Southeast Bass Anglers Finish with two Top 20 Finishes in Regional Tournament March 20/21

Three teams from the Southeast Missouri State University Bass Anglers team just returned from another successful regional tournament on Lake Dardanelle in Russellville, Arkansas. The teams competed March 20-21 on this 34,000 acre impoundment but were met with weather which resulted in tough fishing conditions.

Approximately 57 teams from teams all over the Midwest were in competition. Two of the Southeast teams prevailed though after the first day. The team of Jim McDevitt and Alex Skelton ended day one in eighth place with five keepers and a weight of 10.79 pounds.

Taylor Gorton and Mike Rains sat in eleventh place with a weight of 9.43 pounds and four fish. Gorton commented, "The Lake was very tough this year, ice moved in last week on the lake. The weights from this year are a shock especially compared from the past few years."

Day two came with a new challenge as cold morning rains came and lasted until noon. A change from the clear and blue skies from the previous day.

"The fish here are basically in a state of shock, prior to the ice from the week before, the fish were on schedule with their spawning cycle which would have brought in big fish across the board during this tournament." Skelton stated.

As day two finished McDevitt and Skelton could only bring in 3 keepers for a weight of 8.05. Gorton and Rains weight came down to the wire with five minutes left.

"We were about to pack up and leave the area until I had to make one more cast," Rains stated, "and boom, a 5.29 pound Lake Dardanelle largemouth bass was on the line." That weight elevated their day two weight to 13.45 pounds, which also put them in sixth place at the end of the tournament.

McDevitt and Skelton dropped down to eleventh but were still satisfied with the outcome. "We had a strong pattern throughout the tournament but unfortunately it was not the strongest." McDevitt stated.

1 U of Louisville Cody Greenwell/ Daniel Day 34.52

2 U of Alabama Foster Bradley/ Jeremy Christian32.13

3 Murray State U Daniel Langton/Cory Carr31.34

4 Kansas State U Ben Fuchs/ Jared Fish25.74

5 Wabash College James Ket/ Paul Musielak25.21

6 S E Missouri State Taylor Gorton/ Mike Rains22.88

7 Arkansas Tech U Scott Lambert/ Aaron Tripp 21.59

8 Oklahoma State U J Trevor Packs/ Cory Sloan 20.84

9 Kansas State U Casey Burden/ Rayn Baker 20.76

10 Eastern Oklahoma U Lane Kindle/ Travis Mintz 20.46

11 S E Missouri State Jim McDevitt/ Alex Skelton 18.84

12 Arkansas Tech URoy Roberts/ Adam Brown17.09

13 U of Alabama Joe Humphries/ Daniel Statum 16.62

14 Murray State U Dustin Phillips/ Ben Helmerich 16.40

15 Northwestern U (LA) Paul Rini/ Aaron Sistrunk 16.03

16 Arkansas Tech U Matthew Goddard/ Michael Williams 14.38

17 Drury University Alex Sahliyeh/ Drew Sanford 14.03

18 Henderson State U Marcus Greene/ Ryan Scott 13.82

19 Murray State U Steve Miller/ Zach Park13.61

20 Oklahoma State U Orie Chambers/ Josh Bryant

13.08

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