On Sunday May 2nd 2010, the IU Bass Team competed in the first club tournament of the spring season at Monroe Reservoir. With strong thunderstorms occuring the day before and also delaying the tournament a couple hours, many thought going into the tournament it was going to be tough one. However, one angler, Steven Bressler, had a pattern that brought him home a victory weighing in at 11.75lbs. Steven also won the Big Bass award with one weighing 5.1 pounds.

Steven- “I came into this tournament knowing I might have a shot at winning this one. With all the rain, I knew the shallow bite would not be on in all that muddy water so I decided to go to the deep clear water and luckily it worked for me. I caught everyone one of my fish using drop baits. The 5 pounder was my first fish of the day. The hardest part is always to get that first fish in the boat. Luckily mine just happen to be a giant.”

Right behind Steve was Dustin Vaal finishing in 2nd with 5.82. Dustin caught his fish on a crankbait and a tube. Some of the other fish that were caught on were spinnerbaits and senkos. Jeff (Boat Driver) also had the biggest bass of the tournament, weighing in 3.56.

The IU Bass Fishing Club acquired this boat in Certificate form by winning the FLW College Fishing Central Regional Championship.  Please see the Certificate images below. This Certificate is being sold well below market value ($21,800). The Certificate can be used to purchase this model boat or to upgrade to any boat model of your choice. The only stipulation is your boat must be ordered before May 2. The Certificate will expire on May 2.

For more information on the 177TR and other Ranger models, visit Ranger Boats.

For more information about  the Certificate and the Expiration date please email Jesse Schultz at schultz3@indiana.edu or call (502)640.6562.

Working hard in the off season.  In between weekends of fundraising, the Club took the opportunity to clean up Hwy 446 which crosses Lake Monroe.

Jesse Schultz and Dustin Vaal take home First Place at the

2009 FLW College Fishing Central Regional Championship on Kentucky Lake.

Check out all the results, videos, pictures, and live weigh-in at CollgeFishing.com

The Tournament

First time fishing at Lake of the Ozarks, no practice prior to tournament day, and slept in the vehicle at the ramp in much colder than expected weather after an eight hour drive. Finishing 4^th out of 40 teams, we were able to bring 4 solid keepers to the scales weighing 9-12. We were even lucky enough to be in the hot seat for a small period of time before being knocked out by Southern Illinois. Murray State won the event with an impressive stringer of five fish for 17-05, as the top five teams advanced to the regional event at Kentucky Lake to be held October 31-November 2. With the 4^th place finish, we left the event with a $3,000 check for the club and scholarships.

How We Caught Them

We started off the tournament by finding a large cove which had both deep and shallow water, as well as docks and undeveloped shoreline. Starting in the back of the cove in shallow water, we threw topwater lures, crankbaits, and jigs while picking up a couple of short fish. We worked our way to a big secondary point with big boulders where we caught our first two keepers in a matter of minutes on a Lucky Craft G-Splash and Zara Spook. It wasn’t until around 1:00 before our next two keepers were caught on back-to-back casts on laydowns using spinnerbaits. Other than the four keepers and a handful of short fish, it was a slow day. However, we were able to execute on each bite and get the top five finish. For results, photos, videos, and more: College Fishing – Results

The Regional

The top five teams from the four qualifying events in the Midwest series will now compete on Kentucky Lake for club/scholarship money, a new Ranger boat, and a chance to compete in the championship. All 20 teams will compete the first two days, with the field being cut to five for the final day. It will be a great opportunity as Ranger boats will be provided and Versus will be televising the event. We will have two teams representing IU at the regional, as Jesse Shultz and Dustin Vaal qualified with a 3^rd place finish at the Kentucky Lake qualifier in May. For more information on the regional: College Fishing

8th Place – Jesse Schultz and Dustin Vaal – 17.51lbs

17th Place – Zack Wojtowicz and Tyler Zschiedrich – 12.24lbs

Fishing down at the Tennessee river for the first time was a blast. Both teams caught lots of shorts and 5 fish limits. Schultz/Vaal caught all of their keepers on Team Supreme and Secret Lure jigs on points and flooded brush/trees. Zschiedrich/Wojtowicz caught their limit on flukes, buzzbaits, and spooks in flooded grass and isolated bushes. Also representing IU were the teams of Michael “Hack Attack” Hackman/Chris Sweany and Ben Graves/Trevor Sager. Unfortunately, they were unable to find the keeper bites on tournament day that they had during practice.

