SANDUSKY — The Adrian College bass fishing team won the Abu Garcia College Fishing Tournament held on Lake Erie on Friday by sweeping four of the top 10 positions in the event, including the first-place championship claimed by the duo of Matt Davis and Sam Shoemaker.
Davis and Shoemaker checked in a five-fish limit that weighed 19 pounds, 8 ounces. That gave Adrian's bass fishing program the $2,000 winner's share at the event and a guaranteed slot in the 2023 Major League Fishing College Fishing National Championship event for its four teams that made the top 10.
Adrian's domination of the tournament was evident in the standings, with the duo of Cole Carr and Paxton Giem taking fourth place with a five-fish bag that weighted 18-6. Braylon Eggerding and Maumee's Nick Seitz were sixth with an 18-2 bag, while Shane Nelson and Derek Rodriguez took seventh with their 17-11 catch.
With the team win here, Adrian College claims the Northern Conference “School of the Year” honor for the fifth consecutive year.
Davis and Shoemaker had to bounce back from a rough start to get on a roll and put the first-place catch in the livewell. On one of his first casts Friday morning, Davis tied into a husky bass, but the fish took to the air and managed to snap the line.
“That fish was every bit of four pounds,” Shoemaker said. The duo used a Garmin LiveScope and worked a boulder pile in 16 to 24 feet of water near Middle Bass Island. Davis used a Ned rig with a green pumpkin Z-Man TRD, with Shoemaker employing a drop-shot rig and using the same bait.
They landed seven Lake Erie smallmouth bass in the one-day event, with all of their keepers coming in the noon-2:30 p.m. window.
“We went and fished a couple of other areas, but for some reason, that spot was just a gut feeling. It was calling our name,” Shoemaker said. “We caught a lot of drum and catfish, but once we caught some brown fish in between, it gave us the confidence to stay in that area and put our nose to the grindstone and try to make something happen.”
The Adrian College bass fishing team enters the 2022-23 season ranked No. 5 in the nation in the Association of Collegiate Anglers poll. The rankings are determined through a vote by anglers, coaches, media members, and industry representatives. Adrian College was also ranked fifth in the 2021-22 pre-season poll.
■ Lake Erie: The yellow perch fishing has been spotty in recent days, with the best results coming from the east end of Niagara Reef, off Catawba State Park, and around the Toledo water intake. Spreaders and crappie rigs baited with minnows have produced the most fish, with some anglers reporting better catches when they set one rod off the bottom and a second a few feet higher in the water column. Walleye anglers are expecting cooler temperatures to bring about improved fishing in the western end of the lake in the coming weeks. Trollers and casters are catching walleye outside the Camp Perry firing zone and in Maumee Bay, with undersized fish and non-targeted species regularly mixed in with the keepers.
■ Steelhead Expo: The 28th annual Steelhead Expo will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sept. 24 at the Rocky River Nature Center located at 24000 Valley Parkway in the Cleveland suburb of North Olmstead. Along with a variety of presentations on steelhead fishing, there will be vendors with steelhead gear and the opportunity to book a guided steelhead fishing outing in Ohio's famed Steelhead Alley.
First Published September 14, 2022, 1:31 p.m.