SHREVEPORT -- Coming off the program’s best season ever with a sixth-place finish nationally, the LSUS Fishing Team is aiming to reap those rewards this weekend at the Bassmaster College Series 2024 National Championship on Lake Hartwell in South Carolina.
An LSUS program record five boats qualified for the championship event, which required one finish in the top 10 percent of a sanctioned tournament during the regular season.
LSUS anglers manning boats in this championship include Brayden Nichols and William Tew, Brother Martin and Luke Batts, Tripp Bowman and Matthew Nesbit, Levi Thibodaux and Miles Smith, and Hunter Hamilton and Tyler Morris.
The event begins Thursday with two days of fishing as anglers push for a top-12 standing to qualify for the final day of competition.
The first four pairs qualified during the typical regular season, while freshmen Hamilton and Morris hit the Louisiana summer trail and picked up a championship invitation.
“Iron sharpens iron, and having our guys fish against each other in practice helps prepare us for competition,” said LSUS Fishing coach Charles Thompson. “If you’re good on our team, that typically means you’ll fare well against the competition.
“It’s not an easy feat to qualify for these championships, and we’re excited that we’re taking five boats with us.”
The Pilots were last on the water as a team when they placed third at the Association of Collegiate Anglers Championships in late May.
Nichols and Tew led the way with a fifth-place showing overall. Batts/Martin (29th), Thibodaux/Smith (32nd), Hamilton/Morris (55th) and Nesbit/Bowman (69th) all finished in the top half of the field.
Though the upcoming championship reflects the past year’s performance, the points earned at this event will go toward next year’s standings.
The opportunity to launch into the new season certainly isn’t lost on Thompson.
“This will be the first tournament of the new season for most programs, but what’s cool about this championship is that programs like ours are rewarded for qualifying more boats than most,” Thompson said. “Some schools may only have one boat make it to this event, so we have more chances to put boats near the top of the standings because of what our guys accomplished in the regular season.”
There are no divisions in college fishing, so LSUS is trading blows with household names like No. 5 Auburn and No. 12 Tennessee along with schools located in the fishing heartland (Kentucky-Tennessee-Alabama) that host the majority of the college fishing tournaments.
While LSUS anglers are well traveled and have fished a variety of lakes, having intimate knowledge of specific bodies of water is an advantage for schools closer to this fishing corridor.
Thompson said LSUS anglers do their homework on specific lake conditions and fishing patterns, but it’s important not to finalize any strategies until stepping in the boat.
One important facet is knowing which bait fish inhabit the lakes and how they typically behave.
“The forage is important because a lot of our lakes here (in Louisiana) are shad lakes, whereas Lake Hartwell is a herring lake,” Thompson said. “The fish act completely different.
“The bass tend to follow the bait fish, and both groups tend to school up in the deep parts of the lake in the summer. But maybe they’ve moved to the creeks and go shallower as well. You’ve got to do your homework, but don’t make a final strategy until you get on the lake.”
LSUS has recorded an overall program-best finish in each of the past three seasons (sixth in 2024, 15th in 2023, and 20th in 2022).
The Pilots will take aim at a top-five finish this season as LSUS continues to cement itself as one of the nation’s best.
