University of Illinois: Bass fishing team advances

At least one Illini team advanced.

Illinois seniors Luke Stoner of Pekin and Qiurun Chen of Beijing finished third in the the inaugural FLW College Fishing Open on Kentucky Lake. The 194-team field was the largest collegiate fishing tournament. Third place earned the Illini Bass Fishing Club team a berth in the 2016 FLW College Fishing National Championship.

“This is huge for our club and for fishing in the Midwest,’’ said Tom Platt, the Chicago student who does club PR. “It just shows that you do not need to come from the south to excel in collegiate tournament fishing.’’

Stoner and Chen weighed 43 pounds on 10 smallmouth and largemouth bass. University of Arkansas-Fayettville won with 43-12.

Here is how Chen and Stoner did it, according to the FLW:

The Fighting Illini team of Qiurun Chen and Luke Stoner found fish about 10 miles north of Paris Landing and used a variety of baits, including Rat-L-Traps, to boat their two limits. For the most part, however, the two chucked YUM YUMbrella Flash Mob or Flash Mob Jr. rigs with Trigger X swimbaits. SPRO crankbaits also accounted for a couple of keepers. Stoner notes that they fished more offshore than most of the other boats they saw, but perhaps that’s more because there are a lot of shallow bars in the area they fished.

Photos are from the FLW

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