YETI FLW College Fishing tournament set for Friday, Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Open tournament to follow Saturday

SANDUSKY, Ohio (Aug. 27, 2019) – Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) is set to visit northern Ohio next week, Sept. 6-7, with the YETI FLW College Fishing tournament at Lake Erie and the Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Open at Lake Erie presented by Costa. The tournaments, hosted by the City of Sandusky, will showcase some of the top young anglers from across the region competing for cash and prizes and angling for their chance to advance to the FLW College Fishing National Championship and High School Fishing National Championship events.

“There is going to be a lot of fish schooled up out deep, and it will take a lot of idling to find them, but once they find them, they’re going to catch a ton of fish,” said third-year FLW Tour pro Grae Buck of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, a former College Fishing angler who competed for Penn State University. “The fish tend to group up by size – you’ll find a school of 2½- to 3-pounders, then move around and find a school of 4- to 5-pounders. The key to winning these tournaments will be finding that bigger class of fish.”

Buck predicted that the event would be won and the overwhelming majority of clubs would weigh in with a limit of smallmouth bass, but did say that there could be a few largemouth brought to the scales, especially if the wind becomes a factor and anglers choose to stick to Sandusky Bay. He said that drop-shot rigs will be the primary lure of choice for tournament competitors.

“They’re going to be dropping anything that mimics a goby or perch,” Buck said. “A lot of green-pumpkin colors, maybe something with a pearl belly. If I was fishing this tournament, I’d be using a Cornerstone Shimmy Shot.

“My advice would be to look for the deep rock humps – 20 to 40 foot range – and that’s where the goby and crawfish will be,” Buck went on to say. “I think it’ll take a limit weighing 22 to 23 pounds to win.”

The college anglers will kick off competition on Friday, Sept. 6, at 7 a.m. EDT at the Shelby Street Public Boat Launch, located at 101 Shelby St., in Sandusky. The weigh-in will be held at the park on Friday at 3:30 p.m. The high school anglers will then compete on Saturday, Sept. 7, launching at 7 a.m. from the park and weighing in at 3:30 p.m. All takeoffs and weigh-ins are free to attend and open to the public, and will be streamed live online at FLWFishing.com.

YETI FLW College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. All participants must be registered, full-time students at a college, university or community college and members of a college fishing club that is recognized by their school. The top 10 teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open will advance to the 2020 FLW College Fishing National Championship. Additional teams will qualify for the National Championship if the field size in regular-season events exceeds 100 boats.

The Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Open tournaments are free, two-person (team) events for students in grades 7-12 and open to any FLW and Student Angler Federation-affiliated high school clubs. The top 10 percent of teams at each Open event along with the TBF High School Fishing state championships will advance to the 2020 High School Fishing National Championship. The High School Fishing national champions will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship to the school of their choice.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow YETI FLW College Fishing and the Bass Pro Shops FLW High School Fishing Opens at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.