Talk of bass fishing is not often at the forefront of conversations around campus. However, with the continual success of Oregon’s club bass fishing team, this group of anglers certainly seems to be making a name for themselves.
On Jan. 15, Lake Shasta played host to the first Forrest L. Wood College Fishing Western Division tournament of the season, in which the Ducks had four teams competing for the $10,000 first place prize. Thirty-nine teams competed in total, on a lake notorious for smaller-sized bass. And while last minute fill-ins were required to field the four teams, the Ducks walked away with impressive — and surprising — first and fourth-place finishes.
The first place team of William Crowl and Kyle Schneider won with five bass, weighing seven pounds, six ounces. The finish earned them $7,500 for the team and $2,500 for the University.
Oregon expected a close tournament. With the small size of the bass, it was going to be difficult for any team to land a bass big enough to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. In fact, only four ounces separated the fifth and 10th place teams. The Ducks also expected a slow day on the water because of the low temperature of the lake.
“At these colder tournaments I don’t expect anything,” said Crowl, whose brother founded the Oregon bass fishing team six years ago. “I knew the tournament would be tight with slow fishing, but it just came down to that one larger kicker fish, which we had and others did not.”
The Ducks entered the tournament already at a disadvantage. Because of the distance they had to travel, they were unable to fish the lake before the tournament, a luxury that many of the other teams had. While competing, the Ducks continued to face adversity as the trolling motor fell off the boat of Crowl and Schneider, and they were forced to duct-tape it back on. It all set up for a finish that stunned the team.
“Honestly, we were really surprised,” team president Ross Richards said. “We didn’t get to pre-fish it, and that’s something that’s usually pretty helpful. For a lake like Shasta it is kind of a crapshoot. You can’t really control getting a three-pound fish over a one-pound fish. It’s just something that happens.”
The slow fishing conditions forced all four Oregon teams to exercise patience throughout the day.
“The day was a real grind,” said Nick Doring, who along with Zachary Niesen placed fourth, and earned $2,000. “We moved to many spots, and as time began to run out, we really wanted to speed things up but couldn’t. The fish were so scattered that we had to do our best to stay calm and fish slow.”
The first and fourth-place finishes guarantee the two teams a spot in regionals. The Ducks are hoping to send five teams to regionals this year, which would break the school’s previous record. Recent seasons have brought with it increased success as the club qualified for regionals in 2009 and 2010, and even competed in nationals last April.
“The past two years we have been one of the more successful clubs,” said Reed Frazier, who will fish in his 11th tournament with Richards next month at Lake Roosevelt, Wash. “The only thing eluding us the past two years was a FLW first place, and now that we have that monkey off our backs, hopefully we can get a few more.”
While the season has just gotten underway, the Ducks are already looking ahead to what they believe could be a historic year. Recent success has attracted more anglers, adding to an already talented group, and a national title is in Oregon’s sights. Upcoming tournaments will provide the team a chance to give freshmen without a great deal of tournament exposure a chance to become comfortable with the experience. And if the Ducks continue with trends similar to those of Schneider, a freshman victorious in his first-ever bass fishing tournament, they might be able to “rip some lip” all the way to a national title.
[email protected]