 scholarship for his 7.98 pound catch. Friday’s weigh-in and the final on Saturday both begin at 3 p.m. Central Daylight Time. Weigh-ins are held at Sneaky Pete’s Marina and are open to the public. The 2008 BoatU.S. NCBFC is sponsored by BoatU.S., BoatU.S. Angler, Ranger Boats, Cabela’s, American Rodsmiths, Anglers’ Legacy, Abu Garcia, Aviva Fishin’ Buddy, Berkley, Costa Del Mar, EPIC Sports Video Cam, Falcon FTO tackle organizers, Fenwick, Frogg Toggs, Garmin, Gemini Sport Marketing, Lago Vista Lodge, Gene Larew Lures, MotorGuide, Power-Pole, Rapala’s Fishing Frenzy, Sebile, Sperry Top-Sider, Stearns, TruckVault, Witz Sportcases, Yamaha, City of Lewisville, Sneaky Pete’s Marina and Fox College Sports.