What do a senior marketing major and a senior physical education teacher education major from West Virginia University have in common? Back-to-back conference championships, conquering the Potomac River together and heading to the College Fishing National Championship.
Edward Rude III, a marketing student in the College of Business and Economics, and Mathew Gibson, a coaching and teaching studies student in the College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, won the Fishing League Worldwide College Fishing Northern Conference Invitational tournament on the Potomac River this past weekend.
Rude, of Falling Waters, and Gibson, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and a native of Cumberland, Maryland, won the tournament with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 34 pounds, 2 ounces. The victory earned the club $4,000 and qualified the team for the 2015 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
FLW said Gibson and Rude were the only team to bring a limit more than 16 pounds to the scale during the tournament, and they managed to do it twice en route to back-to-back FLW College Fishing Northern Conference Invitational wins. In September 2013, the pair won the invitational tournament on the Chesapeake Bay.
The two caught all but one of the bass they weighed in off of one key spot last weekend.
“It was the mouth of a smaller creek in one of the main creeks,” Rude told FLW. “There were a ton of crawfish there, and the grass was in isolated clumps instead of a big flat. We caught fish all day long, but when the tide was going out they would feed like crazy.”
“(Rude) is familiar with the river and wanted to check the spot in practice,” said Gibson. “He knew that in the fall the bass can really stack up in there.”
The WVU team is one of 10 top teams to advance to the 2015 FLW College Fishing National Championship in Lake Murray, South Carolina, by winning the northern division. In addition to being back-to-back conference champions, Gibson and Rude also placed second at the 2014 national championship in Lake Keowee, South Carolina, in April of this year.
“It feels really good to win,” said Rude. “I consider the Potomac to be my home water, and I really wanted to win at home.”
“As soon as we started fishing together we knew we would be sticking together for a while,” said Gibson. “It feels great to win and qualify for the National Championship. But, it is bittersweet because that will be my last College Fishing tournament.”
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CONTACT: Patrick Gregg; WVU College of Business and Economics
304.293.5131; patrick.gregg@mail.wvu.edu
or
Kim Cameon; WVU College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences
304.293.0827; kimberly.cameon@mail.wvu.edu
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