DECATUR, Ala. (April 10, 2025) – The 135 best college teams in the country were greeted by a very different Wheeler Lake on Day 2 of the Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI National Championship Presented by Columbia PFG. After Wednesday saw 18 bags of 19 pounds or more hit the scales, only seven teams reached that mark on Friday. As proof of how challenging the bite was, Day 1 leaders  Carter  and Dylan Nutt – two of the hottest anglers on the Tennessee River at any level – mustered just 9 pounds, 9 ounces after weighing 22-15 a day prior.

Yet Brody Robison and Peyton Sorrow not only replicated their strong Day 1 but exceeded it. The University of Montevallo tandem sacked up 23-9 on Thursday. The biggest bag of the event so far, it boosted their total to 45-1. That vaulted them from fifth place into the lead and gives them a cushion of 2-7 over  John Berry and  Blake Bullock of Blue Mountain Christian University entering the final day.

Only the Top 10 teams will take the water Friday. All the action will be streamed live on MLFNOW! starting shortly after takeoff at 7 a.m. CT, culminating with the crowning of a new national champion at 1 p.m.

While their weight might not show it, Robison and Sorrow said the fishing wasn’t easy for them, either, which they attributed to less current flowing through the Tennessee River impoundment on Thursday. They only got seven bites all day. Late in the day, though, they caught a 6-1 smallmouth, the biggest fish in their bag. That gave them a clue that they used to fill out their limit.

“We kind of started putting the pieces together, and we got a very big late-day bite, and it kind of put the train back on the wheels, and we just kind of went from there,” Sorrow said. “We were able to cull twice right at the end of the day.”

Conditions that forced the field to grind for bites suited Robison and Sorrow. Sorrow, a junior, said they had a “horrible practice,” during which they caught only three keepers. They were able to find one productive spot, where they caught a limit to start Day 1, and since then, they’ve continued to explore new water.

“Today and yesterday were Days 3 and 4 of practice for us,” Robison said. “We had a place that we scanned and said, ‘Those are probably bass.’ Went and started there, caught our first five there yesterday, and we spent 5 1/2 hours graphing after that during tournament hours just trying to find something to fish today. So, today, we caught everything on new water.”

Robison, a senior who grew up just south of Lake Guntersville, has a bit of experience on Wheeler. In fact, he won a high school state championship on the fishery before he even enrolled in high school, at age 12. That experience has been helpful – not so much in terms of knowing productive spots but because he’s adept at using his electronics to identify bass and baitfish on the Tennessee River.

While the duo didn’t divulge all the details of their pattern, they did note that the presence of gizzard shad has been key.

“We’re basing a lot of what we’re doing on fishing around gizzard shad, and knowing when you’re around gizzard shad – whether it’s using SideScan or DownScan or forward-facing or whatever – as opposed to threadfin helps you with your efficiency,” Robison explained. “You’re not wasting your time fishing bad areas.”

With thunderstorms rolling through the area Thursday evening and strong northwest winds forecast to blow on Championship Friday, Robison and Sorrow are expecting to face different conditions once again. They know they’ll need to find more new water; but at this point, they’re optimistic they can do so.

“We’re going to kind of do what we did yesterday and today,” Sorrow said. “We had a horrible practice and kind of just went fishing on a whim and trusted our instincts and really put the pieces together as the day went along. So, I think that’s what we’re going to do tomorrow. We’re just going to go fish on a whim and trust God’s timing and process, and just kind of see how everything shakes out.”

If Robison and Sorrow can protect their lead, it would mark the second national championship in the past three years for Montevallo. The powerhouse program also has two other teams in the Top 10. A win would also earn each of them a berth in this fall’s Toyota Series Championship, where the higher finisher will win a trip to REDCREST 2026.

While neither Robison (who has competed in one previous national championship) nor Sorrow (a national championship first-timer) has lifted a trophy of this magnitude before, they have a pretty good idea what it would mean. Robison lives with Peyton Harris and Dalton Head, who won the Falcons’ 2023 national championship on the Kissimmee Chain.

“To bring back another to our house would be really cool,” Robison said, “and to bring back another to the program, it’s an awesome opportunity.”

The top 10 teams advancing to Championship Friday at the Abu Garcia College Fishing National Championship Presented by Columbia PFG on Wheeler Lake are:

1st:    University of Montevallo – Brody Robison, Dawson, Ala., and Peyton Sorrow, Abbeville, S.C., 10 bass, 45-1
2nd:    Blue Mountain Christian University – John Berry, Mount Olive, Miss., and Blake Bullock, Seminary, Miss., 10 bass, 42-10
3rd:   University of Montevallo – Nicholas Dumke, Grand Rapids, Minn., 10 bass, 39-12
4th:    University of North Alabama – Tripp Berlinsky, Florence, Ala., and Bryce DiMauro, Longwood, Fla., 10 bass, 38-12
5th:    McKendree University – Ethan Fields, Breese, Ill., and Jaxson Freeman, Loda, Ill., 10 bass, 38-0
6th:   Carson-Newman University – Szymon Piton, Orland Park, Ill., and Riley Faulkner, Jacksboro, Tenn., 10 bass, 36-13
7th:  University of Alabama – Cooper Gilroy, Middlebury, Ct., and Hayden O’Barr, Scottsboro, Ala., 10 bass, 36-3
8th:    Northwestern State University – Drake Wadsworth, Frierson, La., and Stone Smith, Shreveport, La., 10 bass, 35-15
9th:    University of Montevallo – Brenton Godwin, Stapleton, Ala., and Hunter Odom, Chunchula, Ala., 10 bass, 35-13
10th:    Carson-Newman University – Nicholas Dellaporta, Pequannock, N.J., and Drew Pitts, Lutz, Fla., 10 bass, 34-9

For a full list of results, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, there were 567 bass weighing 1,588 pounds, 14 ounces caught by 125 teams on Thursday. The catch included 99 five-bass limits.

The top 10 teams will take off from Ingalls Harbor, located at 701 Market St. NW, in Decatur at 7 a.m. CT on Friday. Weigh-ins will be held at the Harbor starting at 3 p.m. and will be livestreamed daily. Fans are welcome to attend the event or tune in to the weigh-in and follow the online coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Hosted by Decatur Morgan County Tourism, the 16^th annual College Fishing National Championship features 135 teams of the nation’s best collegiate anglers competing for a $43,500 prize package, including a new Phoenix 518 pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury or Suzuki outboard, an additional $10,000 and the chance to advance to the 2025 Toyota Series Championship and REDCREST 2026 – MLF’s most prestigious championship – to fish for top prizes of $235,000 and $300,000, respectively.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and Rob Newell will break down the extended action on Championship Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. CT. MLFNOW!®  will be livestreamed on  MajorLeagueFishing.com and the MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) app.

The MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI 2024 season featured college teams from across the country competing in nine regular-season tournaments. The top 12 percent of teams from each regular-season tournament qualified to compete in this event, the 2025 Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI National Championship

Proud sponsors of the 2025 MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI include: 7Brew Coffee, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, Columbia PFG, Deep Dive App, E3 Sports Apparel, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, Humminbird,  Lew’s, Mercury, Minn Kota, Mossy Oak, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Phoenix Boats, Polaris, Power-Pole, Precision Sonar, Strike King, Suzuki Marine, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota , WIX Filters 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 Channel, Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network 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.