GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. (Sept. 28, 2026) – The Carson-Newman University duo of Zachary Knight of Gallatin, Tennessee, and James Sumrell of Hixson, Tennessee, won the MLF Columbia PFG College Fishing Presented by Abu Garcia event on Lake Guntersville Presented by Jenko Fishing Friday with a five-bass limit weighing 24 pounds, 12 ounces. The victory earned the Eagles’ bass club $2,000 and a qualification into the 2027 MLF College Fishing National Championship.

“We had a pretty rough practice,” Sumrell said. “The majority of the time we spent idling offshore looking for late summer schools on shell beds. We also spent a lot of time ‘scoping creek channels looking for roamers. It was pretty hard to catch big fish, so at the end of practice we switched to fishing the grass and found a magical 30-yard stretch that the bigger bass were using.”

Knight said on the morning of the tournament the team found eight boats fishing the matted grass they wanted to target.

“We just kind of fished around them,” Knight said. “For like an hour and a half it was catching one every five minutes. We just got the right bites we needed.”

Knight said the team relied on a MF Bluegill-colored Berkley Swamp Lord Frog to catch their tournament weight. The team had 12 bites during the day, hooked up with eight of those fish and culled three times.

“It’s really hard when you’re fishing a frog to get them all in the boat,” Knight said. “That’s just part of frog fishing.”

Knight went on to say that instead of fishing the edges of the matted grass, the Carson-Newman team got “up in it.”

“I think that’s what made the difference,” Knight said. “The fish had seen so many frogs in that area.”

The Carson-Newman juniors were some of the first to weigh in and had to sit and watch every bag behind them come to the scale, and the potential to steal the lead.

“It was pretty stressful,” Knight went on to say. “Me and James have worked really hard for this, and to pull it off means the world to us. Hopefully we’ll keep the ball rolling and get a few more wins.”

The top 10 teams finished:

1st: Carson-Newman University – Zachary Knight, Gallatin, Tenn., and James Sumrell, Hixson, Tenn., five bass, 24-12, $2,000
2nd: East Texas Baptist University – Sutton Donald, Hallsville, Texas, and Kanyon Russom, Winnsboro, Texas, five bass, 24-1, $1,000
3rd: Wabash Valley College – Blake Locey, Wheeler, Ill., and Thomas Newman, five bass, 23-13, $700
4th: Emmanuel University – Michael Gammons, North Charleston, S.C., and Easton Morrow, Plant City, Fla., five bass, 23-7, $600
5th: Carson-Newman University – Trey Marco, Morrisville, Penn., and Jake Rowlands, Dalton, Penn., five bass, 23-3, $500
6th: University of West Alabama – Cole Martin and Griffin Ralph, both of Hot Springs, Ark., five bass, 21-14
7th: Drury University – Brody Thoele and Ethan Thoele, both of Sigel, Ill., five bass, 21-13
8th: Centre College –Samuel Bracken Castle, Barbourville, Ky., and Colin Wise, Harrodsburg, Ky., five bass, 21-12
9th: LSU – Hinesley Bryant, Greenwell Springs, La., and Tyler Covington, Denham Springs, La., five bass, 21-10
10th: University of Montevallo – Cole Edwards, Grant, Ala., and Brody Mitchell, Huntsville, Ala., five bass, 21-6

Complete results for the entire field, along with the full list of National Championship Qualifier teams can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

The MLF Columbia PFG College Fishing Presented by Abu Garcia event on Lake Guntersville was presented by Jenko Fishing and hosted by Marshall County Tourism and Sports. The next tournament for MLF College Fishing anglers will be the Columbia PFG College Fishing Presented by Abu Garcia event on Cherokee Lake, Oct. 23 in Jefferson City, Tennessee.

The 2026 MLF Columbia PFG College Fishing Presented by Abu Garcia season features college teams from across the country competing in six regular-season open tournaments, plus the Columbia PFG College Fishing Heavy Hitters all-star event. The top 15 percent of teams from each regular-season tournament advance to the 2027 Columbia PFG College Fishing Presented by Abu Garcia National Championship.

Proud sponsors of MLF Columbia PFG College Fishing Presented by Abu Garcia include: 7 Brew, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, Columbia PFG, Epic Baits, Mercury, MillerTech, OFF! Deep Woods, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, PiranhO2, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, VOSKER and YETI.

For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular College Fishing updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery, Outdoor Channel, VICE, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV, Game & Fish TV and Rumble, and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 20 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.