College: Final day on the Green

Go on Kentucky’s Green River Lake for the final day of the 2016 Carhartt Bassmaster College National Championship.

Unlike Days 1 and 2 there was hardly a threat of rain on the final day and yet again provided another weather change for anglers to adjust to.

The first team we came to was Hunter Louden of Bethel University. He was fishing solo and was in 2nd place behind the leaders from Texas State.

Louden was the closest pursuer to the leaders and was 3-15 behind heading into the final day.

Just down the way from Louden was the team of Kyle Alsop and Taylor Bivins of Kansas State who were in 3rd.

Louden caught his 20-pound bag on Day 1 on a Strike King crankbait and was hoping to find some magic on the final day.

He hooked up soon after…

Since he was fishing solo he was his own net man as well.

The face of frustration when the big bite turns out to be a catfish.

Alsop and Bivins of K-State were just three ounces behind Louden for 2nd place.

They spent their entire tournament fishing around 15 feet deep and used slow presentations…

Like a Carolina Rig.

Alsop paired his Carolina Rig with a Zoom Brush Hog and slowly drug it offshore around brush and cover.

The duo rotated between 3 to 5 different spots throughout the week.

They managed to get a big bite on each of the prior two days. Day 1 was the 6-13 Carhartt Big Bass and on Day 2 they caught one over 5 pounds.

They had yet to catch a fish on the final day though, so they kept at it and slowly worked their areas.

Hunter Louden drives by as he changes spots.

Some fish came up schooling around Alsop and Bivins, but their topwater efforts didn’t yield anything.

We went to the leaders from Texas State next.

JP Kimbrough and Jared Rascoe of LSU Shreveport run by as they change locations.

Sam Stone lifts the trolling motor as they too change spots.

He looks at his electronics to see if he can see any fish at that spot before moving.

They head out and start at a new spot in hopes of also landing their first fish.

They did the majority of their fish catching early in the morning on Days 1 and 2 and they used a Strike King 8XD crankbait to entice some big fish.

MJ Vihnanek and Luis McMurphy of South Alabama head down river.

For a moment in the middle of the day Texas State abandon their deep bite and tried to catch some fish on a bluff wall.

But that only yielded small fish.

Once again… a small fish for Stone and Coleman.

So they move to one more spot before ditching that pattern as well.

They flipped around some big logs that hung into the water, but it didn’t yield a fish.

They decided to try and fish deep for the rest of the day to swing for the victory.

Meanwhile I headed down river to find the Auburn Tigers…

They were back in the sticks…

And up a creek where it was as quiet and serene as you can get.

Austin Handley and Caleb Wozniak busted 17 pounds on a tough Day 2 and jumped into 4th place within range of a possible victory.

The water in the river was the dirtiest I had seen on the entire lake and after the Day 1 monsoon it really had some current running through it. This isn’t the water level from the rain storm, even though it pushed the lake at least two feet high, but this is from a month ago when the lake was over four feet high.

It was approaching noon and Brian Mason had to head back to prepare for weigh-in so he took the mics off Handley and Wozniak and headed out.

The Tigers flipped shallow cover in the river and busted the big bag on Day 2, but today they had two small fish to their credit and they were working to stay in the Top 4.

We left the river and headed back towards the main lake and found Brian Pahl and John Garrett of Bethel University.

Garrett was slinging a crankbait trying to get keepers number four and five in the boat.

They could see fish on their graph, but they wouldn’t bite. That was a familiar story and sight for teams this week as Green River Lake went through weather changes as well as a lot of pressure from the 89 teams.

They also switched it up and slowed down with baits like a shaky head and dropshot.

As we made our way back towards the takeoff dock we stopped to check on their teammates KJ Queen and Evan Owrey who only had a four pounder in the boat so far.

It was approaching 12:30 and they were in a hurry to make something happen.

I bounced back over to Alsop and Bivins from K-State after their cameraman Wes Miller told me they caught a 6 pounder.

Alsop and Bivins cashed in on another big one and they were on their way to a National Championship opportunity as the leaders from Texas State still had nothing in the livewell.

They told us they also caught two more fish that were roughly 2 1/2 pounds a piece.

Their three fish would weigh over 11 pounds roughly and that gave them a wide margin over Texas State, but there were other teams looking to make a charge.

One of those teams charging up the leaderboard was JP Kimbrough and Jared Rascoe of LSU Shreveport.

They started the day in 10th and needed a decent bag to have a shot at the Top 4. They already had a limit and had culled some, but one bigger bite would help exponentially.

The fish clears the water and floats a few feet above the surface.

Rascoe stays composed as he battles the fish, which may possibly help them.

The duo landed the fish and looked to cull.

It actually didn’t help them and they went back to work looking for another keeper.

Tyler Rivet and Jess Robertson of Nicholls State idles by. They finished in 8th place.

LSU Shreveport would eventually come up just short of the Top 4.

They finished 5th and missed the bracket by 11 ounces, but they were the only team to catch a limit on everyday of the National Championship.