It could only have been described as a perfect day to be fishing for bass. On Saturday, Aug. 20, senior industrial engineering major Josh Hooks and his roommate, senior biological sciences major Casey Johnson, placed first for BassPack , N.C . State’s bass fishing club, in the National Guard FLW College Fishing Northern Division tournament at Lake Erie. The team earned a spot in the Northern Division Regional Championship at Penn State in September, where the first-place team will win $12,500 for their school, $12,500 cash, and a brand new Ranger 177TR bass boat for their club team.
The duo, who caught five bass for a combined weight of 20 pounds 4 ounces, took the tournament in Buffalo hand over fist, beating the second place team from Vermont Technical College by 2 pounds and 7 ounces and taking home a $10,000 first place prize. Hooks was glad to have been a part of the winning team and helping the BassPack cause to keep the tide rolling.
“It was awesome,” Hooks said. “Just the experience of being a part of a winning team like that. We already have a great team at State. It’s great to continue the tradition.”
Hooks and Johnson, who are in their fifth year of membership with BassPack , had an amazing day out on Lake Erie.
“We fished really clean,” Hooks said. “I think we only lost one fish the entire day. We caught 40 fish and all but two of them were keepers. We just used electronics to find underwater humps and used a dropshot rig to find them.
“It’s never worked so well. We just literally dropped it down there and more or less had one just about every two or three minutes for the first hour.”
The regionals will be held at Foster Joseph Sayer’s Lake during Wolfpack football’s opening weekend. Hooks and Johnson won’t be the only two of the 60 or so BassPack members to be heading to the regionals, though. Ben Dziwulski and Jeff Bumgarner also qualified for the tournament after a final-five finish at Lake Champlain in June for a $2,000 prize. Dziwulski mentioned the large amount of personal time it takes to properly prepare for fishing events such as the upcoming regionals.
“You’ve got to learn the lakes,” Dziwulski said. “Some are 100 ft. deep and crystal clear. Some are really shallow and really dirty. Pretty much we just went out to find where the fish are at in both deep and shallow waters. I probably spent eight or nine days up there, just fishing every day, trying to fish the whole lake. It’s a really small lake but it’s going to be a really tough tournament.”
Johnson hopes to use advanced fishing technology and his custom rods to great effect at the regionals in Pennsylvania.
“Basically, the sky is the limit as far as technology is concerned,” Johnson said. “We’ll have sonar. We’ll also be using our rods from our rod builder at JB Custom Rods. He makes the rods for the club.”
Dziwulski also reflected on parts of his life he has sacrificed towards his love for bass fishing.
“I’ve spent a lot of money in gas, travel, and tackle,” Dziwulski said. “And lots of time and effort. You have to do it. Me and my partner from a few years ago won the tournament in 2009 on Lake Norman. We spent every weekend for a month and a half on that lake. Then, as a team, we were able to figure out what to do to make the fish bite. If we hadn’t spent that time out there, we wouldn’t have actually won.”
The top five teams from each regional tournament will advance to a national championship, where $25,000 for the school and $50,000 in cash will be awarded to the first-place finishers, along with another Ranger bass boat.
Dziwulski has one objective in mind. Victory.
“That’s what we’re going for here,” Dziwulski said. “We’re going to win.”