Bold opening hook: The biggest takeaway from Lake Murray’s College Fishing National Championship is unforgettable: top teams didn’t just fish hard—they rewired their approach to match the lake’s winter magic. And this is the part most people miss: success came from a blend of time-tested tactics and fresh, meticulous adaptation.
A polished rewrite that preserves meaning and clarity
The College Fishing National Championship presented by Abu Garcia took place on Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina, delivering one of the most intense winter bass battles in memory. The winning weight exceeded 70 pounds over three days, with the top five all surpassing 67 pounds and several anglers landing keepers weighing around six pounds. The event highlighted the high level of modern collegiate fishing and showcased current methods for catching bass.
1) Lander University: aggressive cover-focused tactics
The Lander University duo, Matthew Knopp and Logan Russell, prioritized fishing structure and cover. Their arsenal included Hideup Coike soft swimbaits in multiple sizes and a 6-inch Deps Sakamata Shad rigged on a 3/16-ounce jig head. They deployed one setup on a light (6’10”) baitcaster with 10-pound line and another on a heavier setup with 14-pound line. Knopp noted they initially targeted sturdy stumps but gradually broadened their search to cane beds, brush piles, and unfamiliar spots as the tournament progressed. He explained that stump fishing was challenging because the stumps on Murray had been pressure-fished, so they swung to new areas and relied on precision casts to coax bites from wary fish.
2) Montevallo’s Dorado of depth and shallow finesse
The University of Montevallo added to its growing legacy, placing three teams in the Top 10, with James Dubose and Daylon Milam among the frontrunners. They began shallow, using a Berkley Stunna 112 jerkbait and a Clutch Darter swimbait, then switched to a finesse Neko rig on the final day as bites slowed. Milam recalled that locating shallow schools involved skimming the water with the jerkbait to provoke lifting responses from fish, allowing better visibility and quicker decisions. Although Milam hadn’t fished Lake Murray before, the venue reminded him of West Point, especially in its habitat layout, but Murray’s herring presence added a new twist. The weights surprised them, as they hadn’t expected such high numbers from day to day.
3) Carson-Newman’s minnow-focused attack
Riley Brown and Nolan Gray of Carson-Newman leaned on classic minnow presentations. They rotated 4- and 5-inch Z-Man Scented Jerk Shadz and smaller Rapala CrushCity offerings, with a preference for Queen Tackle jigheads ranging from 1/4 to 1/8 ounce. They reported locating fish along rock piles, rocky points, and later in stump-laden habitats, adjusting to the grass and stumps as the day evolved. Gray emphasized that the final day featured fish movement from grassy areas to stumps and brush, guiding their adjustments.
4) Diverse baits for Berglund and White
Brennan Berglund and Colton White represented Montevallo with a varied toolkit: a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Hit Worm Magnum rigged on a Neko setup complemented by a 3/32-ounce Cipher Tungsten Nail Weight. They also experimented with a Willie Pete’s OG Willie glide bait and a 5-inch Willie Pete’s Minnow in ghost special red craw. White described starting shallow to find bite windows—focusing on main-lake and secondary points to observe fish movement—and gradually moved to creeks’ secondary points as spawning activity intensified. Their best catches came from depths between 20 and 35 feet as conditions evolved.
5) Robison and Sorrow’s prespawn emphasis
The previous year’s champions, Brody Robison and Peyton Sorrow, opened with a 26-6 Day 1 limit but couldn’t sustain that pace. They stuck to color-matched lures aligned with their jerseys and caught with a jighead minnow and a CAST Fishing Co. Nova on a 1/8-ounce nail, alongside a Berkley Stunna 112+1. Sorrow explained they targeted prespawn zones, especially secondary points where fish initiate movement, noting that the bottom composition was less critical than having clean targets like stumps or rocks. Their approach was to search aggressively and adjust when fish became wary.
6) Kuhnle and Rollison: stumps meet hydrilla
The Lander duo of Drew Kuhnle and Landon Rollison favored a minnow strategy using a 4-inch Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ and a 3.75-inch Rapala CrushCity Jerk, paired with Queen Tackle Ghost jigheads (3/16 ounce). Their focus was stumps entwined with hydrilla, with Rollison noting that warmer water encouraged fish to perch near stumps shadowed by grass. They also fished grass lines at 15–25 feet, with a final-day 8-pounder coming from a grassy area hosting a lone stump. Before the event, pre-practice and graphing helped them identify two primary zones, while Day 2 surfaced a new area they could exploit.
7) Depth-driven Tennessee strategy
Matthew Dettling and Cody Domingos chose a deeper game, ranking second on Day 2 by chasing offshore structure. Their early season method relied on a 6-inch Yamamoto Hinge Minnow on a 3/16-ounce head, evolving to a Scope Shad on an 1/8-ounce head and a Yamamoto Sensei Worm on a 1/16-ounce Neko rig as the tournament progressed. They targeted deep creek channel bends on major creeks, concentrating on sharp breaks with hard structure like stumps or rocky veins. Their weight accumulation happened from 30 to 50 feet deep, and they later adjusted by switching to a deeper-dwelling presentation to draw larger bites.
8) Ruckman and Wolfe’s heavy Neko and cranking mix
Carson-Newman’s Brayden Ruckman and Zach Wolfe opened Day 1 with a 25-12 limit, using a 5.25-inch Rapala CrushCity Freeloader in gizzard/ Tennessee shad along with a Daiwa Yamamoto Neko Fat in natural shad on a range of 3/16–1/4 ounce weights to reach 18–35 feet. They credited pre-practice work—brush piles, cane, and stumps—as the foundation of their success, describing opponents as roamers along points. The Neko rig produced most of their weigh-in fish, while heavier jigs allowed timely draws before the bites cooled.
9) Emmanuel’s deep-water emphasis
Michael Avery and Peyton Dunn from Emmanuel University fished from 50 to 70 feet throughout the week. Dunn recalled discovering a productive pattern on the tournament’s second practice day near hard lines and ditches, where many fish stacked on the bottom. They relied on a 7/8-ounce Rapala Jigging Rapp with pearl white to reach the deeper fish efficiently, complemented by a shallower Berkley Stunna 112 when the action moved closer to the surface. The bite came from sharp, structure-laden zones that generated consistent schooling behavior.
10) LSU-Shreveport’s Day 3 setback
Miles Smith and Levi Thibodaux started strong with 48-2 after two days but faced a Day 3 slowdown, weighing only four keepers and dropping to 10th. Early on, grass patterns using Megabass Vision 110+1 jerkbaits and Rapala DT 6 crankbaits produced good results, then they shifted to docks and a Big Bite Baits Nekorama with a 1/16-ounce nail to chase deeper schooling fish. Thibodaux noted the team’s challenge in adapting after Day 2 and expressed a wish for a backup plan when the bite changed, highlighting the unpredictable nature of Lake Murray’s bass.
If you’re curious about how college anglers adapt to big-name venues, what gear combinations would you test first in similar conditions, and whether you’d favor shallow or deep-water tactics for winter tournaments, drop your thoughts in the comments. Do you agree with the approach of pairing traditional minnows with finesse methods, or would you prioritize one exact presentation for more consistent results? Your perspectives could spark an engaging discussion on the next fishing season.
