Simpson University Wins MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Tournament on the California Delta
Category: article
Jun 6th, 2022 by Keith Worrall
Modified Jun 6th, 2022 at 9:42 PM
BETHEL ISLAND, Calif. (June 6, 2022) – The Simpson University duo of Jayden Nezy of Page, Arizona, and Nathan Phillips of Kelseyville, California, won the MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI event on the California Delta Friday with a five-bass limit weighing 24 pounds, 7 ounces. The victory earned the Red Hawks’ bass club a slot in the 2023 MLF College Fishing National Championship.
“We just fished the marina all day,” Phillips said. “The game plan was to start there and get maybe a 15-pound limit, then run around that general area the rest of the day and try to cull.
“We got in there and our first fish was the big one – the 6-15 – and the next was 5½ pounds,” Phillips added. “We had four fish at 9 o’clock that weighed about 18 pounds.”
Phillips said he gave those fish a break and moved the team south to chase the tide. After an hour, Phillips returned to their starting spot to fish the outgoing tide and stayed there the rest of the day. Their last fish came at 12:30.
Phillips said the team relied on a vibrating jig fished in grass and wood on one side of the marina and pilings on the other side. Phillips said Nezy was finesse fishing out of the back of the boat while Phillips focused on parallel casts to targets. Phillips said they caught 15 fish throughout the day – 10 of wich were keepers.
“The biggest thing was getting the bait deep enough to the fish,” Phillips said. “I threw a half-ounce bait and fished it pretty slow just trying to get it down to them.”
The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2023 College Fishing National Championship are:
1st: Simpson University – Jayden Nezy of Page, Ariz., and Nathan Phillips of Kelseyville, Calif., five bass, 24-7
2nd: Simpson University – Ty Manterola, Pasco, Wash., five bass, 16-11
3rd: University of Montevallo – Adam Carrol, Carrollton, Ga., and Trey Dickert, Taylors, S.C., five bass, 15-14
4th: Simpson University – Ryan Beaty, Martinez, Calif., and James Hawkinson, Granite Bay, Calif., five bass, 13-1
5th: University of Montevallo – Briggs Alavezos, Manteca, Calif., and Brody Robison, Dawson, Ala., five bass, 13-1
6th: Sonoma State University – Ari Forman, Westlake Village, Calif., and Cody Wyatt, Rohnert Park, Calif., five bass, 12-3
7th: Fresno State – Liam Cornell, Fresno, Calif., and Brendan Holden, Clovis, Calif., five bass, 11-12
8th: Simpson University – Myles Davis, Redding, Calif., and Austin Rojas, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., five bass, 11-11
9th: Sonoma State University – Aaron King, Windsor, Calif., and Richard Maloney, Ukiah Calif., five bass, 10-3
10th: Chico State – Jack Geist, Davis, Calif., and Miles Kaneko, Berkley, Calif., five bass, 9-9
Complete results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI event on the California Delta was the final of three regular-season tournaments for Western Conference anglers. The next event for College Fishing anglers will be the Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI event on the Mississippi River, July 29 in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
MLF College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top 10 teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual Abu Garcia College Fishing Open will advance to the following season’s National Championship. The 2022 MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI National Championship Presented by Lowrance will be held on Fort Gibson Lake in Wagoner, Oklahoma, March 29-31, and is hosted by the Wagoner Area Chamber of Commerce.
Proud sponsors of the 2022 MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI include: 4WP, 13 Fishing, Abu Garcia, A.R.E. Truck Caps, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, Black Rifle Coffee, E3, Epic Baits, Favorite Fishing, Gary Yamamoto Baits, General Tire, Lew’s, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota, Wiley X and YETI.
For complete details and updated tournament information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular College Fishing updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF5’s social media outlets at Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, the Discovery Channel, the Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, the World Fishing Network, and on-demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with offices in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 13 countries. In 2019, MLF expanded its portfolio of catch, weigh, and immediately release events to include the sport’s strongest five-biggest-fish format tournament circuits. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams, and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement, and fish care.
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