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One of Chico State's four teams.
And unlike the dominating Tar Heels, Huskies, Panthers and Louisville Cardinals back East, this quest for collegiate team-sport supremacy already has two local programs flying high in the poles.
Ah, fishing-pole polls.
That's right: During the first round of the Western Division bass fishing tournament being sponsored by the National Guard and FLW College Fishing on March 7, ladies and gentlemen, your very own UC Davis Aggies/Mustangs and the Sacramento State Hornets placed No. 1 and No. 2 respectively. (Chico State nabbed No. 6.)
And like their hoops and gridiron counterparts, the said teams already have brought home some bacon: $10,000 for the Aggies and $5,000 for the Hornets, the money to be divided equally between the schools' scholarship funds and fishing clubs.
A 100-Benjamin cash prize? For fishing clubs?
And once again, who knew that when they're not poring over the science and education curricula they're so well known for, some of the student body have been stealing away to play the "Gone Fishin' " card?
Move over, Causeway Football Classic. There's a new UC Davis/Sac State rivalry abrewing.
The tournament at Clear Lake earlier this month is just one of many rounds that will eventually crown a college national champion bass fishing team. They'll be at it again for more rounds in the West and will return to our neck of the woods in May to fish for bass and bucks up at Oroville and then later down in the Delta.
And next April, our local fishologists could be going up against some Bubbas from Auburn or Gators from Florida vying for No. 1 in the land. Victory at the college level could get them invited to really big money tournaments.
For now at least, the BLOCs (big lures on campus) from UC Davis are Steve Reed of San Diego and Ken Gunderson of Sacramento. Second place went to Sac State students Stephen Lesieur and Matthew Paul.
"I'm really excited," UC Davis' Reed said after the March 7 tournament. He's a textile and clothing marketing major, who, with fishing partner Gunderson, a senior majoring in wildlife, fish and conservation biology, won that $10,000 top prize. Their winning total weight for the six largest fish allowed in the one-day tournament was 23 pounds, 9 ounces.
"It's unbelievable what the National Guard and FLW are doing," said Reed. "They paid all our expenses, including entry fees, and even provided the boats."
The teams didn't even have to operate their bass boats as they fished Clear Lake. Reed and Gunderson were chauffeured by Jimmy Reese, brother of Skeet Reese, an Auburn pro angler who recently won $500,000 in the Bassmaster Classic, the "other" big fishing tournament out there on the circuit.
"It's a dream come true," said Reed.
The rise of FLW Outdoors
How did we get here?
Over the past decade, FLW Outdoors (with backing from Wal-Mart), named after legendary boat builder Forrest L. Wood, established itself as a national player in the fishing tournament biz. They and competitor Bassmaster, which is aligned with ESPN, have done for competitive fishing what NASCAR did for motorsports.
Some of the booty has come home here to roost. Besides Bassmaster's Reese, the area had a big winner in 2008: Michael Bennett of Lincoln, who won $1 million last fall in an FLW Outdoors tournament.
The FLW College Fishing series, with sponsorship from the National Guard, is the premier tournament fishing competition for college students. They fish for scholarship money, prizes and, ultimately, a chance to compete in the $2.5 million Forrest Wood Cup in 2010.
Earlier this month, full-time students affiliated with their college bass fishing clubs gathered from 27 colleges in the West at Clear Lake: everywhere from Washington State to the north, Idaho and the University of Nevada-Reno to the east and San Diego and Arizona to the south.
UC Davis' Ken Gunderson, left, and Steve Reed won the National Guard FLW College Fishing event on Clear Lake.
Sac State's Stephen Lesieur, left, and Matthew Paul took second place.
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