NSU fishing team to compete in regional tournament

(Tahlequah, Okla.) Jonathan James of Valliant and Rod Green of Tahlequah will represent Northeastern State University in the National Guard FLW College Fishing Regional Championship hosted Oct. 13-15 by Texas A&M University on Somerville Lake.

The duo, members of the NSU Bass Fishing Team, advanced to the regional competition by finishing ninth in a field of 38 in the FLW College Fishing Tournament at Toledo Bend Lake at Hemphill, Texas, on March 19. The team presented four largemouth black bass weighing 11 pounds, 4 ounces.

We would have liked to finish better than ninth, but several teams didn't catch anything, James said. We were also the only Oklahoma team in the top 10.

James, who graduated in May with a bachelors degree in mass communication, and Green, a junior, will compete in the regional against 25 other teams. The weigh-in is on the Texas A&M campus.

The tournament winners earn a $12,500 unrestricted donation to their university and their fishing club receives an additional $12,500 and a Ranger 177TR bass boat valued at $25,000. The top five finishers advance to the national competition.

A winning team turns in the largest weigh-in of up to five fish. The catch must abide my a lakes fishing regulations. Common restrictions are a minimum length of 14 inches or a slot length of 10-14 inches which fish must measure outside to be kept.

James said he has never fished Somerville Lake, but that the NSU team will not go into the tournament blind. Scouting trips are planned in the coming weeks.

I will probably spend one full day just driving around the lake, graphing with locators, he said. Generally, we look for creek channels, brush piles and other structure. We want to identify some sort of pattern in the movement of the fish. To find that out we have to spend time on the water and learn how they will behave at a time of year.

A fisherman almost since he could walk, James knows how to spot likely gathering places for fish and he loves being out on the water.

Its almost a spiritual type of thing, he said. I like the challenge the fish present and how it changes day to day. I enjoy discovering the structure a lake hides under its water and the pursuit of the fish.

The Somerville Lake regional will be recorded and broadcast nationally on the Versus sports network Dec. 18.

We are getting permission to have custom jerseys made so we can represent NSU to a national audience, James said. If there are any members of the NSU community who can make the trip for the tournament, we would love to have their support.

National Guard FLW College Fishing is a nationwide competitive bass-fishing program open to full-time students at four-year colleges and universities. It consists of 20 qualifying events, five regional championships and the national championship. For more information visit Collegefishing.com.

For more information about the NSU Bass Fishing Team contact James at (405) 612-6224.