NINE TIMES, S.C. — The gin-clear waters of the 18,372 acre Lake Keowee, and its abundance of the southern-dwelling spotted bass, did not present a very familiar field of play or target species when the Adrian College Bass Fishing Team sent two of its boats here recently for the FLW College Fishing National Championship.
The University of South Carolina, no doubt enjoying a distinct “home-field advantage” on the huge reservoir, won the event, but Adrian maintained its high profile on the national fishing scene since it was the only school in the country to place two boats in the top 20 of the final standings.
The Adrian College duo of Jarrett Martin and Jacob Bayer, who were in third place going into the finals of the three-day tournament, finished seventh, checking in three five-fish limits that totaled 34 pounds.
RELATED CONTENT: Fishing report: 4-8
The winning team from South Carolina went 38 pounds, 15 ounces with its 15-fish in the tournament. The second Adrian team, composed of Nick Marsh and Jeff Morton, were in sixth place after the first day of the competition and ended up 16th overall after missing the cut for the final day, when the field was reduced to the top 10 teams.
Adrian’s bass fishermen had to demonstrate that they were among the best of the nation’s nearly 900 college fishing teams from more than 300 schools in order to qualify for the tournament, which featured the top 50 teams in the country.
Placing two teams in the top 20 was a major accomplishment for the young Adrian program, which has been competing for a little more than a year.
“We were right there, to the very end,” Adrian coach Seth Borton said about the competition on Lake Keowee, which is located in the extreme northwest corner of the Palmetto State.
“There definitely is a home-field advantage on water like that, but I don’t want our kids using that as a crutch. No matter what you do in life, there will always be someone with an advantage, and that’s just something you have to overcome.”
The Keowee impoundment, the cooling reservoir for the Oconee Nuclear Station, is fed by streams and waterfalls cascading down from the Blue Ridge Mountains and features a mean depth of 50 feet and a maximum depth of 155 feet, with hundreds of cuts forming its more than 300 miles of shoreline. Its diverse fish population includes largemouth, smallmouth, spotted and Guadalupe bass, along with striped bass, wiper hybrids, channel catfish, blue catfish, flathead catfish, rainbow trout, white and black crappies, sunfish, bluegills, walleye and numerous other less desirable species.
The Adrian anglers, more accustomed to chasing largemouth and smallmouth on the more turbid waters of Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie, and other Midwest waters, had to adapt to Lake Keowee’s aquarium-look. Bayer said the clear waters demanded a different approach when tempting the resident bass with artificial baits.
“You had to keep it moving at a good pace in that clear water,” Bayer said. “We had plenty of fish follow the baits right up to the boat. Without twitching that bait through the water as fast as you can, you were not going to catch fish.”
Borton said the strong showing in the national event will keep his team on an upward trajectory. Adrian College was ranked No. 1 in the country for a while, and finished in the top 10 or 15 in every tournament it entered in the past season.
“There’s no question that this provides a huge boost. It is a huge lift to everyone on the team,” Borton said. “I think our kids proved to themselves that they are making a lot of the right decisions out there on the water. And as a program, we are doing a lot of the right things to compete nationally.”
The Adrian College Bass Fishing Team currently consists of 14 anglers, but Borton expects that number to grow to 20 or more by next school year. He has received inquiries from student-anglers from Texas, California and Alabama, but expects the bulk of his roster will continue to be filled with Michigan and Ohio bass fishermen.
“We are open to considering anyone, but we’ve done really well with kids from Ohio and Michigan. There’s a lot of talent right around here, because of the diversity of fishing options we have,” he said.
“Moving forward, the national tournament was a huge event for us as a program,” Borton said.
“We are never going to sit back and be content, but we can say we are excited about our accomplishments. Their performance all year long speaks volumes about the type of anglers these kids are, and the direction this team is heading. We are excited about what is ahead for this Adrian College team.”
Contact Blade outdoors editor Matt Markey at: mmarkey@theblade.com or 419-724-6068.
First Published April 8, 2016, 4:27 a.m.