Bass & Books  

By Taylor Ramey

While some college students party hard in frat houses and local hot spots, college anglers are up early before the crack of dawn and on the water competing at one of the greatest sports on earth with the best of the best from every college battling it out hard on the water. But how do college students balance school and fishing?  It’s not an easy task.  The hardest part is the financial side of paying for school and paying for the price of travel (hotel, gas, etc.) The travel alone can take a toll on the pocket book of a college angler.

Coming across sponsors that will cover the bill is little to impossible.  Many thanks to my sponsors Big Bite Baits, Ramsey Grocery Stores, Microtel Hotels, and Bass Pro Shops of Spanish Fort Alabama.  My sponsors have helped me to stay out on the road fishing tournaments. The FLW College Series entry fee is nothing at only $35 for membership fees.  There are 5 tournaments per region, then the top 5 from each region fish off in a regional championship which qualifies them for the national championship. Winning a regional tournament puts a check valued at $10,000 dollars in your hands which is divided into the bass team and the two anglers who competed.

Fishing the college series is not just about fishing, the relationships that you build with the guys on your team, your co-angler, and even with the other schools is a relationship that is hard to break. Everyone’s quick to help each other out even if we’re out there on the water at it hard fishing against each other.  

I’ve seen a lot of things on the college bass trail, and the level of competition is at an elite level. More colleges are now building and starting bass clubs each year, its awesome being able to fish for your college, and wear your college colors.  It’s a great feeling especially when you’re weighing in a heavy sack.

I’m writing this while sitting in a hotel room with my co-angler, and good friend John McGraw.  We’re getting ready to wake up to one of the many world class lakes we have been able to fish, Lake Wheeler.  We are fishing the final leg of the Southern College Series put on by Auburn University.  We are 6 hours away from home, and it’s like being in another country.  Through fishing the college series we have seen a lot of different lakes, and learned how to catch fish in all types of situations. We have been put to the test and fished through rain, sleet and even snow.

My goal as a collegiate angler is to tune my skills to win the FLW Championship, and later using the experience to take my fishing to a professional level.  Through college fishing I’m fishing with, and against the best, leaning the sport at hand and getting a priceless college education.

I’m the president this year for the South Alabama Bass Team and in my few years I’ve seen college bass fishing change lives.  I’ve seen students fishing through out there college career, receive their degrees and earn a high paying job partly because of what they learned while going to school and fishing the college trail.