– The Purdue University Fort Wayne duo of Connor Landis of Edgerton, Ohio, and Blake Spurgeon of Fort Wayne, Indiana, won the YETI FLW College Fishing event on the Mississippi River presented by Evinrude Friday with a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 9 ounces. The victory earned the Mastadon’s bass club $2,000 and a slot in the 2020 FLW College Fishing National Championship.

“Last year I had fished here with a different partner and we tied for sixth place, so I was excited to get up here again and I thought that we could earn another top-10 finish – I never thought we were going to win,” said Spurgeon, a senior majoring in mechanical engineering technology. “We weren’t catching huge fish during our practice, but on Friday the weather changed and the giants came out to eat.”

“We found them in heavy current, on current breaks like laydowns and overhanging trees,” said Landis, a junior majoring in business management. “We caught around 8 keepers throughout the day on Texas-rigged creature baits and tubes.”

Fishing the strong current, the Mastadon club relied on heavy ½- and ¾-ounce tungsten weights. They mentioned Berkley Pit Boss and a Missile Baits D-Bombs as being their key baits, but Landis also added a few fish on a tube. Their weigh-in limit consisted of four smallmouth and one largemouth.

“The key was just slowing down and remaining patient,” Spurgeon went on to say. “We lost a couple on their way to the boat, and we missed a few when we set the hook. We just remained calm and patient and our persistence really paid off.”

The top 10 teams that advanced to the 2020 College Fishing National Championship are:

1st: Purdue University Fort Wayne – Connor Landis, Edgerton, Ohio, and Blake Spurgeon, Fort Wayne, Ind., five bass, 17-9, $2,000

2nd: St. Cloud State University – Mitchell Evans, Albert Lea, Minn., and Aidan Hansen, St. Cloud, Minn., five bass, 16-7, $1,000

3rd: North Dakota State University – Matt Stearns, Scandia, Minn., and Charles McGivern, Rosemount, Minn., five bass, 16-6, $500

4th: Murray State University – Hunter McKinley, Murray, Ky., and Brendan Bingham, Louisville, Ky., five bass, 16-6, $500

5th: University of Wisconsin – Jack Risch, Nashotah, Wis., and Matthew Mikolajczak, Lakeville, Minn., five bass, 16-5, $900

6th: Murray State University – Jordan Hartman, Murray, Ky., and Will Gentry, Utica, Ky., five bass, 16-4, $450

7th: University of Wisconsin – Sam Medo, Stevens Point, Wis., and Colin Steck, Waunakee, Wis., five bass, 15-10

8th: Northwest Missouri State University – Logan Newlin and Jacob Cacek, both of Maryville, Mo., five bass, 15-3

9th: Winona State University – Colton Haney and Chase Pomeroy, both of Winona, Minn., five bass, 15-2

10th: University of Evansville – Noah Whalen and Blake Knies, both of Jasper, Ind., five bass, 15-2

Complete results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.

The YETI FLW College Fishing event on the Mississippi River in Wabasha presented by Evinrude was hosted by the Wabasha-Kellogg Area Chamber of Commerce & Convention and Visitors Bureau. It was the second of three regular-season qualifying tournaments for Central Conference anglers. The next event for FLW College Fishing anglers will be the YETI FLW College Fishing at Lake Erie, Sept. 6 in Sandusky, Ohio.

YETI FLW College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. All participants must be registered, full-time students at a college, university or community college and members of a college fishing club that is recognized by their school. The top 10 teams from each division’s three regular-season tournaments and the top 20 teams from the annual FLW College Fishing Open will advance to the 2020 FLW College Fishing National Championship. Additional teams will qualify for the National Championship if the field size in regular-season events exceeds 100 boats.

For complete details and updated information visit FLWFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow YETI FLW College Fishing on FLW’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

About FLW

FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2019 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW and their partners conduct more than 290 bass-fishing tournaments annually around the world, including the United States, Canada, China, Italy, South Korea, Mexico, Namibia, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and Zimbabwe. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW" television show while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.