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Norman,
OK – Oklahoma University’s bass fishing team took home bragging rights and a pile of trophies including the first ever Big-12 Bass Fishing Championship after two days of tough fishing on Lake Eufaula.
The OU team of Jordan Nichols, Chip Porche’, Mark Johnson and Justin Hurd outfished teams from Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Texas, Kansas State, Colorado and Nebraska on their way to capturing both the Big-12 title and the Heartland Regional Championship sponsored by the Collegiate Bass Anglers Association (CBAA).
In addition to the Heartland and Big-12 Championship hardware that the OU team carted away on Sunday, their victory also gave them the rights to hold the “Bedlam” Bass Fishing trophy in the grudge match that is OU-OSU sports. This traveling trophy will be up for grabs each year when these two schools square off in bass tournament competition.
For the Eufaula event, each team’s total was determined by the combined weight of their best two boats’ bags each day. On Saturday the OU team of Porche’ and Johnson caught a limit of keepers by 8:30 am and culled up to their weight of 13.36 pounds. Their Sooner teammates Nichols and Hurd had the big sack on Sunday weighing in 15.66 pounds.
Oklahoma’s team total for the weekend (50.13 pounds) was almost 15 pounds heavier than the runner-up. They used their knowledge of the 104,000-acre eastern Oklahoma reservoir and their experience in fishing high, muddy water to their advantage. Crankbaits on the rocks, buzz baits, chatter-baits and jigs or soft plastics flipped in the flooded brush filled out the teams’ limits. The OU quartet was the only team to weigh in 5-fish limits each day.
Oklahoma State University anglers found themselves only 1.2 pounds behind after Saturday’s weigh-in on the strength of James Elam and Daniel Davis’ 11.71 bag that included a 5.41 pound toad that was the largest of the day. Teammates Orie Chambers and Josh Bryant had 10.98 to add to their total. However, the Cowboy anglers found fishing much tougher on Sunday. Following a fish-care penalty, they slipped to third place behind a surging Texas Tech team that jumped from fourth place to second on the strength of a strong performance Sunday. The Red Raider anglers edged the Cowboys by less than a half pound weighing a total of 35.47 pounds to the Cowboy’s 34.98 pounds.
Teams from Texas, Kansas State, Texas Tech and Nebraska made 300 to 500 mile drives pulling their boats. Colorado’s team on the other hand, who had formed as a club less than a month ago, did not have bass boats. They made the 800+ mile trek to Eastern Oklahoma and were provided boats and captains by local Legend Boats dealers.
The CBAA www.collegiatebass.org
sanctioned event was the first in Oklahoma. Although this was a no-entry fee tournament, other Big-12 schools Kansas and Texas A&M did not send teams primarily due to sky-rocketing fuel costs. Iowa State team members canceled their plans to fish when the disastrous Mississippi River floods struck their state. Baylor and Missouri do not yet have bass fishing teams but CBAA officials are working with local student anglers to get club organized at those schools. The next collegiate tournament in Oklahoma will be an open event at Grand Lake on July 25th and 26th hosted by the Big-12 Champion OU Bass Fishing Club.
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