HOUMA, La. — Tyler Stewart and Nick Joiner of the University of Louisiana at Monroe led wire-to-wire to claim the championship title at the Carhartt College Central Regional on the Atchafalaya Basin.
On Saturday, they put 14 pounds, 14 ounces in the boat to total 42-0 and pull away from the field. They entered the final of three days with just over a four-pound cushion, but the second biggest limit of the tournament saw them win by 8-11.
Having faith that quality fish were in their area proved to be crucial. They only caught six fish on the final day. They kept a weightless wacky rigged Gary Yamamoto 5-inch Senko in their hands all day and slowly added crucial fish to their livewell. The confidence they had in their technique and area stemmed from pre-tournament practice.
“We went south on our first practice day and we probably caught 40 to 50 fish,” Stewart said. “None of those fish were bigger than two pounds, but we figured we could at least scratch out eight to 10 pounds a day and give ourselves a shot. On our second practice day we decided to explore the north end of the basin around Lake Verret.”
After struggling for the majority of the second practice day, they sought out pockets and canals that visibly looked good. Their eyes did not deceive them as they proceeded to catch numerous four-pound bass, so they were sold on sticking to that area and expanding on those few spots each day. The entire college field dealt with an influx of rain and a cold front that passed through this week, but that didn’t discourage Stewart and Joiner, who remained confident knowing what lived in their areas.
After they started with 17-9 on Day 1, Stewart and Joiner managed their areas. They didn’t pressure them too much, yet kept a lead after weighing only 9-9 on Day 2. On the final day they could hit their areas hard and catch all the fish they could, but they threw a curveball and didn’t start on their normal spot, instead gambling on a new area.
“We didn’t want to start on that spot today because we knew this other canal had some good quality fish,” Joiner said. “We knew we could always lay-up at our other spot if we needed to catch a limit, and that’s actually what we did today.”
Stewart and Joiner started Saturday with a bang as they boated a 4-pounder within 15 minutes after arriving. Then they caught a 3-pounder and two around 2 pounds. With four fish in the livewell at 10:30 a.m., they ran to their normal starting area and caught a quick keeper to fill their limit.
They later added two pounds to their weight with a significant cull after moving back to their canal.
Gunner Durrett and Austin Watkins of Louisiana Tech tried their best to catch ULM, but came up short with only 11 pounds Saturday. With a three-day total of 33-3, Durrett and Watkins relied on flipping patches of reeds in the 70-mile area of the Atchafalaya Basin.
They didn’t have any problems boating fish this week, but after Day 1 the quality fish seemed to funnel to their areas. They weighed only nine pounds on Thursday, but backed it up with 13-5, including the 6-pound, 7-ounce Bass Pro Shops Big Bass of the event.
They primarily flipped a Strike King Space Monkeys in black and blue and a Ballistic Blue Missile D Bomb, but rigging it on a 3/8-ounce weight seemed to generate more strikes and better fish, according to the La. Tech anglers.
“The deeper the reeds we fished, the better quality showed up it seemed,” Durrett said. “I think that’s why the heavier weight excelled for us compared to the lighter sizes.”
Matthew Leblanc and Matthew Benoits of the host school, Nicholls State, finished third with 31-11. They relied on moving baits like a spinnerbait to put an early limit in the boat in the first 15 minutes every day of the tournament.
“We knew consistency was going to be big,” Benoits said. “Knowing where the deeper water was helped out enormously because when it got cold, those fish wanted to funnel to as deep as they could.”
The Top 13 teams clinched a berth into the 2016 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship on a body of water to be named at a later date.
Along with the win, Stewart and Joiner of ULM took home the Livingston Lures Leader award as well as the Nitro Big Bag of the tournament for their 17-9 effort on Day 1.
2016 Carhartt College Central Regional Final Standings (pdf)