College Anglers Launch For Practice
At BoatUS National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship

October 16, 2006

With the thrill of competitive bass fishing being compared to NASCAR racing, BoatUS, the nation’s largest organization of recreational boaters, has decided to wade into the fray and sponsor the National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship. Slated for October 19-21 on Lake Lewisville, TX, just outside Dallas, over 40 teams will be represented at the event, including schools from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC. The tournament will be televised on the Fox College Sports network beginning January 2007 and will air a 30-minute show each week through June 2007.

TV fishing personality Wade Middleton will be the on air host for the event with Bass Master Classic and FLW Tour champion Luke Clausen, Bass Elite and FLW tour angler Kelly Jordan, and Bass Elite tour angler Jeff Kriet providing analysis. The event is being produced for Fox College Sports by Careco Multimedia.

The format has the schools from all over the nation sending in two person teams to compete for two days for a cumulative weight. After two days the top 5 schools/teams will then compete on one final day of the event for the title. On the final day each team will compete out of a fully rigged Ranger boat Z-19s, powered by Evinrude outboards and rigged with Garmin electronics, Minn Kota trolling motors and Keelshields. In addition a camera team will be on each team the entire time the final day capturing all the action for the television series to kick off in 2007.

Lake Lewisville is currently almost 10 feet low as the teams launch for practice but that may change with rain falling all day on the day prior to first day of practice and a weather forecast that calls for rain on and off through the week.

Many of the collegiate anglers are wondering how the lake will shape up for fishing in the coming week as they launch for practice. Providing insight into the event will be a diverse group of analysts such as FLW and Bassmaster Classic Champion Luke Clausen who will be doing the on the water coverage during the event. He feels that to make that top 5 for the final day a team will need at least 23 pounds while BASS Elite series and FLW Pro Kelly Jordon who will be also be doing on air analysis of the action feels it will take closer to 26 pounds over the two days to qualify. Both anglers feel shallow fishing tactics will pay off for the collegiate anglers but a team that can find a deeper bite may have an distinct advantage if they find the right fish schooled up.

B.A.S.S. Elite Angler Jeff Kriet however feels that diversity may be the key to making the top 5. Kriet who is teaming with Jordon to break down that action says “Lake Lewisville is full of fish but with the lake low I’m not sure any one tactic can hold up for three days especially this time of the year where you’ll have some fish shallow and some fish deep”. Tying it all together is show host Wade Middleton who feels with the cooler weather and the lake possibly rising a bit that the fishing action may get better each day. “I think the key to winning this event will be diversity all three days” Middleton went on the state he won an event here several years ago the very first time he saw the lake and thinks the current conditions on Lake Lewisville are shaping up so that any school in the event can win.

Additional sponsors of the BoatUS National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship include: FOX College Sports, Cabelas, Garmin, Ranger Boats, Evinrude, , Anglers Legacy Program, Keelshield, YoZuri, SebileUSA, Minn-Kota, Costa Del Mar, Nemire Lures, American Rodsmith, City of Lewisville and Sneaky Petes. For more information and additional coverage on this event e-mail BoatUSFCSChamp@aol.com.

Fox College Sports: FCS is three channels stocked with select collegiate programming culled from FSN regional sports networks and its affiliates. FCS features men’s and women’s competitions across a broad range of NCAA-sanctioned sports highlighted by perennial powers from the ACC, Big 12, Pac 10, SEC, as well as other top conferences. The three networks combine to telecast more than 800 live NCAA events over the course of a year. Fox provides all three channels: FCS Pacific, FCS Central and FCS Atlantic throughout the country. Each Fox College Sports viewer also continues to receive their own local professional and college sports programming courtesy of their Fox Sports Net or affiliated regional sports network. Based on current distribution agreements, FCS is available to approximately 45 to 50 million digital homes, and is seen by viewers in the nation’s 25 largest cities, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas and Atlanta, Houston, Seattle, Minneapolis and Tampa. Key MSO partners include Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable, Charter Communications, Cox Communications, Cablevision Systems, Adelphia Communications, Mediacom Communications, Insight Communications and CableOne and the National Cable Television Cooperative. The most up-to-date telecast schedule is available 24/7 by logging on to www.foxcollegesports.com.