The West Virginia University fishing club won the FLW College Fishing Northern Conference Invitational earlier this month.

The duo of Ed Rude, a sophomore business major from Falling Waters, and Matt Gibson, a junior physical education major from Cumberland, Md., had a two-day total of eight fish that weighed in on 19 pounds and three ounces. With the win, the WVU fishing club earned $4,000 and qualified for the 2014 FLW College Fishing National Championship.

“It wasn’t until the tournament started that the team began to figure out the intricacies of fishing on the Chesapeake Bay. I went out almost every weekend prior to the tournament, and there were multiple days that I only caught one or two fish. As a result, all I learned in practice was that I couldn’t catch fish in the Chesapeake Bay,” Rude joked. “We narrowed it down to an area where there was a mix of pea gravel and riprap, and when the tide was slack and all the way out, we discovered we could catch them.”

FLW College Fishing is the country’s largest tournament circuit for collegiate anglers with more than 550 clubs nationwide competing for lucrative awards. Teams compete in three qualifying events in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top 15 teams from each regular-season tournament will qualify for one of five conference invitational tournaments. The top 10 teams from each conference invitational tournament will advance to the 2014 FLW College Fishing National Championship.

The WVU fishing club was established in 2008 and last year increased to 35 members. For more information, visit http://www.wvufishingclub.com/.

-WVU-

ta/09/23/13

CONTACT: Bruce Brubaker, WVU Intramurals/Club Sports
304.293.5053, Bruce.Brubaker@mail.wvu.edu

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