Northwestern State University Leads College Series Wild Card

Justin Cooper (left) and John Ledet of Northwestern State University take the lead on Day 2 of the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Wild Card presented by Bass Pro Shops on Lake Murray out of Ardmore, Okla., after catching 17 pounds, 10 ounces Friday for a two-day total weight of 33-6. 

June 10, 2016

Northwestern State University Leads College Series Wild Card

ARDMORE, Okla. — John Ledet and Justin Cooper credited the last fish they caught on Thursday for putting them in the lead on the second day of the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Wild Card presented by Bass Pro Shops.

“That big bass we caught clued us in on what to do today,” said Ledet.

The fish helped the Northwestern State University bass fishing team strategize to catch 17 pounds, 10 ounces of largemouth bass from Lake Murray. A cumulative weight of 33-6 puts the team from Natchitoches, La., ahead by the slim margin of less than 2 pounds.

Texas State University, buoyed by the heaviest catch of the tournament, moved into second place. Sam Stone and Evan Coleman caught 19-13, to add to the team’s overall weight of 31-14.

Zach Ziober and Dakota Ebare, the first-day leaders, dropped to third place with 30 pounds after landing only 12-6 today. The team is fishing for Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas.

Josh Bensema and Tyler Anderson, fishing for Texas A&M University, are fourth with 29-2. Aaron Belgard and Logan Laprarie, also of Northwestern State, are fifth with 28-11.

Ledet and Cooper moved from sixth place into the lead after Thursday. Like most of the top teams, they are fishing in shallow water early before the sun heats up the water. When that happens, the largemouth retreat to deeper water in the heat of the day.

“Today the shallow bite didn’t happen for us,” said Cooper.

At 11:30 a.m. the team only had two bass in the livewell. Then they recalled the payoff bass from Thursday.

“Timing is everything for what we are doing,” said Ledet. “The bass are moving between deep and shallow water, and being in the right place at the right time is the key.”

Lake Murray, at 5,700 acres, is small by comparison to most tournament lakes. It can handle the size of this field, even though mounting fishing pressure all week has the bass skittish. After recent heavy rains, the lake level is falling. Put the two together and tracing the movements of bass becomes a challenge.

Today the team focused on the deep bite after the shallow action failed to produce. Deep water, according to the team, is only about 10 feet deep.

Tomorrow will be different. The forecast calls for a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms, which will likely bring overcast skies. In bass fishing terms that means the topwater bite will likely be a factor early in the day.

Bass favor cloudy skies for added concealment when hunting for baitfish. Topwater lures imitate minnows and those factors should play a role tomorrow.

“We definitely hope that happens to get our shallow-water bite going,” said Cooper.

Bass fishing teams from more than 40 colleges and universities from throughout the nation came to compete. Tomorrow, the Top 20 teams will fish on Lake Murray.

Thirteen teams advance from this tournament to the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops. The tournament is July 28-30 in Campbellsville, Ky., on Green River Lake.

Several bonus awards are up for contention. Tournament leader Northwestern State University earned the Livingston Lures Leader Award worth $250 in merchandise from the lure company for leading on the second day .

The heaviest catch after three days gets the angler $250 from Bass Pro Shops for the Nitro Big Bag award. The angler catching the biggest bass in the tournament earns the Carhartt Big Bass award worth $500.

Tomorrow the weigh-in begins at 3:30 p.m. CT at Choctaw Casino Resort in Durant. Teams weigh on the same stage and venue in use for the GEICO Bassmaster BASSfest presented by Choctaw Casino and Resort.

