College: Final day on James River

Join the Eastern Regional collegiate anglers for the final day of competition on the James River! The final day greeted the Top 20 with a 100 percent chance of rain.

The Top 20 teams made the cut to fish the final day and 13 of those teams will punch their ticket to the National Championship.

The Day 1 and 2 leaders from Penn State lead the field out and looked to keep their lead and take the title on the James River.

Carson Orellana heads out 3rd and looks to make it to back-to-back National Championships fishing solo.

Michigan anglers from Schoolcraft College are fishing out of their regional due to tournament conflicts and they are in the hunt for the win as they head out 4th.

We started the final day on Maurice Hudson and Sean Cummins from Penn State who have led this event since it started.

The rain falls as Penn State gets to work on the final day.

After their first spot didnt yield any fish they were on the move.

While the tide is still high they stick their nose in a main river pocket to try and coax a big fish to bite. Hudson lost a big one in this pocket on Day 2.

It had rained every minute of the final morning, but it was light for the most part. The thicker rain was on its way and we could see it coming.

The monsoon has arrived as Hudson and Cummins look for their first bite of the day.

Cameraman Eric Kaffka keeps working through the rain as well.

Hudson and Cummins hit numerous main-river jetties and current breaks throughout key tidal changes depending on where they were on the river.

The duo relied on Jackall crankbaits ranging in depths.

Hudson heaves a deeper crank bait along some main river riprap.

They make another move near the Power Plant just south of takeoff.

The 4th place team from Schoolcraft College heads down river, so I decide to check-in with them since the leaders didn’t have a keeper yet.

Garrett Paquette and Zak Fadden were running a very similar pattern that Penn State was utilizing.

Fadden throws a shallow crankbait around the wood and rock jetties as the duo already had three small keepers in the boat.

They said their bite wouldn’t get really good until 11 a.m. or so because of tide.

I ran down the river and found the 8th place team of Chase Johnson and Eric Leifheit at the mouth of Herring Creek.

Johnson said they already had a limit during the torrential down pour this morning.

They idle up to a cypress tree on a point where they caught multiple fish on Day 2.

Perfect timing as Johnson hooks up after a couple casts in the area.

Leifheit readies the net as Johnson gets it close to the boat.

That will cull for the duo from East Carolina.

Johnson weighs a couple fish so they are organized the next time they are ready to cull.

Leifheit throws a weightless worm while Johnson finishes culling.

Then Johnson slings a spinnerbait to try and coax a bigger bite.

We hop over to the 7th place team on the way back to the ramp.

Mike Corbishley and Austin Warmus had a big Day 2 and jumped up the leaderboard heading into the final day.

Corbishley said they only had 8 to 9 pounds, but they were on a spot where they caught a 7+ pounder in practice.

He hooks into a giant and fights it to the boat. It jumps…

The giant comes off and Corbishley knows they needed that one. They ended up missing the National Championship cut by just one ounce.

He checks the hooks on his crankbait and he notices the big fish bent out one of the trebles.

I stopped with the leaders close to takeoff and they said they had three fish, but some were above average.

Hudson chunks a crankbait to cover water.

Cummins does the same. They ended with four fish, but for 14-4 which was enough to take the title.