Sponsor night at College National Championship

After the final day of practice on Green River Lake in Campbellsville, KY the National Championship participants gathered on campus for the Sponsor night festivities.

Teams began filing onto Campbellsville’s campus for the dinner and banquet.

Texas A&M was one of the first schools to arrive and all three of their teams were ready to get out on Green River on Thursday to start the tournament.

It wasn’t long before Tournament Director Hank Weldon opened up the sponsor night events and told the anglers to head to the sponsor tables to get their National Championship goodies.

When you know there are gifts from Carhartt, Humminbird, Yamaha, Lowrance, Berkley, Costa and B.A.S.S. the rush to the tables is an interesting one.

Carhartt brought multiple shirt sizes and colors for anglers.

As well as multiple hat types, including the floppy hat type for those summer days.

Zeke Gossett from Faulkner University eyes a floppy hat, but is contemplating his decision.

The orange Carhartt shirts were a hit with the first wave of anglers.

This is the 5th year that Carhartt has been the title sponsor for the Bassmaster College Series.

Humminbird was also there and had their new Helix units for anglers to check out. They also provided LakeMaster mapping for Green River Lake so that the anglers running Humminbird units would have updated maps.

Bill Carson talks to an angler about the mapping and discounts that Humminbird provides to the college series.

Here is some of the hardware that is up for grabs this week at the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series.

Yamaha also had a booth set up.

They had multiple gifts for the anglers.

Anglers also stopped by the Berkley table and checked out some of their new hard baits.

Here is their whole array.

They also came up with their own hooks as well. Anglers got a sample pack to test one of each if they wanted to.

Lowrance had some of their units on display for anglers to explore.

They had a HDS 12 displaying their 3D structure scan.

They also had an array of other units for anglers who wanted different options.

Costa had a multitude of hat designs for teams to try out.

They also had stickers and sunglass croakies as gifts too.

Justin St. Onge from Haywood Community College checks out the Shimano table.

Shimano had a couple reels that will be raffled off later this week.

Chase Johnson of East Carolina signs up for the Lowrance College Cup.

Bass Pro Shops had a lot of gift cards for anglers to enjoy.

Josh Bensema of Texas A&M is still tickled with the fact he was able to win the 2015 National Championship and after seeing his school engraved on the trophy he wants it even more in 2016. He also wants to make the Classic if it works out because it is on his home lake, Lake Conroe.

His new partner, Tyler Anderson, is a freshman at Texas A&M and also a famous YouTuber.

Campbellsville, KY has been very welcoming to the anglers and Bassmaster this week.

Bethel rolls through the sponsor line and Hunter Louden gives a peace sign for the fans at home.

Meanwhile the anglers who went through the line first were able to get food prepared by Campbellsville University. Northwestern State was chowing down.

Tarleton State’s three representatives get their food and find a table.

I may sneak off and eat some dessert before eating my dinner.

Meanwhile teams are still going through the sponsor line as Kennedy Kinkade from Colorado Mesa talks with Bill Carson. This year Humminbird is rewarding the National Championship team with two Helix 10 units, not to mention they are equipping the College Bracket champions rig with Humminbird units.

JP Kimbrough and Jared Rascoe of LSU Shreveport head through the line. They are looking to win this year after finishing in 2nd in the Wildcard last month.

More anglers head to the food line just past the sponsor area.

Classic food for anglers to enjoy. A little bit of meat, potatoes, corn and bread for the anglers.

Jacob Wall of Oregon digs in.

After everyone grabs their food and takes a seat, Hank Weldon starts the evening banquet.

He invites Campbellsville’s head fishing coach Tommy Hall to speak on behalf of the school.

Shane Campbell of McKendree University looks on.

Maurice Hudson hopes to win another B.A.S.S. event this year as he and Sean Cummins took home the Eastern Regional on the James River.

But local favorite, Lance Freeman from Murray State has something else in mind this week. He would like to win his 2nd B.A.S.S. event as well. He and Chandler Christian won the Midwestern Regional.

The anglers watch the winning video in the Carhartt College video contest that went from earlier this year to last month. Tucker Hill of Georgia Southern took home to grand prize, which is an all expenses paid trip to fish with Jordan and Matt Lee for two days on Lake Guntersville.

Kyle Alsop watches along and checks out the action.

Andrew Mlotek of Wisconsin-Whitewater hopes to get it done this week.

Keynote speaker, Elite Series pro Mark Menendez takes the floor and speaks to the teams.

He spent a few minutes talking about his love of fishing, the serenity involved with this sport that he called “magic” and also what it was like to lose his wife a few years ago due to cancer. Menendez is a loved and respected angler in this sport and it showed when the industry and his sponsors had his back when he had to take time off years ago.

John Davis of Alabama takes it all in.

As the meeting ends, anglers head to the college dorms they are staying in this week and finish rigging up the baits they think will get them the win on Green River Lake.