Eastern Kentucky University Stays in Command

After pulling in eight keepers in the College Smash-Mouth Bass Championship on Sunday and throwing three back because of a five-fish limit, Richard Cobb of Eastern Kentucky University joked that he should've called in an emergency because their boat was too full of fish.

Cobb and his partner, Drew Sadler, followed that up with a measly 11 keepers on the Arkansas River at Pine Bluff on Monday, giving them enough fish to possibly sink two boats. Their total two-day weight - 25.4 pounds - was 3 pounds more than second place, but unfortunately for the Colonels, all weights are dropped going into the final on Cane Creek in Star City, Ark., on Tuesday.

Twenty-five teams made the trek to Pine Bluff, but only five - EKU, Southern Illinois University, Murray State University, Arkansas Tech University and Saint Ambrose College - will be fishing for college bass fishing's national championship.

All schools will be fishing for large-mouth bass 15 inches or longer and spotted bass, or Kentucky bass, 12 inches or longer, and they will all be starting at zero weight. The largest one-day total on Tuesday wins the national championship.

The anglers were given a pleasant surprise as they came in to weigh their fish. Professional BASS anglers Kevin VanDam, Greg Hackney and Scott Rook, who is fresh off his win in the Bassmaster Legends, were there to interview the students as they came onto the stage. Rook and Hackney talked about how impressed they were with the talent in this tournament, and having just fished the river for Bassmaster Legends over the weekend, they know how hard it can be to catch fish on the Arkansas River in August.

"The river is probably as tough as I've ever seen it right now," Rook said. "There's very little flow on the river and little color to the water. I'm really amazed at how well these young guys have done, and I'm even more amazed at how knowledgeable they are at such a young age."

It seems like much of the knowledge at the tournament this week drove in from Kentucky.

"The spots we picked out in pre-fishing were still holding fish, and today we got lucky; we didn't lose a single fish," Sadler said. "We had the limit by 7:30, but it was sort of a slow day. We caught more keepers today, but they were smaller."

Rusty Reinoehl and Scott Kehlenbrink of SIU was in second place starting day two, and they had no trouble keeping their place, finishing with a two-day total of 22.2 pounds.

"Today was actually pretty disappointing for us," Reinoehl said. "We broke off a couple keepers. But overall, we were hoping to get into the top five, and we managed that so we can't be too disappointed. But bad execution is always disappointing."

All the top-five teams have a chance to leave disappointment behind tomorrow, but they won't get another chance at Pine Bluff. Kehlenbrink said they shouldn't have any trouble moving to a new area.

"Fishing in our part of the country, you have to be versatile," he said. "There's all kinds of different types of fishing, and you have to learn to be pretty good at all of it. I think we're good at finding fish and evaluating stuff that we see, so I think we'll have a pretty good shot."

But if EKU has its way, everyone will be talking about the Colonels when this thing is over.

"I'm not going to say by any means what's going to happen tomorrow, but the odds look good for our kind of fishing," Cobb said. "Either way, we're going to have a good time. Everybody might know who EKU is by the end of this tournament."

EKU is in a great position to get lessons from the pro, but Cobb said they could run into a little problem on Monday.

"I'm afraid it's going to be an early bite like it was today, and we're one of the last to leave the dock," Cobb said. "I hope it works out tomorrow like it did today."

If EKU does move on, Cobb doesn't seem to think the lack of pre-fishing should be a problem.

"I think a good fisherman has to be versatile," he said. "He has to have the ability to adapt, change and think on his feet. Whoever is able to dissect the water the fastest, and whoever has the most skills, is going to do the best."