On Feb. 15, the Nicholls’ Bass Fishing Team placed third out of the 50 teams that competed at the Fishing League Worldwide College Fishing Tournament at Toledo Bend Lake, La.
Nicholls sent three teams of two out to the tournament to compete against different colleges around the South to qualify for the FLW Southern Conference on Oct. 25-26 in Texas.
The team that placed third from Nicholls includes sophomore petroleum and safety majors Jess Robertson and Trevor LeBlanc.
“It was awesome. It has been my dream since I was a little kid, since I watched college fishing on TV, but I never looked into it that much. But when we finally got it a [bass team] started here, it was pretty awesome,” Robertson said when asked how it felt to place third in the tournament out of 50 teams. “I was excited. It is my dream to fish for the rest of my life. Sounds pretty silly, but that is what I really want to do.”
Robertson said one of the techniques that enabled him and LeBlanc to place third was fishing in shallow water. They are used to fishing out of shallow water because they fish in bayous and canals here.
The team went scout the waters before the tournament to see where the best place to fish would be, and they picked the shallow waters, which helped the team win, according to Robertson.
Alyson Theriot, advisor of the Nicholls Bass Fishing Team, said the team has 12 members now, and they pick the members to attend the qualifying tournaments according to in-house tournaments once a month. After three months, they choose the people with the most points out of all the in-house tournaments to compete.
The way the points are added up is by adding the pounds of the fish that are caught and totaling them from each in-house tournament. The six people who caught the biggest fish are allowed to go to the qualifying tournament.
The students sent to the qualifying tournaments are sent through sponsors. But the students have to pay for some of the funds because the organization does not have enough sponsors yet to pay the students’ full way to go to the different states to compete.
Theriot is hoping that more sponsors help fund the organization so the competing teams in the qualifying tournaments do not have to worry about paying expenses.
Robertson and LeBlanc won $500 for their third place finish and now they will travel to Texas on Oct. 25 to compete in the Southern Conference and go to Nationals. The money the team has won will go towards the team’s next tournament and will help them purchase different items for the team.
The Bass Fishing Team organization just started this year and has already been recognized by President Murphy.
President Murphy has given the team Nicholls coins to award the team on their great accomplishments.
According to Theriot, it is a new Murphy tradition. She said it is a military tradition, where he gives coins to people who bring recognition to the university, show sportsmanship and bring something special to the University.
“I felt important because it is the president of Nicholls: it made me feel like I was doing something good for the University,” Robertson said.
The Bass Fishing Team will also begin selling long and short-sleeved t-shirts for anyone who is interested for $15 to $20, respectively.
Theriot and the team is constantly looking for new members to participate. If anyone is interested, they can visit Theriot at her office located at 138 Polk Hall or call her at 448-4339. To be on the team, you must find a teammate to participate with and one of the members must have access to a boat.