Clay Messer and Jackson Bonner: hold their catches Saturday at the Southeastern Bass Series on Weiss Lake. They placed first in the head-to-head competition with 12.44 pounds. Faulkner University followed in second place, and UAB came in third. Jessica Chesnut / PHOTO STAFF
The Auburn Bass Team took first place last Saturday at the Southeastern Collegiate Bass Series on Weiss Lake in both the head-to-head competition and the invitational.
The team is made up of members of the Auburn Bass Sports Club, a provisional club that will become an official Auburn sports club in fall 2008.
Six individuals — Jake DeBin, a junior in liberal arts; Jackson Bonner, a senior in history; Clay Messer, a senior in biosystems engineering; Dennis Parker, a junior in building science; Richard Peek, a junior in poultry science and criminology; and Sam Rochell, a junior in poultry science — out of 30 club members qualified to compete in the Southeastern Collegiate Bass Series.
The series was sponsored by American Rodsmiths and hosted by Auburn University.
Nine teams competed alongside Auburn in the five fish limit tournament, including Mississippi State, Tennessee, Georgia Southern, Virginia Tech, UAB, Montevallo, Ole Miss, Troy University and Faulkner.
Auburn placed first in the head-to-head competition with 23.35 pounds.
Faulkner was second with 17.39 pounds, third was UAB with 16.90 pounds, fourth was Mississippi State with 15.58 pounds and fifth was Virginia Tech with 8.76 pounds.
“The weather was horrible, and by 11 a.m. our game plan wasn’t working, so we looked at the map and decided where we wanted to fish,” said DeBin, president of the Auburn Bass Sports Club. “It was tight.”
In the invitational part of the tournament, Bonner and Messer took first place with 12.44 pounds.
The Auburn Bass Sports Club: currently a provisional club, but will become an official Auburn club in fall 2008 after reaching its one-year marker. Jessica Chesnut / PHOTO STAFF
“We were fishing about three pockets,” said Messer. “We bounced around, fishing them and re-fishing them. The day started out slow, but it picked up when the sun came out. I like to fish, but competing is the best part, and there isn’t anything like winning.”
Faulkner’s Kyle Tindall and Michael Eubanks took second with 10.99 pounds while UAB’s Drew Wheathington and Walter Malone placed third with 10.98 pounds. Wheathington and Malone also brought in the biggest fish which weighed 5.55 pounds.
In a speech to the collegiate anglers and onlookers, Jann Swaim, Auburn’s adviser, said, “This (tournament) shows the powers-to-be that collegiate bass fishing is strong.”
There are two main tournaments per year, the National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship sponsored by FOX College Sports and the Smashmouth Bass Series sponsored by Under Armour and ESPN.
Any other tournaments must be hosted by the teams, Swaim said. That is why Auburn is hosting four this year. The first tournament was on Lake Wheeler March 21-22.
“We finished middle of the pack on the first one,” said DeBin.
Auburn is hosting a tournament May 24 on Lake Wilson, which will be followed by the championship tournament in June on Lake Guntersville.
“It was worth driving all the way down here (from Virginia) because we’re going to make a weekend of fishing,” said Scott Wiley from Virginia Tech. “We’ll probably be back next month for the next tournament.”
While many anglers fish for the competition, some say there is more to it than that.
“The reason I started fishing is that no matter what’s going on, whatever your problems are, when that first lure hits the water, they disappear with the ripples,” said Parker. “When you get back to the dock, they’ll be back, but all your problems are gone while you fish.”
The AU Bass Team is supported by the Auburn Fisheries Department.
The Office of Communications and Marketing has also helped with publicity.
“It’s been a great first year,” Swaim said. “We’ve been welcomed with arms wide open. I’ve even heard President Jay Gogue has looked at the Web site and commented on our club. We’re just tickled pink.”
