Bassin’

The Georgia Southern collegiate bass fishing team, the Southern Bass Anglers, took top honors at the National Guard FLW College Fishing Southeast Division tournament at Lake Eufaula, Ala.

Led by Jed Thigpen of Waycross, Ga., and Wesley Maples of Statesboro, the team landed five bass weighing a total 10 pounds, 14 ounces. The victory earned the team $10,000 to be split between the University and the club – $7,500 for the club and $2,500 for the University. The win also puts them in the Southeast Division Regional Championship.

Maples, a senior geography major, boated three of the fish, while Thigpen, a junior biology major, caught the other two.

“During my time here at Southern I have enjoyed every second of competing with the Southern Bass Anglers,” said Maples. “It’s an honor and privilege to represent such a great school. I just hate that I’m graduating and not going to be able to continue fishing for Southern.”

“We have such a great team,” said Thigpen. “All the guys work hard not only in the classroom, but also on the lake. Wesley and I work well together. That’s why we continue to do well. We’ve already started getting ready for the regional even though it’s in October we have already been doing some research on the Lake to prepare.”

Rounding out the top five teams and also advancing to the Southeast Regional Championship were: the University of Georgia, the University of South Alabama, Clemson University and Southern Polytechnic Institute.

At the regional championship, Thigpen and Maples will compete for $12,500 cash for the University and a bass boat and motor for their club. The top five teams from each regional tournament advance to a national championship round where the first-place team will win $25,000 for their school plus $50,000 cash and a bass boat and outboard for the club.

Photo credit: Diana Hunt