STEVENS POINT, Wis. — Tyler Rivet and Allyson Marcel of Nicholls State University hauled in 8 pounds, 7 ounces on Friday to vault from eighth place and into the lead heading into championship Saturday.
The Louisiana team grinded out another three-fish limit for a two-day total weight of 15 pounds even. They have a six-ounce lead heading into the final day of team competition. The Cajun couple fished their strengths and bolstered their weight from Thursday and put themselves in contention for a National Championship. On a day where fish catches dropped and a limit was crucial, Rivet and Marcel threw moving baits to capitalize in their primary areas.
“We did exactly the same thing from Day 1 to today and fished the exact same spots,” Rivet said. “It’s pretty much an undercut bank in a small canal and it reminds us of how we fish back in Louisiana. If we didn’t hit the bank with our baits, we wouldn’t have a chance to catch a bass.”
Being consistent has been the name of the game for Nicholls State, but with a lot of pressure on Lake DuBay the fish catches have slowed down and some areas may not replenish like anglers hoped.
“I think we will be fine,” Marcel said. “I don’t want to jinx us but we missed two today and I think they could bite again tomorrow at some point.”
Meanwhile the Day 1 leaders from Texas A&M University cashed in with 6 pounds, 9 ounces to stay within striking distance of a possible National Championship.
Josh Bensema and Matt Mcardle started quickly Thursday and caught a limit before 7 a.m., but Friday was much different as the Texas duo didn’t land a keeper bass until around 9:30 a.m. After a slow start they began to figure out where the fish were positioning and when they could possibly get a keeper bite.
“The water level came up some in our area and the fish seemed to push farther into the cover,” Mcardle said. “We just had to fish our baits a little deeper in the cover in order to get bit.”
Bensema and Mcardle had a one-two punch on Day 1, but that dissipated today and they zoned in on fishing topwater in order to boat their three bass.
“Later today Matt picked up a frog and caught our final keeper,” Bensema said. “I think on Saturday we will throw that for at least 90 percent of the day.”
Don’t look too far in the rear view mirror because the defending champions from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte are fishing the final day once again and are less than 2 pounds off of the pace set by Nicholls State.
Jake Whitaker and Andrew Helms have one specific area that they have been working the last two days and they plan on fishing it as hard as they can on the final day to defend their title and try to claim back-to-back titles, something that hasn’t been done in the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series yet.
“Our first goal is to get three fish in the boat,” Whitaker said. “Depending on what time we can get our limit we will go big and swing for the fences because we want to win. We know what it feels like and we know a big fish can do it.”
Whitaker and Helms made passes along a specific stretch of bank throughout the first two days of competition, switching up baits as they went along to see what baits were key during different parts of the day.
Trevor Lo and Chris Burgan from the University of Minnesota weighed in two more smallmouth for 3 pounds, 13 ounces to slip into the Top 5 and are currently in 4th place heading into the final day.
Lo and Burgan have weighed in all smallmouth over the course of two days. They hold the final spot that advances to the individual bracket portion by just one ounce over the University of Alabama.
Frank Appaluccio and Logan Shaddix also bagged up nothing but smallmouth so far and squeezed into the final day after advancing based on a tiebreaker scenario over East Carolina’s Zach Blalock and Mike Corbishley.
Tyler Rivet and Allyson Marcel of Nicholls State weighed in the Bass Pro Shops/Nitro Big Bag of the tournament (8-7) so far with one day remaining; the winner of this award also receives a $250 Bass Pro Shops gift card.
Rivet and Marcel also cashed in the Livingston Lures Leader Award, which is given to the team leading after two days. Both members will receive a $250 Livingston Lures gift card.
John Garrent and Brian Pahl of Bethel University currently hold the Carhartt Big Bass award with a 3 pound-11 ounce bass from Day 1. A $500 Carhartt gift card goes to the tournament’s biggest bass.