See more coverage at: Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship

Final Results

Jesse Schultz and Dustin Vaal
3rd Place Kentucky Lake
FLW Central Division Regional Qualifier
May 8, 2009

The Tournament
No Practice, High Water, and 2 hours of sleep was just the right combination for Indiana’s team to finish in the Top Five at Kentucky lake in the first FLW Central Division Regional Qualifier. Schultz weighed in 3 solid fish and Vaal brought a 4+ to the scales for a combined total of 10lbs 11oz. The weight gave them an opportunity to sit in the hot seat, but they were in First for only a short time. “The taste of victory was humbling,” Vaal said. “We did the best we could and we have no regrets,” remarked Schultz. Soon after Indiana got comfortable on stage the team for Eastern Kentucky brought six fish to the scales that weighed 11-08. Just enough to knock the Indiana boys out of First place, but not enough to win the tournament. It was Arkansas Tech who was the last standing on the stage at the end of the day. Roberts and Goddard took home a $10,000 check from the National Guard FLW College Fishing Region Qualifier. Schultz and Vaal left with a $4,000 check for there club and scholarships. All Top Five finishers will move on to fish the Regional Championship at Kentucky Lake in October.

How They Caught Them
Schultz caught 1 keeper on a chatterbait in flooded trees and 2 keepers on a deep diving crankbait off of rocky points.
Vaal caught his keeper on a Team Supreme jig off of a rocky point.

The FLW
Schultz says “the FLW College Fishing tournament was the best run college tournament he has ever fished.” “We felt like the pros,” Vaal exclaimed. The FLW and the National Guard have brought College Fishing to a whole new level. Fancy trailers, loud music, video cameras, TVs, and huge winnings have given the college fishermen a taste of the professional fishing world.

Next on Indiana’s Agenda
Schultz and Vaal along with 6 other members from their club will be fishing in the Tennessee River Rumble, a Regional Event hosted by the Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship on May 16th. This tournament is filmed and televised by the Versus network, but will not be broad casted live.

Schultz and Vaal would like to take this opportunity to thank all of their sponsors:
Indiana University Recreation Sports
A20 Boating Supplies
Gemini Sports Marketing
McDonald’s
E21 Sports
Shimano
Got 2 Love It Bass Tournaments
Indiana Bass Federation
Team Supreme
Bassaholics
Secret Lures
National Environmental Contracting
Tackle Warehouse
Gator Grip
Berkley
Big River Tackle
Bass Pro Shops
Big Tales
Blackhawk
CBAA

For more information on FLW College Fishing or the National Guard visit CollegeFishing.com
Also, check out the pictures and videos from the event.

Feel free to contact Jesse Schultz with any questions about the Indiana Bass Fishing Club or any College Fishing questions.

Jesse Schultz
schultz3@indiana.edu
(502) 640-6562

Weather Report: 35°F, Rain/Snow, 25-30 mph Winds

Although the weather did not seem too inviting we still held our first Club tournament of the year on Sunday March 29, 2009 on Lake Monroe. We launch at 7:45am out of Cutright ramp. 7 Boats set across the raging sea to get to that perfect spot. The water temperature started out around 52-53°F and continued to decrease throughout the day. Fish were caught on lipless crankbaits, crankbaits, jerkbaits, jigs, softplastics, and chatterbaits. Targeting flats with grass, rocky points, any creek that was out of the wind!