Today’s Activity# Fish Lbs – OzAccumulativeName # Live # Fish # Live Lbs – Oz

1 John Ledet – Justin Cooper Northwestern State University 5 5 17-10 10 10 33- 62 Sam Stone – Evan Coleman Texas State University 5 5 19-13 10 10 31-143 Zach Ziober – Dakota Ebare Tarleton State University 5 4 12- 6 10 9 30- 04 Josh Bensema – Tyler Anderson Texas A&M University 5 5 15-13 10 10 29- 25 Aaron Belgard – Logan Laprarie Northwestern State University 5 5 14- 5 10 10 28-116 Hunter Louden – Bethel University 5 5 12- 3 10 10 28- 47 Ty Cox – Jake Houston Itawamba Community College 5 5 10-14 10 10 27-148 Zach Hurst – Austyn Fowler Tarleton State University 5 5 14- 7 10 10 27-139 JP Kimbrough – Jared Rascoe LSU Shreveport 5 5 11-11 10 10 27-1210 CJ Knight – Mitchell Jennings Auburn University 5 5 18- 4 10 10 27- 611 Chris Blanchette – Dylan Allison University of South Carolina 5 5 11- 3 10 10 27- 212 Reed Foster – Zackery Hines Dallas Baptist University 5 4 13- 0 10 9 25- 713 Stetson Overton – Justin Seeton Tarleton State University 5 5 10-12 10 10 25- 014 Trent Newman – Nathan Wood Dallas Baptist University 5 5 13- 7 10 10 24-1215 Brian Pahl – John Garrett Bethel University 5 4 12-11 10 9 24-1116 Patrick Walters – Brian Sweeney University of South Carolina 5 5 11- 3 10 10 23-1317 Morgan Locke – Logan Elton Florida State University 5 5 12- 2 10 10 23-1218 Dawson Lenz – Evan Horne University of North Alabama 5 5 14-10 10 10 23- 319 Sheldon Rogge – Parker Davis Kansas State University 5 5 11-11 10 10 23- 320 Ty Dyer – Ricky Harris Bethel University 5 5 9- 3 10 9 23- 121 Jason Ashe – Western Carolina University 5 5 7- 8 10 10 22-1022 Dalton Warrington – Chris Bradley Southwestern Oklahoma State University 5 5 13- 7 10 8 22- 723 Chris Zins – Zach Holliday University of Central Oklahoma 5 5 10- 4 10 10 22- 524 Jared Bourgeois – Parker White LSU 5 5 12-11 10 10 22- 125 Andrew Madison – Jose Palma University of Central Oklahoma 5 5 7-14 10 10 21-1126 Dustin Nash – Thomas Merchant Northwestern State University 5 5 11-13 10 10 21- 727 Wyatt Frankens – Hunter Price Stephen F Austin University 5 4 10-12 10 9 21- 628 Adam Burkett – Christian Brown LSU Shreveport 5 5 7-14 10 10 21- 129 Makenzie Henson – Sloan Pennington U. of North Alabama 5 5 10- 6 10 10 20-1130 Kyler Chelminiak – Alec Piekarski Bethel University 5 5 9- 1 10 10 20-1031 Alex Murray – Alex Felder Southeastern Louisiana University 5 5 11- 3 9 9 20- 132 Nathan Martin – Joe Nakai U. of North Alabama 5 5 9-13 10 10 19-1433 Taylor Umland – Justin Schick Illinois State University 5 4 14-15 8 7 19-1134 Cameron Brooks – Mason Sapp Campbellsville University 5 5 10- 1 10 10 19-1135 Wyatt Burkhalter – Taylor Teague University of West Alabama 5 4 12- 7 10 9 18-1436 Tanner Crim – Zach Montalvo Tarleton State University 5 4 10- 1 10 9 18-1337 Mitchell Mayard – Owen Richard LSU 4 4 9- 7 9 9 18- 638 Spencer Lambert – Thomas Soileau La Monroe 5 5 9- 5 10 9 18- 339 Tyler Woods – Robert Tweed Stephen F Austin State University 5 5 6- 4 10 10 18- 240 Cody Metzger – Conner Schwab Northeastern State University 5 5 11- 2 10 10 18- 241 Garrett Stone – Collin Chandler