Louisiana State University will have the opportunity to defend its Bassmaster College Classic title on Feb. 26 on Cross Lake in Shreveport, La., B.A.S.S. LLC announced today.
The 2012 College Classic will be in conjunction with the Feb. 24-26 Bassmaster Classic, the world championship of bass fishing. Teams of students will weigh their catches at the CenturyLink Center just before the Feb. 26 finale weigh-in of the Bassmaster Classic.
LSU’s challengers will be Arkansas and LSU Shreveport. Each school will field three teams, and each team will consist of two students fishing from one boat. Working within a five-fish limit, the team with the most combined weight after one day of competition will win the trophy.
In February 2011, the Fishing Tigers of LSU met the Alabama Crimson Tide on Louisiana’s Lake Verret in the 2011 College Classic. LSU took the trophy by more than 8 pounds over then-defending champ Alabama.
LSU junior Doug McClung of Gramercy, La., was on that winning team. He’ll be returning in 2012 to help defend the title.
“I feel honored to represent LSU again,” said McClung, who with Travis Laurent won the 2011 LSU Fishing Team of the Year award. “The tournament will be in our home state again, and we expect to put our A game out there.”
This year, he will be facing sister school LSU Shreveport — and one of his best friends, Joe Landry.
“Joe Landry’s been their ace for a while,” McClung said. “He’s going to make this a very interesting tournament. They’ve got a small team, but they’re tough.”
Arkansas should prove to be just as formidable an opponent, he added.
“Arkansas is one of those schools that goes back to Day 1 in college fishing. They’ve got the history, and it’s a strong, prestigious program.”
