NORTHWEST TERRITORY : Confidence helped UA bass team win national title
Posted on Thursday, October 2, 2008
Congratulations flowed in
profusion when Razorbacks Bodie
Drake and Kazuki Kitajima were recognized as National Collegiate Bass champs during a news conference held on the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville campus last Wednesday. The win by the members of UA’s bass fishing team was the first Razorbacks national championship ever to be won on the water and perhaps more important, the first to be won by any team associated with the campus’ intramural / recreational sports program. Held on Lake Lewisville near Dallas, the championship sponsored primarily by Fox Sports Network was made sweeter when the Razorback team bested teams from four Texas universities, including last year’s championship team from Texas A&M and teams from Texas Tech, Baylor and Texas A&M at Kingsville. Drake and Kitajima were one of three teams from UA’s 25-member Bass Fishing Club to journey to compete in the three-day championship contest against 99 teams representing 51 colleges and universities from 23 states.
Drake described Lake Lewisville as a lake with green-stained water, lots of shallow areas and an abundance of timber and brush cover. In other words, it was much different than the clear and deep waters they are familiar with on Beaver Lake.
Nevertheless, Kitajima of Hashima, Gifu prefecture, Japan, anchored the team with a wealth of competitive experience fishing a variety of water. Hoping to have a professional career in bass fishing, he competes in the FLW Stren Series tournaments and previously in Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League (BFL ) tournaments. In addition to winning the BFL Ozark Division championship on Oklahoma’s Grand Lake, he competed in the Pro Division of the FLW Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake earlier this year.
During three days of practice fishing before the tournament, Drake and Kitajima established a successful pattern of catching good-size largemouth bass on shallow points. One particular point was a hot spot that would yield five-fish strings each morning of the three-day contest, with most of the fish weighing three to four pounds.
They may have caught the Lake Lewisville largemouths off guard by using a light-tackle “finesse” rig of the type used effectively on Beaver Lake. Their best combination was a 3 / 16-ounce War Eagle Shaky Head jig tipped with a blue-flaked Berkley Power Worm.
“At the start of the tournament, we were confident we could catch 15 pounds of bass a day,” Drake noted last Wednesday.
However, confidence turned to nervousness at the first day’s weigh-in when they saw how their 15-pound string stacked up against other teams. “There were about a dozen or more teams right in there with us,” Drake said. Improving their catch to 16 pounds on the second day allowed the team to claim one of the top five spots for the final. They were also allowed to use top-of-the-line Ranger Z 20 bass boats for the shootout. “Only one was Razorback red, and that’s the one we picked,” Drake said with a smile.
For the final, the team brought in its best catch of the tournament, with two fourpound largemouths bumping their weight to 17. 37 pounds to best the 16 pounds weighed by the Texas A&M team. The win earned the UA fishing club a scholarship check of $ 14, 000. Drake and Kitajima also earned the Berkley Big Bag award worth about $ 1, 500 in merchandise. Kitajima was also named the Angler of the Year and was awarded an additional $ 1, 000. When Bill Mock, the university’s associate director of Intramurals and Club Sports, went to the podium to congratulate the team, he noted that they were not only knowledgeable fishermen, but also academic standouts as well. As a senior pursuing a degree in marketing management, Kitajima currently holds a 3. 61 gradepoint average and has regularly been on the president’s list and dean’s list. Drake has earned a degree in soil, water and environmental science with 3. 50 grade average and is working on campus as a graduate research assistant.
Mock said that about 1, 000 students participate in the intramural program; roughly 750 men and 250 women. Some of the clubs and teams are purely social and recreational, but many compete with other schools.
The competing clubs are required to fund themselves out of their pockets or through fundraisers and sponsorships.
In the case of the Bass Fishing Club, the major sponsor is SnapTail Lures of Tulsa.
“Without them, our club probably wouldn’t be what it is today, and we probably wouldn’t have been able to go to the championship,” Drake said.
Other local sponsors are Sportsman’s Warehouse, War Eagle Custom Lures, PJ’s Finesse Baits, Hickory Creek Marina and Ward Jones Realty. The club also gets some support from Shimano and MotorGuide.
Drake said the club was sponsoring a fundraising tournament open to all area anglers on Oct. 19 at Hickory Creek Marina.
“Come out and fish with the national champs,” he invited.
Details and entry form can be found at arkansasbassteam. com or picked up at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Rogers.
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