Eastern Kentucky Repeats as Open Champions
2011 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Open presented by Pepsi

PARIS, Tenn., June 30, 2011 – It’s not often in a sport as competitive as collegiate bass fishing that a team wins back-to-back tournament titles; although that’s exactly what the Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) bass team accomplished today by winning the 2011 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Open presented by Pepsi for the second year in a row.

The unique format of the Open tournament allows each school club to send as many teams as they like, with each team consisting of up to six anglers and three boats. EKU claimed the Open title in 2010 when Tyler Moberly and Kyle Raymer competed as a single boat team. This year, Tyler and Kyle, along with teammates Jonas Ertel, John Smith, Matt Salmons and Will Pope, fished as a three-boat team and combined their talents and knowledge of Kentucky Lake to successfully defend their Open title with a total weight of 42.73 pounds.

Ertel and Moberly shared a boat and located several schools of suspended bass, catching over 100 per day, including about 50 small keepers. The pair also fished a spot that yielded some better quality bass using swimbaits. Although their teammates weren’t catching big numbers of bass, they succeeded in catching some bigger fish from ledges with worms and jigs that helped propel the team to victory. The EKU team wishes to thank J&J Marine, who repaired an electrical problem with one of the boats at no charge following the first day of competition.

Starting the day in third place with 23.83 pounds, The University of North Carolina-Charlotte team amassed a tournament total of 41.27 pounds, which was good enough to claim second place. Teammates, Eric Self, Tyler Beam, Shane Lehew and Adam Waters shared three sweet spots located on main river ledges that produced approximately 100 bass, with most in the 2.5 pound size range. The majority of the bass the team brought to the scales were caught using a combination of Strike King 6XD crankbaits, 12” Berkley Power Worms and watermelon craw ER football jigs.

Finishing in third place with a total weight of 39.45 pounds, the University of North Alabama bass team stayed close to Paris Landing Marina and maximized their fishing time. The team caught all their bass from three sweet spots. One is a 20-foot deep river ledge, another is a shell bed positioned on an island point and the third spot is a sharp point on a river ledge that drops from 10 to 19 feet and features heavy cover. A combination of football jigs and Carolina rigged soft plastics proved to be effective for tempting more than 150 bass to bite. The team explained that they utilized their Lowrance HDS Structure Scan units to locate the fish and their HydroWave units to activate the schools of bass.

David Lambert, representing the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, secured the Costa overall big bass and Berkley day one big bass awards for his team by landing a 9.49-pound lunker on a spot the team located during the Open event last year. The big bass was fooled with a Carolina rigged Berkley Power Worm and was positioned on a shell bed located on a river ledge that dropped from 13 to 15 feet.

The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga team claimed the Berkley day two big bass awards when Robby Crosslin boated a 7.54-pound bass that was coaxed into biting a Carolina rigged Berkley Power Worm.

Rounding out the top ten is:

4 - Tennessee-Chattanooga 38.79
5 - Northwest Shoals 37.88
6 - Murray State 37.05
7 - Austin Peay 36.95
8 - Purdue 34.76
9 - Tennessee-Martin 33.61
10- Louisville 33.28

The BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Series is sanctioned by the Association of Collegiate Anglers and will be televised on Versus by Careco TV beginning July 31 at 2:00 pm CST. The weekly television series will showcase the 2011 series of tournaments, including the Collegiate Bass Fishing Open presented by Pepsi.

The Series is sponsored by BoatUS, BoatUS ANGLER, Cabela’s, Sperry Top-Sider, Columbia Sportswear, frogg toggs, Lazer TroKar, Abu Garcia, Berkley, Costa, Ranger Boats, Onyx, HydroWave, Mountain Dew, Gemini Sport Marketing, Big Bite Baits, Yamaha, Spro, PowerPole, Pepsi and Sunline.

For complete standings, photo album and additional information, please visit www.CollegiateBassChampionship.com or contact Wade Middleton wademiddleton@aol.com.

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