An Expensive Lesson
University of Oklahoma leads Under Armour College Bass National Championship
They arrived in Little Rock on Tuesday morning with high hopes, but after a slow day of practice, they knew something would have to change. They seemed to have all the answers Wednesday and were comfortable that they had found a pattern that could win the Under Armour College Bass National Championship being held Thursday through Saturday on the Arkansas River.
That pattern held true on Day One as the team leads with a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 3 ounces, but things haven't gone exactly as planned.
With only a couple hours of practice left on Wednesday, Porche', who was driving his dad's Triton, cruised 35 mph into a rock jetty and literally cracked the engine in half. He immediately called his dad with the bad news and a gutsy request.
A few hours later, Porche's dad Paul was on the road from Tulsa, hauling his Blue Wave bay boat behind him.
"It's my grandpa's old boat," Porche' said. "We only use it when the bass boat in the shop."
Paul Porche' pulled into Little Rock around 9 p.m. on Wednesday night, and the OU bass team moved their equipment and prepared their tackle until well after midnight.
"We took a little nap and got ready to fish," Porche' said. "We're on some schooling fish and we have another spot that has been replenishing really well. I think we can go out there and catch them again tomorrow."
The Virginia Tech Hokies are in second place with 13-11, and they feel confident they can at least duplicate that number on Friday.
"We didn't do anything we learned in practice," said Hokie Scott Wiley, who teams up Brett Thompson. "We tried in the morning, but it didn't take long to realize it wasn't going to work."
After two days of practice in stormy weather, some of the teams had trouble adjusting to the bright skies and windy conditions Thursday. The University of Louisiana-Lafayette was not one of those teams. They sit in fourth place with 10-6.
"The weather didn't affect us at all," said Cody McCrary, who teams with William Carstens. "We knew they liked the clouds, so we capitalized on the early morning bite."
Rounding out the top five were the University of Iowa in third with 12-15 and Mississippi State University in fifth with 9-14.
The collegiate anglers are looking for spotted bass longer than 12 inches and largemouth bass longer than 16 inches. Little Rock professional Scott Rook said he thought it would take around 10 pounds a day on Thursday and Friday to make the top-five cut for Saturday's final. The final will be a one-day tournament for the championship, with all the teams starting at zero.
"We've put ourselves in a real nice position to qualify," Pangrac said. "We're just looking to catch five tomorrow and stay in the top five."
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