Tournament Results:
1st–Ryan Queen–4 fish @ 13.37 lbs
2nd–Jesse Schultz–2 fish @ 8.00 lbs
3rd–Zack Wojtowicz–1 fish @ 4.00 lbs
4th–Tyler Zschiedrich– 2 fish @ 3.61 lbs
5th–Eric Boger–1 fish @ 3.54 lbs
6th–Nick Vining–2 fish @ 3.43 lbs
7th–Joseph Aubin–1 fish @ 2.49 lbs
Other Competitors:
Jake Hercamp, Steven Bressler, Tom Peters, Ryan Rodriguez, Chris Sweany, Andrew Schroyer

Mr. Aubin caught a 5 lbs. to take the winnings on the boat driver side. Congratulations on an awesome catch.

A special thanks to all of our boat drives. This tournament would not have been possible without you guys.

~ Jesse Schultz, Club President

Team Wojtowicz/Tolbert Finish 16th

The Under Armour College Bass East Super Regional was the epitome of a rollercoaster ride. Friday practice started out wonderfully. The first spot we pulled up on offered two keepers in 10 minutes, we decided to leave it be and move on. Our next spot gave up the biggest bass of the trip, a 3.5 lbs. toad caught by Mitch. An hour and fifteen minutes in and we thought this was the best lake in the country.

Then the bad things started to happen. Here is a list of all of the things that went against us: the transducer on the depth finder never worked all weekend so all depth checks had to be done with trolling motor in the water, the running light on the boat quit working after Saturday so we had to blast off last the 2^nd day when were scheduled to blast off 6^th, on Saturday our limit spot had three boats sitting on it, we lost too many fish from break offs or coming unhooked, Mitch’s new rod got snapped before the first day, were one of only four schools to send one team so we had less knowledge coming from numerous teams, and we were freshman fishing in our first national tournament. All of this shadows though compared to the giant goose egg we put up Saturday. We were one of 13 teams to zero and that did not sit well with us.

However, we were able to turn things around and bag a 9.89 lbs. limit on day two. The reason for our second day success: going back to fishing what we had confidence in. I never tied on my confidence bait (Timber Tiger crankbait) the first two days but decided to give it a fair amount of work on Sunday. Boy, did it pay off. Within the first 20 minutes we hooked a fish that came off, but that got the wheels spinning. Throughout the day we milked two single brush piles on a rocky point to 10 keeper bites and 6 keepers landed. Day two also gave us the best story of the trip. After breaking off a nice fish, we saw a fish jump about two minutes later. I cast my newly tied on crankbait past the splash and miraculously snagged my snapped line. Mitch was able to grab the string and pull the fish into the boat, our second biggest fish of the day. Had we caught 10 lbs both days we would have finished in the top three, but who knows if we could have gone out and caught 10 lbs again.

Overall the trip was a great experience and we were glad to have represented IU. We were proud of our top 20 finish, especially after our Saturday debacle. Our day 2 weight was one of the bigger stringers of the tournament and made us the big movers of the tourney from day 1 to 2.

Written by: Zack Wojtowicz

The past two weekends, members of the club attended the Boat, Sport, and Travel Show in Indianapolis our biggest fundraiser of the year. Similar to the Indiana Fishing Expo, we sold raffle tickets, t-shirts, and told fish stories.

During the day we helped the kids with the casting contest.  We always enjoy working with youth of our sport.  We feel it is important to educated young fisherman about skills, tactics, and conservation.

This wouldn’t have been possible without help from some of our sponsors. The Indiana Bass Federation allowed us to participate in the event by giving us space for our booth. A rod/reel combo, along with a Got 2 Love It tournament entry was raffled each weekend. Thanks to Bill Embry, Blackhawk, Big Tales, and Big River Tackle and Timber for donating these raffle items. We would also like to thank A2O and Ranger Nick Guide Services for their contributions at the show.

We look forward to seeing everyone next year!