UT Martin’s bass anglers team completed its best tournament this year, finishing sixth out of 43 teams at the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Pepsi Open June 23-24 at Kentucky Lake near Paris.
The UT Martin team tallied a two-day total of 34.06 pounds, just behind UT Chattanooga’s team that weighed in with 34.57 pounds.
North Carolina-Charlotte won the tournament with a final weigh-in of 41.07 pounds.
The tournament format included teams of up to two boats. Each boat’s best-three fish were combined daily and totaled for a two-day score.
One-boat teams combined the top-three fish from the front and back angler.
Team members Grayson Smith and Dylan Powley contributed to the strong finish by landing some of their largest tournament fish this year.
Other UT Martin team members participating were Jason McGee, Alex Derry, Eric Davidson and Ryan Lackey.
“We put in five days of practice this week (before the tournament),” Smith said, crediting the additional preparation for the team’s success in the event. He added, “We didn’t get a whole lot of bites, but the ones we did get we capitalized on.”
UNC-Charlotte’s team began Day Two in third place, less than three pounds behind first-day leader North Carolina State.
North Carolina State slipped to second place with a total of 40.18 pounds.
Third place went to the Bethel team of Cody Ross, Dewey Swims, Dillon McGee and Tanner Ellis with a two day total of 36.61 pounds.
The highest finishing two angler team, occupying fourth place, went to the Kennesaw State team of Gregory Childers and Chris Ellis who weighed 12 bass totaling 36.45 pounds.
Big Bass honors for the event went to the Dallas Baptist University team of Trey Bledsoe and Trent Newman, with a 6.77-pound lunker, which was caught by Newman on Day Two.
Complete results are available at the Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship website at www.collegiatebasschampionship.com. Published in The WCP 7.3.12