Americana Outdoors E-Magazine - July 2018 Edition

BETHEL ANGLERS CLAIM CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE BY KYLE CURRY

330 of college fishing’s best anglers took to Pick- wick Lake with hopes of taking home the title, and only two competitors left with the championship trophy. Carter McNeil and Cole Floyd of Bethel Uni- versity are the winners of the 2018 BoatUS Colle- giate Bass Fishing Championship. Bringing 25.12 pounds to the scales on Day 2, McNeil and Floyd bested the field by more than six pounds with a two day total of 47.75 pounds. The Day 1 leaders entered the final day of tourna- ment competition with a slim lead over second place. Leading by 0.03 pounds, their margin of er- ror was small. “We knew we had to bust them. We knew we had some guys on our tail,” says Floyd. By 7:45 am their nerves began to settle. McNeil and Floyd had a limit weighing 11 pounds in the box

within the first hour and a half of tournament com- petition. From there on out, the pair went to work upgrad- ing their limit. Fishing multiple offshore spots, the Bethel anglers knew it was paramount to manage their fish, “We had several different schools of fish, and we went in with a gameplan. We’re going to take our best so many and we’re going to rotate them,” recounts McNeil. Working a variety of baits including crankbaits, soft plastics, and a jigging spoon, at around 8:15 am they culled up significantly. The team landed one fish weighing four and a half pounds, and an- other weighing six pounds. Those two fish catch- es boosted their bag well up over 19 pounds at the