LEESBURG, Fla. — The Catawba Valley Community College bass fishing team put together a gritty, solid performance during the 2022 Strike King Bassmaster College Series at Harris Chain in Florida this past weekend.
Ten Red Hawk anglers competed at the two-day event against a field that features 250 boats and 500 anglers from across the country.
"Our team had a pretty good day on Saturday, but fell short of getting anyone qualified for the B.A.S.S. National Championship," said CVCC Bass fishing head coach Angela Mayo. "We all appreciate the support from the fans, families and CVCC. It has been a long week, but these guys hung tough and fished hard. We are very proud of them."
The tandem of Spencer Black and Caleb Lonca entered day two on Saturday with the best chance of any Red Hawk duo to make the B.A.S. S. National Championship. Black and Lonca were in 26th place after day one after catching a fish-bass limit of 16 pounds, 10 ounces — one place out of qualifying for nationals.
However, the rough weather conditions on Saturday yielded Black and Lonca to just one bass, and they finished the event with a two-day total weight of 20 pounds, three ounces.
"Spenser and Caleb had a really good day Friday and were sitting in 26th place out of 250 teams, but because of their late boat number on Saturday, they missed their early morning bite and struggled to get fish in the boat," Mayo said. "Spencer had a true Florida giant (bass) break off right beside the boat. Sometimes, things outside of your control — like boat numbers — really affect how your day goes."
Catawba Valley ended up with two top-100 finishes in Florida — the duo of Lane Bailey and Justin Eggers in 72nd place (23 pounds, 14 ounces) and Nathan Smith and Cabe Mackey in 85th place (22 pounds, 12 ounces).
"We had several teams that had either a good first day or a good second day, but we struggled a little putting together two good days," Mayo said. "Lane and Justin were very consistent, and I look for good things from them this year."
Smith and Mackey battled back from issues on and off the water during day one on Friday to have a solid second day of competition.
"Nathan and Cabe had problems from the beginning," Mayo said. "Cabe's truck overheated in South Carolina on the way to the tournament and, it was a true team effort to get their boat to Florida from them to even be able to fish. Then on day one, Cabe suffered an asthma attack and had to come off the water. Just after Cabe left, a tree fell on Nathan's boat and cracked his electronics. Even with all that, they didn't give up and weighed a good bag of fish on day two."
The Red Hawks' Wes Smith and Grant Harris fought back after a tough day one to finish the tournament with 17 pounds of bass, while Catawba Valley teammates Hunter Keller and Carson Eckard caught nine pounds, 13 ounces of bass to finish in the top 75 percent of the tournament field.
Mayo was impressed with the grit her team displayed in Florida, especially from Smith and Harris.
"I saw some real potential out of freshmen Wes Smith and his partner Grant Harris," Mayo said. "They only had two fish on day one. They made some adjustments and came back with a nice bag on day two."
In total, Red Hawk anglers caught 93 pounds, 10 ounces of bass during their appearance at the 2022 Strike King Bassmaster College Series event on the Harris Chain.
"I am proud of the whole team," Mayo said. "We had some unusual obstacles this time but everyone kept their heads in the game and still came away with decent weights.
The CVCC Bass fishing team returns to the water in just over a month when it competes on Feb. 24 and 25 in the Abu Garcia College Fishing Open on Lake Chickamauga in Dayton, Tenn.