FLW College Fishing Northern Conference Opens On Smith Mountain Lake, 4/27

FLW College Fishing is headed to Smith Mountain Lake April 27 for the first of four stops in the Northern Conference. Fifty college teams will be competing for a top award of $2,000 and a berth in the Northern Conference Invitational tournament.

"It's been warm here," said Castrol pro Philip Jarabeck of Lynchburg, Va., who is fishing his rookie season on the Walmart FLW Tour. "There should be fish on the beds already, and by the time this tournament rolls around the should be covering the beds and all over. Sight fishing will be a big player in this event, for sure."

Jarabeck predicted that a variety of baits would produce for anglers, including worms both Texas- and wacky-rigged, shaky heads and reaction baits. He said some guys may catch them drop-shotting in the 15-feet range, but he thinks that the majority of the fish caught will come from 10 feet of water or less.

"With the spawn coming, there will be more fish up shallow than any other time of year," he continued.

Jarabeck predicts that the winning team will bring 15 or 16 pounds to the scales, and offered some advice to college anglers who will be fishing the lake for the first time.

"Bring your sunglasses and keep your trolling motor on 100 all day," Jarabeck said. "There are a million docks on the lake, and it would not surprise me at all to see some teams make the cut by skipping docks all day long with a jig or a shaky head."

Anglers will take off from Parkway Marina located at 16817 Smith Mountain Lake Parkway in Huddleston, Va., at 7 Saturday. Weigh-in will be held at the park beginning at 1 p.m. Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.

Schools competing in the Smith Mountain Lake tournament, which is hosted by Parkway Marina, include:

Bowling Green State University - Kane Godfrey, Marysville, Ohio, and Jason Scott, Perrysburg, Ohio

Bowling Green State University - Zachary Goeglein, Livonia, Mich., and Kevin Klensch, Cincinnati, Ohio

Central Michigan University - Mason Ross, Livonia, Mich., and Dustin Dively, Mount Pleasant, Mich.

Christopher Newport University - Cody Griffey, Carrollton, Va., and Charlie Hill, Ashburn, Va.

Fairmont State University - Ryan Houser and Andrew Walker, both of Fairmont, W. Va.

Glenville State College - J.D. Johnson, Ivydale, W. Va., and Aaron Parsons, Walton, W. Va.

Hampden-Sydney College - Braxton Elliott, Appomattox, Va., and Tyler Wolfe, Powatan, Va.

Hampden-Sydney College - Robert Wilson, West Point, Va., and Dylan Bishop, Richmond, Va.

Harvard University - Manuel Cominsky, Utica, N.Y., and Brian Dominianni, Point Pleasant Beach, N.J.

Kent State University - Corey Locker, Canton, Ohio, and Josh Schlifer, Freedom, Ohio

Kent State University - Greg Perry, Cortland, Ohio and Nicholas, Belluardo, Peninsula, Ohio

La Roche College - Jonathan Coholich and Richard Smith, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Liberty University - John Aertker, Lynchburg, Va., and Shane Fetty, Williamsburg, Va.

Longwood University - Greg Ewing, Bristow, Va., and Matthew Morris, Richmond, Va.

Lynchburg College - Luke Taylor, Jefferson City, Mo., and Graham Byrd, Farram, Va.

Mansfield University - Kyle McKee, Carlisle, Pa., and Garrett O'Brock, Enola, Pa.

Ohio State University - Tom Csepe, Copley, Ohio, and Brett Warrick, Columbus, Ohio

Ohio University - Matt Tarr, Akron, Ohio, and Brad Corrao, Chardon, Ohio

Ohio University - Cody Hrtyanski, Latrobe, Pa., and Ryan Dentscheff, Warren, Ohio

Pennsylvania State University - Stephan Tull, Media, Pa., and Andrew Severns, Finleyville, Pa.

Pennsylvania State University - Ben Misko, Altoona, Pa., and Ian Gregory, Chalfont, Pa.

Radford University - Blaine Chitwood, Wirtz, Va., and Cole Campbell, Bassett, Va.

Radford University - George Fleming, Lorton, Va., and Tanner Blanks, South Boston, Va.

Radford University - Justin Witten, Radford, Va., and Philip Cox, Hiwassee, Va.

Ramapo College - Joseph Zapf, Whippany, N.J., and Jeffrey Voss, Secaucus, N.J.

Ramapo College - Michael Concato, Clifton, N.J., and Andrew Zapf, Whippany, N.J.

Rochester Institute of Technology - Jason Karol and Thomas Leonardo, both of Rochester, N.Y.

Roanoke College - Joe Maciejewski, Virginia Beach, Va., and Matthew Anderson, Salem, Va.

Rutgers University - Miles Kong, Rockaway, N.J., and Kyle Genova, Millstone, Twp., N.J.

Shippensburg University - Kevin Hollasch, Marriottsville, Md., and Hunter Chamberlin, Shippensburg, Pa.

Siena Heights University - Dalton Breckel, Onsted, Mich., and Ricky Jones, Riley, Mich.

Slippery Rock University - Tyler Branca, Hermitage, Pa., and Benjamin Tawney, Fayetteville, N.C.

Springfield College - Daniel Patane, Canastota, N.Y., and Tyler Reid, Dighton, Mass.

State University of New York-Plattsburgh - John McDougall, Queensbury, N.Y., and Nate Lewis, Tinmouth, Vt.

State University of New York-Buffalo - Morgon Fernaays, Lyons, N.Y., and Daniel Vyverberg, Rochester, N.Y.

University of Akron - Austin Levering, Caledonia, Ohio, and Kevin Arnold, Copley, Ohio

University of Connecticut - Grant Cunningham and Ryan Styrczula, both of Unionville, Ct.

University of Virginia - Ben Hill, Galax, Va., and Rameel Ahmad, Centreville, Va.

United States Military Academy at West Point - Matt Savage, Starkville, Miss., and James Tyler, Madison, Ala.

United States Military Academy at West Point - Nick Koop, Roseville, Minn., and David Collins, West Point, N.Y.

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy - Shane Meehan, Fredericksburg, Va., and Fintan Moore, Keene, N.H.

Vermont Technical College - William Waite, Hartland, Vt., and Matthew Sbardella, Fair Haven, Vt.

Virginia Commonwealth - Donnie Miller, Midlothian, Va., and Cody Johnson, Chesterfield, Va.

Virginia Tech University - Jody White, Shaftsbury, Vt., and Andrew Jackson, Abingdon, Va.

Virginia Tech University - John Woodward and Gregory Callas, both of Centreville, Va.

Wayne State University - Zac Zernec, Ortonville, Mich., and Jonathan Stroud, Saline, Mich.

West Virginia University - Corey Straight, Barrackville, W. Va., and Benjamin Ray, Fairmont, W. Va.

Western Michigan University - Justin Schultz, Williamston, Mich., and Tyler Linn, Kalamazoo, Mich.

Xavier University - Ian Goddard, Fairfield, Ohio, and Alex Vaisvil, St. Charles, Ill.

Xavier University - Andrew Decilles, Batesville, Ind., and Austin Glascoe, Nashville, Tenn.

FLW College Fishing teams compete in four qualifying events in one of five conferences - Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top fifteen teams from each regular-season tournament will qualify for one of five conference invitational tournaments. The top ten teams from each conference invitational tournament will advance to the 2014 FLW College Fishing National Championship.

College Fishing is free to enter and FLW Outdoors provides boats and drivers for each competing team along with travel allowances. All participants must be registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or university.

For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing. Visit CollegeFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your school.