college fishin nat championship.

[Lee Borgersen]

   Bemidji area to host college fishing national championship.

  Aug 2, 2017 at 9:05 p.m.

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BEMIDJI -- Lake Bemidji and the Greater Bemidji area will serve as the host for a major national fishing championship this month.

The 2017 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops will be held on Lake Bemidji and surrounding lakes from Thursday, Aug. 10, to Saturday, Aug. 12.

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The championship field includes 90 teams — including two representing Bemidji State — which qualified for the tournament in a series of five regional championships and a wild-card tournament held throughout 2017.

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Brothers Mitch and Thor Swanson qualified after a 13th-place finish in a 131-team field at the Lake of the Ozarks Midwest Regional, held March 29–31 in Osage Beach, Mo. Mitch, a senior business administration major, and Thor, a junior marketing communication major, hail from Blaine, Minn.

Luke Gillund, a junior majoring in marketing communications from Ham Lake, Minn., and Robby Troje, a junior majoring in business administration from Hastings, Minn., qualified after a second-place finish in the Bassmaster Wild Card Event, June 8-10 on Alabama’s Lay Lake.

Visit Bemidji and Bemidji State are hosting the event, which will feature the best collegiate fishing teams from across the country, a release said.

During the Bassmaster tournaments, two-person teams try to catch the heaviest five-bass limits on each day of the competition.

The top four teams in this season’s nationals will be in the running to compete in the professional 2018 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods. The Classic will be held March 16-18 in Greenville, S.C., with fishing competition taking place on Lake Hartwell in Anderson, S.C.

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A week of championship-related activities gets underway Monday, Aug. 7, with a “Meet the Teams” event at Bemidji State University. All 90 teams participating in the championship will be present for photos and autographs at the 4 to 7 p.m. event, which will be held in the BSU Baseball Field parking lot on the BSU campus.

The championship also features a free Outdoors Expo on Aug. 11-12, from 1 to 4:30 p.m. The expo will include interactive displays by B.A.S.S. sponsors and giveaways. ESPNU will be filming for its coverage of the championship during the expo, a release said.

[Lee Borgersen]

  Wire-to-wire: Bryan College wins Bassmaster national title, BSU’s Swansons ninth

             

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BEMIDJI -- After taking the lead in day one and adding to it on day two, Jacob Foutz and Jake Lee of Bryan College (Tenn.) ran away with the Bassmaster College Series National Championship in Bemidji on Saturday.

“It’s an absolute dream come true,” said Lee. “The goal was top four, but in the back of your head, you’re always wanting to win. To go up there and be able to get it done is just a blessing.”

With a haul of 15 pounds, 5 ounces on Saturday, the BC tandem pushed their three-day total an ounce shy of 50 pounds at 49-15. Their first-place mark was 4 pounds, 11 ounces more than second-place Bethel University (Tenn.), and more than 10 pounds within the top four, giving them a berth in next week’s individual bracket.

Bemidji State’s representatives, Thor and Mitch Swanson, were unable to retain their third-place spot on Saturday. They caught just two fish with a weight of 5-14 on the tournament’s final leg, which dropped them down to ninth place overall with 33 pounds, 5 ounces.

“Our area (on Stump Lake), we thought it had a lot more fish in it, and it just got worse and worse on us,” said Thor Swanson. “Today, we figured if we stuck it in there the whole entire time, we’d eventually get five bites... We just couldn’t get enough bites. We only got the two. We just ran out of fish.”

“I don’t even know what happened different today. We’ve been sharing that spot with three or four other boats. They didn’t make it to today, so we were the only ones fishing it,” Mitch Swanson added. “But I honestly don’t know what changed today. They just weren’t there.”

Nevertheless, the brothers are thankful to grab a top-10 finish in a national championship in their own backyard.

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“I’m just happy to be here. I didn’t think, coming in, we were the favorites. I didn’t think we’d have enough to make it to this day,” said Mitch. “It means a lot to me, the team and hopefully the school, as well, having the tournament here.”

“We wanted to make it to today, and we did just that,” Thor added. “Wheels kinda fell off today, but top 10 at a national championship? You can’t really complain a whole lot.”

For Foutz and Lee, meanwhile, leading from start to finish en route to a national title is something they won’t soon forget.

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“Any time you catch two big bags two days in a row, you’re onto something special,” Foutz said. “It’s incredible. These college guys, they’re a bunch of great fishermen out here. To come out here and beat them, make the bracket, words can’t describe what it’s like.”

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The anglers will now advance to an individual bracket, where the members of the top four teams will battle for first place on Serpent Lake in Crosby from Aug. 14-16. The winner will earn a spot in the 2018 Bassmaster Classic, held March 16-18, in Greenville, S.C.

Joining Foutz and Lee in the individual bracket will be Bethel’s Cole Floyd and Carter McNeil with a 45-4 haul, Tyler Firebaugh and Chad Sweitzer of Chico State (Calif.) with 40-8, and Brian Pahl and John Garrett, also of Bethel, who came in fourth at 39-7.

Locking up a top-four finish was the goal in Bemidji this weekend, but moving forward, all eight anglers will have their sights set solely on first place.

“That’s the dream. To get to fish the Classic would be unreal,” Lee said. “I’m gonna celebrate this tonight, and when I wake up tomorrow, all focus is gonna be on the bracket.”


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