(LEBANON, Ill., Nov. 8)—The McKendree University bass fishing team closed out its fall season with by taking second place at the Murray State University Fall Invitational this past weekend. The effort capped a strong fall season that saw the Bearcats earn a pair of top-two finishes along with a fourth-place showing in the five events they entered.
The Murray State Invitational on Kentucky Lake hosted 25 boats from eight different universities. Anglers saw extremely low water levels and tough fishing conditions that yielded very few bass. There were no five fish limits that weighed in an only 13 of the 25 boats made it to the scales. From those 13, only four boats weighed in more than two fish.
The McKendree duo of
Jacob Louis (Pinckneyville, IL/Pinckneyville) and
Taylor Schmitt (Lebanon, IL/Lebanon) were one of only three teams able to figure out a pattern. They caught over 35 bass and brought in a four-bass stringer that weighed 9.57 pounds to give them second place at the meet.
Shane Campbell (Highland, IL/Highland) and
Phillip Germagliotti (Highland, IL/Highland) took ninth place with a haul of 3.16 pounds.
Host Murray State University won the tournament and big bass as the team of Lance Freeman and Cameron Brooks caught four fish weighing 13.93 pounds, including a 6.05-pound anchor fish.
During the coming months McKendree anglers will practice on local power plant lakes and begin studying the lakes that are scheduled for the spring season. They will also be working for their sponsors at local sport shows and doing seminars for local high school anglers. And while Carlyle Lake is drawn down to its winter pool level, the Bearcats will be placing their man-made structures into the lake. This work will be done as part of the James Hawn Fisheries Habitat Partnership.
As a fundraiser, McKendree will also be accepting reservations for spring and summer guided fishing trips. Anyone who is interested in purchasing one of these guided fishing trips can contact head coach
Jon Rinderer at 618-541-2177.
The next event on the schedule for McKendree will be the Cabela's Big Bass Bash on Kentucky Lake. The two-day tournament will be held March 11-12, 2017 in Paris, Tenn.