University of Georgia 5 5 9- 8 9 9 18- 042 Cody Peak – Jeff Roman Clayton IV Mississippi State University 5 5 9- 9 10 9 17-1443 Jordan Ledbetter – Taylor Schmitt McKendree University 5 5 10- 6 10 10 17- 944 Cody Cleary – Max Gresham Valdosta State University 5 5 10-13 10 10 17- 645 Caleb Garvin – CJ Holbrook Mississippi State University 5 5 9- 3 10 10 17- 246 Clayton Godfrey – John-Michael Brattlof Stephen F Austin State University 5 5 8-12 10 8 17- 247 Tyler Craig – Hunter Freeman La Monroe 5 5 7- 5 10 10 16-1548 Michael Corbishley – Austin Warmus East Carolina University 5 5 7- 7 10 10 16-1449 Dillon Harrell – Dustin Moreno Sam Houston State University 4 4 6- 9 9 9 16-1350 Adam Neill – Thomas Mistead University of Alabama 5 5 7-12 10 10 16-11Today’s Activity# Fish Lbs – OzAccumulativeName # Live # Fish # Live Lbs – Oz51 Forrest Sears – Greg Dean Wallace State Comm College 2 2 3-10 7 7 16- 952 Eric Hanna – Oklahoma State University 5 4 8- 7 10 8 16- 953 Jacob Fournier – Jared Bascle Nicholls State 5 5 7- 9 10 10 15-1354 Brock Wilke – JT Russell McKendree University 4 4 10- 5 9 9 15- 555 Dakota Sparks – Levi Sharp LSU 5 5 7- 5 9 9 14-1356 Garrett Goettee – Grant Pietsch Texas A&M University at Galveston 5 3 10-14 8 6 14- 657 Dakota Cline – Stephen F Austin University 3 3 8- 9 8 7 14- 558 Cody Billings – Daulton Smith University of Georgia 5 5 7-11 9 9 14- 359 Jared Baker – Layton Jones Georgia Southern University 5 5 6- 9 10 9 14- 360 Jacob Reome – Daniel Rupee Clemson University 5 5 6-11 10 10 14- 261 Zachary Bodford – NC State University 3 3 7- 5 8 8 14- 262 Nicholas DiCamillo – Justin Hettinga New Mexico State University 4 4 5- 9 9 9 13-1463 Levi Umland – Heartland Community College 3 3 5- 1 8 8 13-1264 Ryan Kennedy – Frank Lillig Kennesaw State University 3 3 3-11 8 8 13- 865 Chandler South – JR Wright Itawamba Community College 4 4 8- 7 6 6 13- 166 Mack Hicks – Alice Lloyd College 5 5 7- 1 9 9 12-1267 Alex Schieman – Garrett Reynolds Georgia College 5 5 8- 8 8 8 12- 868 Tyler Brown – Baylor Ronemus Clemson University 2 2 4- 0 7 7 12- 469 Charles Conger – Jackson Moody Kennesaw State University 5 5 5-10 9 9 11-1570 Nick Ratliff – Grant Adams Campbellsville University 0 0 0- 0 5 5 10-1271 Adam Carman – Justin Mayfield Campbellsville University 2 2 2- 8 7 7 10- 872 Armando Ortiz – Roy Zhang Auburn University 1 1 2- 6 6 6 9-1473 Ashley Ruggles – Jeff White Drury University 4 4 6- 7 7 7 9-1174 Tyler Moses – Brennan Soileau LA Tech 4 3 4-10 8 7 9- 875 Derek Louderbaugh – Drury University 2 2 2- 6 5 5 6- 076 Cameron Simmons – Cameron DeBorde Oklahoma State 4 4 4-12 5 5 5-1377 Scott Fair – Northwestern State University 0 0 0- 0 2 2 4- 178 Landon Tucker – Valdosta State University 1 1 2- 0 2 2 3-1179 Benjamin Webster – Andrew Deloney University of Alabama 1 1 1- 1 3 3 3- 780 Logan Shaddix – Ethan Flack University of Alabama 0 0 0- 0 1 1 1- 3Name City,State Lbs-OzBIG BASSDay1 Trent Newman – Nathan WoodDallas, TX 4-102 Sam Stone – Evan Coleman Austin, TX 7-11Day # Live Lbs-Oz # LimitsTOTALS# Fish1 362 352 737- 6 622 345 334 719-12 58

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