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University of Iowa anglers Tyler Mehrl and John Haynes came to the 2007 Under Armor College Bass National Championship looking like a well-oiled machine. Despite all the odds against the Hawkeye team, the anglers found themselves on Saturday's final day with a chance for the title. They brought the latest in tackle, more than enough rods and reels and sported matching Hawkeye fishing jerseys. But the problem was they didn't have a boat in which to put oil. "We asked all the guys in our club if we could use their boat," Haynes said. "But they were all maybes."
The anglers drove to Little Rock, anyway. After they arrived the desperate search for a loaner boat began. Practice days turned into "let's find a boat days," Mehrl said. The team soon found success.
"So we met this guy named Vince Miller who owns a local tackle shop called "Fish ‘N Stuff" and he let us borrow his boat." Before launch on the final day, the anglers pulled an extension cord so the batteries on both their trolling and main engine would charge. Mehrl and Haynes realized that they needed to switch the main engine's battery with the trolling motor's battery after learning of some creative wiring by the boat's owner. Also, the boat contained a livewell, but no aerator. And throughout the long days on the water, the anglers were forced to improvise once they landed a keeper to avoid a losing fish-weight on penalties.
"We were the manual aerator," Mehrl said. "John and I took turns pouring in new water and pouring out the old stuff."
The University of Iowa team would return to the same backwaters off the main Arkansas River channel on Saturday in an attempt to pull out the win.
"We're supposed to just drop the boat off at Vince's house after the tournament," Haynes said. "I think he's an official in some other tournament."
Many anglers fishing in Saturday's top five tried to get a good night's sleep for the final day of action. Some did. But others had a tough time trying to catch some Zs. For the Virginia Tech side, the results were split.
"I couldn't sleep at all last night," said Hokie angler Brett Thompson. "And I had nightmares of what could go wrong when I did." Scott Wiley had no trouble falling asleep in fact he "slept like a baby," he said. But around 2:00 a.m. his cell phone began to blow up from friends back in Blacksburg. "You know last night was Friday night, so everybody back home was out and about."
The University of Oklahoma team shared some of Virginia Tech's anxiety. However, the Sooners were able to rest well enough to be among the first at the launch-site on Saturday morning. "We picked up some more baits and went to bed." Sooner angler Matt Pangrac said.
Pangrac also commented about how surprised he was of toll the tournament's long days on the water took on all aspects of his body.
"Physically, I knew what to expect," Pangrac said, "but the mental part was draining as well."
"We were so tired last night we didn't even have the TV on," said Pangrac's partner Chip Porche'. "We re-tied, re-lined and went to sleep."
The sluggish current of the Arkansas River reflected the pace of fishing for the teams on the final day of the 2007 Under Armor College Bass National Championship.
"These are current-driven fish," Elite Series pro Scott Rook said during a special college edition of the live Internet show "Hooked Up." "The fish need the current to position them correctly to stage and find baitfish."
In addition to the slower current in the river, another tournament also being held on the river had attracted much more fishing traffic, especially in key locations.
"We hadn't seen anyone all week on our spot," Cody said. "But when we got there today, there were already nine boats."
Every angler experienced a much smaller bite on the final day of fishing. Virginia Tech's winning stringer only weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces.
During the National Championship tournament's three days of action, crowds saw many impressive fish being hoisted above a college bass angler's head. And every single one of them was a live fish.
The tournament experienced a rare 100-percent return rate.
With dead fish penalties costing a team key ounces, anglers studied up on the latest fish care techniques to make sure they didn't see a penalty.
William Carstens of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette explained how important fish care was for his angling team.
"Having one die would have really hurt us because we had got limits," Carstens said. "So we used this green gel on them in the live well that really kept them active."
The University of Oklahoma's Sooner fishing team had a rough start to their tournament experience.
It ended much like it started.
Only finding three keepers weighing 4-12 pounds, the team slipped into third place after a tie-breaking loss to the University of Louisiana - Lafayette team.
"But that's only number ten on our list of things that didn't go our way today," angler Chip Porché said.
When the team arrived Saturday at their A-spot, a blue BassCat sat there. The sewage discharge site — the same spot that had gotten them to the finals — had now attracted a striper angler fishing with live bait.
And the stubborn angler made it clear he wasn't moving.
"He didn't really care that we were college bass anglers fishing in a tournament for scholarship money," Pangrac said. "In fact, he caught a five-pound largemouth and a couple four-pounders and showboated them off."
"We were worried about that Oklahoma team."
— Virginia Tech's Scott Wiley
"Don't worry about that."
— Iowa Hawkeye Tyler Mehrl's response to BASS Federation Nation's Don Corkran, after Corkran had reminded the angler that he would have to re-qualify to return to next year's championship.
"We got that last spotted bass with a lure that was bigger than he was."
— University of Louisiana - Lafayette's Cody McCrary
"We all in Blacksburg have taken it all in, accepted the tragedy and moved on. Campus is back to normal again."
— Virginia Tech's Brett Thompson
