On the morning of Tuesday, October 10, Cordell Beckmann, Cale Jausel, Nate Overocker and Hannah Hill started the seven-hour and thirty-minute drive to Lake Dardanelle, in Arkansas, in what felt like great weather! Boy, did that change whenever they arrived. When the Bass Fishing team arrived, a storm hit the area they were staying and an actual tornado hit the ground about 40 to 50 miles away. This little weather event would foreshadow how the weekend would go for the team.
The following 4 four days would show less than favorable conditions for fishing. Waves reaching three to five feet in height, making it impossible to fish the small coves on the edge of the lake. Cold weather and rain made it unbearable for the competitors to fish but they pushed through. Out of the four days they were there, three of those days included rain in the forecast with an average temperature in the 50’s and 60’s.
Despite the weather, the four anglers fished through the tournament. Beckmann and Jausel were in one boat and Overocker and Hill were in the other. Friday was the first day of the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open sponsored by Cabela’s, and the only day it did not rain. Beckmann and Jausel caught the limit on Friday but they were mostly small fish to combine to a total of 7.75 lbs for day one. Overocker and Hill caught two fish for a combined 6 lbs for day one.
The second day seemed to bring some challenges to both boats as the rain returned and the temperature was still cold. Beckmann and Jausel caught four fish for a total of 5.45 lbs and Hill and Overocker caught a lot of small fish, on day two, but did not catch any that were big enough to be keepers so they did not weigh any fish.
Overall Beckmann and Jausel ended up placing 86th out of 217 boats for the weekend. When asked about the tournament, this is what Jausel had to say, “The tournament overall was not a bust. We ended up 86th of 217, so a little better than half of the pack but I earned some valuable School of the Year points for our team. The only thing that didn’t really go well for us was we could not seem to get a big bite and we could not seem to get rid of some of the smaller spotted bass in order to up our weight. A couple big bites a day goes a mile and it showed with the teams that placed well.”
Overocker and Hill placed 154th out 217. When asked about the tournament, Overocker said, “We found success in the form of catching a lot of small fish, but we struggled to get keeper bites. Given another chance, I would have made more of a run on the second day of practice in hopes of finding some more spots for the tournament because we knew we would have moderate success with what we found Wednesday.”
The bass fishing team has one more event with McKendree at a location yet to be determined and on a date that yet to be decided. Stay tuned for a new series with the team and results from the final event for the fall!
