BAINBRIDGE — The 2017 YETI FLW College Fishing tournament season will kick off Jan. 14 at Lake Seminole for the first of three regular-season stops in the Southeastern Conference.

A full field of college teams, including Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, will be competing for a top award of $2,000 and a berth into the 2018 College Fishing National Championship.

The Stallions’ team is listed as Harrison Barton of Hartwell and Andrew Himmelreich of Powder Springs.

“We’ve had a lot of rain in the region which could throw the competitors a curveball,” said FLW Tour pro Clayton Batts of Macon. “They’re going to catch a lot of fish, but the weights in this tournament will greatly depend on how muddy the lake is.

“If I were competing I’d start out fishing grass on the lower end of the lake using a natural-colored jerkbait or red lipless crankbait,” Batts said.

“There are also some deep holes to pick apart in the Spring Creek arm,” he said. “There’s standing timber embedded in the old river channel where you can catch them on a drop-shot or with a Texas-rigged soft-plastic. If the mud stabilizes in those areas the bass will bite, but if it’s too murky on the day of the tournament I wouldn’t count on it. Those fish are accustomed to clear water.”

Batts said that the top team will need 12 to 13 pounds to win the event if the water stays dirty, or as much as 25 pounds if the fishery clears up.

“If the water gets even a little bit clearer, we could see some gigantic limits brought in,” said Batts.

Anglers will take off from Bainbridge Earle May Boat Basin, located at 100 Boat Basin Circle in Bainbridge, at 7:30 a.m. Jan. 14.

Weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.

Besides ABAC, schools registered to compete include the University of Georgia, Florida State and South Carolina.

FLW College Fishing teams compete in three regular-season qualifying tournaments in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western.

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 2018 FLW College Fishing National Championship.

College Fishing is free to enter. 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.

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