The Association of Collegiate Anglers hosted its second event of the 2022-23 season on the Bass Pro Shops Collegiate Bass Fishing Series. Close to 220 teams competed for two days at Lake Dardanelle in Russellville, AR for the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open.
Each of the Top 5 finishing teams in the overall standings earned automatic qualification into the 2023 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, SC. In this article, we will take a look at each of the teams that finished in the Top 5 and punched their ticket to the 2023 ACA Championship.
Mat Higby and John Foster Case from Arkansas Tech University won the 2022 AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open with a two-day total of 27.09 pounds. The duo bested second place by almost two and a half pounds to take top honors and win a prize payout valued at nearly $3,000. Case and Higby jumped out to the lead on Day 1 with a five-fish limit weighing 15.56 pounds. They then backed that up with 11.53 pounds on the final day to best the elite field of 218 boats.
2023 will mark the first time in which the two Arkansas Tech anglers have qualified to compete in the BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops.
Finishing in second place at the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open were Connor Nimrod and Dylan Nimrod. Representing the University of Louisiana-Monroe, the pair weighed a two-day total of 24.69 pounds. Connor and Dylan earned a prize payout of close to $2,500. Connor also earned a total of $750 in contingencies by claiming the ACA Logo Contingency and Garmin Tournament Rewards.
Ben Cully and Hayden Gaddis, from 10th-ranked Carson-Newman University, finished in third place at the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open to earn automatic qualification into the 2023 ACA Championship at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, SC.
The 2023 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops will mark the fourth straight year in which Cully and Gaddis have qualified to compete.
Representing the second-ranked University of Montevallo, Grayson Morris and Trey Dickert secured one of the team’s three Top 10 finishes at the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open. Morris and Dickert weighed in a two-day total of 24.26 pounds to claim fourth place. That fourth-place finish netted the pair a prize payout valued at over $1,600. The prize package included a $400 Bass Pro Shops gift card, a $200 AFTCO gift card, Engel 80 QT. cooler, a Rapala prize package, and a T-H Marine prize package.
This is the first automatic qualification Montevallo has earned via these criteria.
Rounding out the Top 5 at the AFTCO Collegiate Bass Open are Lane Stephens and Colsyn Head from third-ranked McKendree University. The Top 5 finish earns the pair automatic qualification into the 2023 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship presented by Bass Pro Shops at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, SC. Combined with the two additional spots earned at the Bass Pro Shops Big Bass Bash presented by Berkley at Kentucky Lake last month, McKendree has now earned three automatic qualifications into the 2023 ACA Championship.
