BAINBRIDGE, Ga. – LSUS anglers Levi Thibodaux and Miles Smith claimed victory at Lake Seminole and the won the top prize of $2,000 this past Friday in a Major League Fishing college event.
Smith and Thibodaux hauled in 24 pounds, two ounces after the field of 200 boats battled a cold front and a wind change that altered fish patterns on the grassy lake in southern Georgia.
“We found a few different holes in the grass that had a few fish,” Thibodaux told majorleaguefishing.com. “We really didn’t know what to expect because we didn’t practice the last day because of the rain and all. We didn’t expect to do that great, to be honest.
“Basically, what we figured out in practice was there were a lot of fish roaming on the grass flats. We kind of figured out with that cold front coming, some of them would get off the flats and get in the holes or edges where it’s a little deeper.”
Thibodaux and Smith bested the field by more than a pound.
Teammates Barrett Bennefield and Mason McCormick checked in at No. 15 with 19-09 as LSUS was just one of three schools with at least two boats in the top 15.
LSUS coach Charles Thompson said anglers who could adjust their fishing with the colder weather were the ones who prospered in the one-day event.
“The weather threw everything for a loop,” Thompson said. “Guys who understood fish patterns and what the colder temperatures were likely to do to fish were the ones who adjusted successfully.
“Usually more experienced anglers are the ones who can make those adjustments, but Barrett and Mason are younger (freshman and sophomore). They were able to adjust their patterns, or the fish they were on didn’t change much.”
Both LSUS pairs qualified for next year’s MLF College Championships with their finish at Lake Seminole.
Other top LSUS finishers include Grayson Bonfils/Nevan Osburn (No. 50 with 15-06) and Bryant Martin/William Tew (No. 54 at 14-15).
The win is the first of the season for an LSUS pair and the first since September of 2023 when Tew and Brayden Nichols pulled out an MLF win on Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Texas.
LSUS is ranked No. 3 in the MLF and will improve on their No. 8 ranking in the Association of Collegiate Anglers standings when the next edition rolls out.
Smith and Thibodaux will compete in the MLF Tackle Warehouse Invitational tournament on Lake Toho in Florida this coming weekend, a three-day event which will feature a field of pro anglers and a top prize of $115,000.
LSUS will continue its college season on Feb. 26 on Smith Lake in Alabama.
The next MLF event in which LSUS will participate is March 7 on Grand Lake (Oklahoma) before the MLF Championship on April 9 on Wheeler Lake (Alabama).
