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A team from Utah Valley University was among 20 schools competing at a regional bass fishing tournament at Utah Lake over the weekend. Colleges and universities from across the Western United States found tough fishing conditions during the National Guard FLW College Fishing Western Conference Championship Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
UVU competitors Russell Behlings, of Custer, S.D., and Aaron Warner, of Orem, finished in eighth place. Their four total fish weighed 6 pounds, 8 ounces. Merely qualifying for the regional tournament was an impressive feat for the UVU fishing team, which was founded in November 2011.
The winning team from California State University-Long Beach caught a three-day total of 14 bass that weighed 21 pounds, 8 ounces. The victory earned the team a Ranger Z117 bass boat.
Saturday presented especially challenging conditions as teams had to deal with periodic thunderstorms, cooler temperatures and the impact of a full moon, which often makes fish reluctant to bite. For the day, only two of the five competing squads caught any fish. Four teams caught no fish during the tournament, and two others caught only a single bass.
The home-water advantage was not enough for the UVU anglers to advance from the first FLW collegiate tournament ever in the state. But as UVU Bass Club adviser Clinton Martinez noted, “There were a lot of really good fishermen out there competing.” He said he was extremely proud of how his team performed.
The top five teams now move on to the national championship, where they will compete against qualifying teams from four other regional tournaments. In addition to CSU Long Beach, the other qualifying teams at the tournament were Oregon State University, Chico State, Arizona State University and the University of California at Santa Cruz.
While many of the fishing teams concentrated on Utah Lake’s marinas, the CSU Long Beach team followed a different strategy.
Team member Justin Gangel said, “We spent all of our time this week in one spot. It’s called Provo Bay. I think the locals know it as Mud Lake. It’s a tiny creek at the east end of the lake and it goes way back. We were the only boat in there. We were fishing some vegetation in real shallow water — from 1 to 2 feet deep. The key was to cast the bait back as far as we could into the vegetation — that’s where the fish were.”
The other member of the wining squad, Alex Cox, said, “The water temperature in our area was really key for us as well. When you’re out on the main lake, the water temperature is 85 or 86 degrees. In our area, the coolest water we found was 68 degrees. The water was flowing into the lake from right there and created a current, which really helped us out.”
In the high school division, David Ashton and Jake Beahm from Boise took first place. Their two fish on Saturday weighed in at 7 pounds, 13 ounces and were envied by the college competitors.
Competitors launched each morning at 7 a.m. from Utah Lake State Park in Provo, and daily weigh-ins took place at 4 p.m. at the Walmart on Sandhill Road in Orem.
FLW college fishing events are free to enter, and FLW provides boats and drivers for each competing team. The organization’s initials stand for Forrest L. Wood, developer of the Ranger bass boat and founder of the Ranger boat company.
National television coverage of the Utah Lake Western Conference Championship is slated to be broadcast on NBC Sports Network Nov. 4 from 2-4 p.m.
Flint Stephens has a master's degree in communications from Brigham Young University. He is author of "Mormon Parenting Secrets: Time-Tested Methods for Raising Exceptional Children." His blog is www.mormonparentingsecrets.com.
