Central Regional Wrap-Up
Soon-to-be All-American Steve Bressler has a saying he likes to joke about: “I don’t believe in miracles, only disasters.” Steve isn’t really that negative, but the saying came to mind when he and two-time All-American Dustin Vaal summarized their exploits a few weeks ago while competing in the FLW College Fishing Central Regional Tournament on Lake Kinkaid in Illinois.
Practice hadn’t been too bad on the IU team, who quickly found fish in shallow Milfoil, then moved out deep in search of bigger bites, only to find that the deep bite was not on. Dedicating themselves to shallow matted grass, the team consistently caught short fish throughout the tournament and only yielded one keeper that weighed 3-14 for their efforts. Bressler and Vaal had a miscommunication with the tournament directors and received a two-pound penalty for coming in late for the weigh-in, putting them in tenth place at the end of day one with 1-14 pounds.
The late penalty weighed heavily on their minds during the second day of competition, not knowing if those two pounds would cost them the third day and qualifying for the national championship for the third year in a row. The team kept fishing what they knew had been working, pitching an El Grande Hatch Match in Junebug around matted grass. Vaal caught the only keeper of the day, another fish that weighed 3-14. Steve summed up the angst and anticipation they were feeling during the weigh-in “When we were waiting at the tanks, we were trying to size up EKU’s bag, because we could almost guarantee fifth place would come down to us or them. We honestly couldn’t tell who had the better shot until we saw their weight.”
Moving into day three, the team caught only one keeper for the third day in a row, a fish that weighed 2-11 and came on a Zoom Lures “Horney Toad.” Tough conditions made fishing slow, Vaal said in a club meeting “It was painful at times. We’d pitch our bait into a hole in the grass and fish it in the same hole for two or three minutes at a time.”
Bressler and Vaal finished fifth in the regional and by doing so qualified IU for their third consecutive FLW College Fishing National Championship appearance. The Hoosiers said they will be firing on all cylinders in the next round of competition and are prepared to put in all the time they have to so they can bring home the national title. “Not winning the Regional put some weight on our shoulders. We’ll be bringing the heat for nationals.”