DECATUR, Ala. (April 9, 2025) – While University of North Alabama’s Dylan Nutt was off winning back-to-back Toyota Series events in the ultra-competitive Central Division the last two months, twin brother  Carter  wasn’t exactly just watching in the cheering section – in those two tournaments, he placed 16th and fourth. Now, they’ve teamed up in the 2025 Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI National Championship Presented by Columbia PFG to take the Day 1 lead at Wheeler Lake.

“It’s really cool,” Dylan said of sharing the boat with his twin brother in the championship event. “It’s just really cool to be able to share that moment. We may or may not win the tournament, but just to be able to say we’re leading after the first day, it’s an amazing feeling.”

“We were together in the womb, and we’ve been together our entire 21 years of existence,” Carter added. “It’s a blessing.”

A blessing to fish together and a blessing to be catching what they’re catching. With 22 pounds, 15 ounces on Day 1, they lead a trio of University of Montevallo teams in second, third and fourth with just a 2-ounce margin over Trace Antunes and Slade Davis (the other two Montevallo teams right behind them have 21-9 and 21-8).

That tight grouping of weights at the top of the leaderboard is indicative of how Wheeler is fishing with the current conditions and what kind of fish the Tennessee River impoundment has to offer. The entire Top 10 cracked at least 20 pounds, and 19 pounds extends all the way down to 18th on the leaderboard. However, there’s real potential to see some bags that exceed what we saw today if conditions are stable over the next couple days.

After a cold front came through the area – paired with lake levels that have risen more than 2 feet due to torrential rains and storms last weekend – Wheeler’s bass have been in a bit of a funk. Some stability may help break them out of it.

“The fish are pretty funny right now,” Dylan said. “They’re wanting to spawn. There’s some that are postspawn, some that are prespawn. They’re just hung up in transition areas right now.”

As such, the Nutt brothers used their two days of practice on a fishery they’ve never been to prior (despite hailing from Nashville, going to school in Florence, Alabama, and being aces all along the Tennessee River) to identify and collect stretches full of quality offshore bass. Interestingly enough, while they’re fishing offshore, they’re only utilizing forward-facing sonar to locate their fish – neither one watched a bass eat their bait on Day 1.

The hard part, they said, has been figuring out the timing of their rotation from spot to spot (they have about eight in total) and what the bass are in the mood to eat at any given time; though they chose to remain mum about what specifically they’re wielding with a couple days of competition remaining.

“We caught them on a variety of different lures on a baitcaster,” Dylan said. “We caught them on moving baits. We caught them dragging. We kind of had to rotate through different baits.”

The biggest bass either angler has caught between practice and competition was a 5-pounder. Today, the smallest they weighed in was 4 1/4 pounds with the largest being 4 3/4. They know true kickers are swimming around based on what they’ve seen on their graphs and what they’ve seen other anglers catch – namely, a 6 1/2-pounder they watched Nicholas Dumke (third) catch not far from them on Day 1 – but it hasn’t been easy getting those Tennessee River titans to eat.

Still, Dylan and Carter have lived near the TVA their whole lives and fish all along it about as much as anyone can, so it’s only a matter of time before their formula pays off with a big bonus fish.

“We’ve got a lot of experience on the Tennessee River, and we’ve got a lot of experience doing what we’re doing,” Carter said. “It’s confidence and knowing what to throw – and we know what to throw.”

In order to maintain (and widen) their lead on Day 2, the brothers will have to dial in their rotation from spot to spot. That’s the true key to what they’re doing.

“We’ve got eight different stretches that are good,” Dylan said. “It’s going to be all about pulling up on the right place at the right time and catching them.”

Assuming they’re able to keep the momentum train on the tracks on Thursday, that’s when they might start
considering what it would mean to win the National Championship, twin brother and twin brother, on a river they know so well.

“We’re just going to have to put it in God’s hands,” Carter said. “If it happens, it happens, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

The top 10 teams after Day 1 of the Abu Garcia College Fishing National Championship Presented by Columbia PFG on Wheeler Lake are:

1st:    University of North Alabama – Dylan and Carter Nutt, both of Nashville, Tenn., five bass, 22-15
2nd:   University of Montevallo – Trace Antunes, Henderson, Texas, and Slade Davis, Montevallo, Ala., five bass, 22-13
3rd:   University of Montevallo – Nicholas Dumke, Grand Rapids, Minn., five bass, 21-9
4th:    University of Montevallo – Brody Robison, Dawson, Ala., and Peyton Sorrow, Abbeville, S.C., five bass, 21-8
5th:    Blue Mountain Christian University – John Berry, Mount Olive, Miss., and Blake Bullock, Seminary, Miss., five bass, 21-7
6th:    Bethel University – Tucker Dottley, Little Rock, Ark., and Jordan Hampton, Cadiz, Ky., five bass, 20-9
7th:    McKendree University – Ethan Fields, Breese, Ill., and Jaxson Freeman, Loda, Ill., five bass, 20-4
8th:    Tarleton State University – Clayton and Trevor Easter, both of Morgan, Texas, five bass, 20-1
9th:    University of Montevallo – Brenton Godwin, Stapleton, Ala., and Hunter Odom, Chunchula, Ala., five bass, 20-1
10th:  University of Montevallo – Brett Mouw, Joliet, Ill., and Asa Putnam, Tunnel Hill, Ga., five bass, 20-0

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

Overall, there were 609 bass weighing 1,764 pounds, 11 ounces caught by 129 teams Wednesday. The catch included 114 five-bass limits.

Anglers will take off from Ingalls Harbor, located at 701 Market St. NW, in Decatur at 7 a.m. CT each day of competition. 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.