LAKEPORT >> A 28-hour drive from Northeasten State University in Talaquah, Oklahoma, to Clear Lake paid off for Caleb Gibson and Tyler Winn on Friday as they edged out Tyler Craig and Spencer Lambert of the University of Louisiana Monroe to win the 2018 Carhartt College Western Tour stop.
How close was it?
Gibson and Winn finished with 57 pounds, 6 ounces for the three-day bass tournament. The first team to weigh in on Friday, they had to sweat it out in the hot seat as each of the remaining 23 two-man teams representing colleges and universities from throughout the United States weighed in their fish. Craig and Lambert had the big bag on Friday, 22 pounds even, to nearly overtake Gibson and Winn but they just missed with 56 pounds, 14 ounces — a different of 8 ounces.
Both the Gibson-Winn and Craig-Lambert teams advanced to the national championships later this year along with the third-place team of Carson Leber and Tyler Bounds of Chico State. Leber and Bounds, the leaders going into Friday’s final round, ended up with a 55-11 total.
Rounding out the top five teams were Joey Price and Bobby Fralix of Clemson University, fourth with 48-9, and Chico State’s Nick Klein and Mike Klemm, fifth with 48-7.
While Chico State’s seven teams were plenty familiar with Clear Lake, nearly all of the out-of-state teams were fishing on the lake for the first time and team members said they enjoyed the experience and looked forward to returning one day.
The Carhartt College Western Tour fishermen weighed in right before the start of the final weigh-in for day three of the B.A.S.S. Nation Western Regional, a pro-am event. In fact, one of the pros competing in the B.A.S.S. Nation event, Randy Pierson of Team California, weighed in his fish during the college weigh-in so that he could hit the road early and make it back home in time for his daughter’s graduation.
