FLW College Fishing is headed to Smith Mountain Lake May 3 for the first Northern Conference tournament of 2014. Fifty college teams will be competing for a top award of $2,000 and a berth in the Northern Conference Invitational tournament.
“Smith Mountain Lake is my home lake,” said Castrol pro David Dudley of Lynchburg who is FLW’s all-time leading money winner. “The college teams are going to find the bass lying on the beds everywhere. My advice to anglers would be to bring your polarized sunglasses,” Dudley continued. “Burn your trolling motor up until you find the winning stringer. Look for the spawning fish on beds, and fish the boat docks while you’re looking. I think most teams are going to see 50 to 75 fish on the bed that day.”
Dudley said that if he was fishing this event he would be throwing a jig and a shaky-head rig for most of the day.
“In a one-day tournament like this, I think the sight-fishing is going to be the key,” Dudley said. “I’m going to guess that 18 pounds will be very strong in this event.”
Anglers will take off from Parkway Marina in Huddleston at 6:30 a.m. Saturday. Weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 2:30 p.m. Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.
Over 50 teams from 28 different schools around the country will be competing. Local schools competing in the Smith Mountain Lake tournament, which is hosted by the Parkway Marina, include: Liberty University, Lynchburg College, VA Tech, VCU and Roanoke College.
FLW fishing teams compete in three qualifying events in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top fifteen teams from each regular-season tournament will qualify for one of five conference invitational tournaments. The top ten teams from each conference invitational tournament will advance to the 2015 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
College Fishing is free to enter. All participants must be registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or university.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more visit CollegeFishing.com.
