FLW college tournament next week on Chickamauga

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

Some of the top collegiate anglers in the Southeast will be heading to the Chattanooga area next week to battle for a spot in next year's FLW College Fishing National Championship.

The FLW Southeastern Conference Invitational will run Oct. 18-19 out of Chester Frost Park on Lake Chickamauga. The winning two-person team will earn $4,000 and a spot in the 2015 national tournament.

"If you're trying to make the top 15 and qualify for the National Championship, you can't be conservative," Walmart FLW Tour pro Michael Neal of Dayton, Tenn., said in an FLW release about the tournament. "A frog will win this tournament, no doubt about it. Be thorough, and concentrate on getting the fish that bite in the boat.

Neal, who has four top-10 finishes on Lake Chickamauga in FLW competition, said he expects the college anglers to find challenging conditions at this tournament, although that could change as the lake moves into more of a fall pattern.

"Chickamauga is fishing pretty tough right now," he said. "This fall has been the toughest fishing here in the past several years. There is twice as much grass as there has been in years past, and it has spread the fish out a lot more than usual.

"That being said, it's bound to get better soon. It'll be just like flipping a switch overnight one night, and the fishing will get much better."

There are 45 college duos qualified from large schools and small. Tennessee, Georgia, Auburn and Alabama are among the large SEC schools sending teams to Lake Chickamauga to compete. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga bass anglers club has entered the team of Tyler Watson and Gavyn Bridges, and one of Tennessee Tech's two teams is comprised of Chattanoogans Joe Ellis and Matthew Townson.

As lake levels change and temperatures drop, Neal said he thought a two-day total of 38 pounds could win the tournament. He offered some advice for the collegiate teams looking for the best bite.

"The water levels seem to be on their way down, though, so the fish will be congregating up a lot more shortly," he said. "I'd tell the college anglers to go around and find the mats that have the slime on top of them, and the ones that have a lot of bream. You can hear them -- they sound like Rice Krispies.

"It's going to be frogs and topwater baits, all day long," Neal continued. "I'd be throwing a Lunkerhunt Lunker Frog or a Heddon Zara Spook, and I wouldn't put it down."

Anglers will take off from Chester Frost Park each morning at 7:30. The first day's weigh-in will be held at the county park at 3:30 p.m., and the field will be cut to the top 15 teams for Sunday's final round. The winner will be crowned at Sunday's weigh-in at the Highway 153 Walmart in Hixson starting at 4 p.m.

Takeoffs and weigh-ins are open to the public.

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