Zack Birge and Blake Flurry of Oklahoma State University led the 2012 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship wire-to-wire, July 25-27, on three Arkansas fisheries.
Birge and Flurry, soon-to-be seniors at OSU, answered questions in real-time today during the B.A.S.S. Twitter chat — and we learned that a can of Red Bull and the right shoes play into having a good day on the water for them.
Below is a transcript of today’s chat, lightly edited for spelling and clarity. You can also view transcripts of previous chats we’ve hosted with College B.A.S.S. anglers Matt and Jordan Lee, and Elite Series pros Jonathon VanDam, Todd Faircloth, Brent Chapman, Randy Howell, Ish Monroe, Brandon Palaniuk, Jeremy Starks and Alton Jones. Keep up with news, pros and tips by following B.A.S.S. on Twitter, and interact with others on the College B.A.S.S. Facebook page.
BASS_nation Hi, fans! Welcome @zbirgefishing and @bflurryfishing to our Twitter chat! The pair just won the #collegebass championship #okstate
ZBirgefishing Thanks for having us. The opportunity of winning the championship was awesome!
Flurry: I really appreciate y’all having us. It’s been a great opportunity to come here and fish this championship.
DavidHuntrJones Fellas: boxers or briefs? #faveundies
ZBirgefishing I wear boxers, but Blake wears tidy whities!
Flurry: I heard Zack wears a thong!
DavidHuntrJones Got any fishing superstitions? Lucky charm, perhaps?
ZBirgefishing I don’t have any superstitions but I do have a pair of lucky shoes that I wear!
Flurry: Lucky charm would have to be a Red Bull in the morning! Red Bull is the way to go!
HelenNorthcutt Congratulations Blake and @zbirgefishing! What will it take to win the Classic on Grand Lake? #oklahomatournament
ZBirgefishing It will be 20 pounds a day. I’ll pick Jason Christie to win. The jerkbait bite will be good.
Flurry: I say it will take around 62 lbs for the whole tournament and the favorite will probably be Jason Christie.
theRandyHowell Congratulations, Zack and Blake! I hope to see you fishing the Elite Series one day.Wish they had college fishing waybackwhen!
ZBirgefishing First off, good luck next week! Fishing in the Elite Series would be my No. 1 goal for the future!
Flurry: Thank you we really appreciate it and hope to see you out on the water someday.
Flurry: Also I would like to wish you good luck next week!
@theRandyHowell Thanks! Would love to end with a Win!
HelenNorthcutt What has it been like bringing the trophy back to OSU? #nationalchamps #trophybassfishing
ZBirgefishing It was awesome because we were the first ones to do it out of the state of Oklahoma! Better us than OU!
Flurry: It feels really great to be able to bring the state its first ever college fishing national championship.
AUpshawFishing Congrats, guys, can’t wait till we all can fish against each other! College Bass is the best thing ever.
ZBirgefishing Hopefully, we will be fishing against each other soon, Andrew!
Flurry: Yes, sir, looking forward to fishing against you on a bigger stage someday hopefully! Good luck this week!
ZBirgefishing I hope you make the cut and will be fishing the Elite Series, buddy!
AUpshawFishing Thanks, guys!
Tidenut What brand was the lime green rod you were using?
ZBirgefishing It was a custom-made Riojas rod. You can contact us at Riojas Rods on Facebook or call Mark Riojas at 405-250-9297.
Flurry: We both fish with Riojas rods they are custom made by a good friend of Zack’s.
HelenNorthcutt Who would you two put on your Bassmaster #fantasyfishing team for the Ramada Championship on Oneida? #goodadvice#wanttowin
ZBirgefishing I like@BrandonPalaniuk for sure and @GeraldSwindle — even though he didn’t send me a message back on Facebook.
Flurry: I like old @FredRoumbanis and I like @BrandonPalaniuk too.
Tidenut Would either of you give up the hardware to be in Matt Lee’s place?
Flurry: I don’t know that I’d give it up, but I’d love to be there!
ZBirgefishing I definitely would like to be fishing the Classic, but how could you give up being national champs?
ZBirgefishing Have you SEEN the size of our trophy?
HelenNorthcutt What is the biggest bass you have caught in a tournament? How about biggest non-tournament?
ZBirgefishing 8-0 in a tournament, 11-6 not in a tournament
Flurry: 7.6 in a tournament and a 9.8 in a non tournament situation!
twreed What lures did you use to win?
Flurry: A River2Sea Bully Wa frog, River2Sea Bubble Pop 65 and an XCalibur Jimmy.
Flurry: also a few on a Booyah buzzbait as well!
ditchell What’s next for you guys? Do you have another year of eligibility?
Flurry: Yes, I have another year of eligibility, but this will be my last.
ZBirgefishing Yes we will be back for at least another year hopefully!
ejhand Congrats on the championship! Which lake during the championship was your favorite?
Flurry: Hello Emily! My favorite lake was definitely hurricane no doubt!
ZBirgefishing My favorite would have to be at the river because it practically gave us the win!
james_hall_bass Rumor has it y’all are going to be featured on the cover of BASS Times. Congrats on the win!
Flurry: Yes, I just previewed the cover. It is pretty incredible!
ZBirgefishing That’s so awesome! We actually saw the cover, and it is my favorite by far that has been released!
BASS_nation Thanks to @ZBirgefishing and @BFlurryfishing for joining us here today! Congrats on your win, guys, and we’ll see you in February!
Flurry: Thanks for having us and putting on this great tournament! We are both looking forward to February!
ZBirgefishing Thanks everyone for joining us for our twitter chat. Hopefully we will see a lot of you up at Grand Lake in February!
ZBirgefishing Get ready to see some monster sacks!