LAWRENCEBURG – The Ohio River Tanner's Creek boat ramp will be the site of a National Guard FLS College Fishing tournament this Sunday, Aug. 5.

Forty college teams will compete for a top award of $5,000 and a berth in the Northern Conference Championship tournament in this third of four stops on the circuit.

“Fishing the Ohio River this time of year is always tough,” said pro Jacob Wheeler of Indianapolis. “There hasn't been a lot of rain this year and there is little or no current. That means the fish will not be positioned, they will be roaming.

“Anglers are going to have to stay focused. They'll only be fishing for a couple of bites, so every bite is going to count.”

Wheeler continued: “There are really only two options. Fish the main river and hit as many spots as you can looking for high-percentage areas - such as mouths of creeks, laydowns and rock walls – or fish the creeks.

“Tanner's Creek and Hogan Creek probably will play a big role in this tournament. A lot of fish live up in the creeks. Baits to use would be crankbaits, crawdads in brown and green and finesses spinerbaits. I expect the winning weight to be 9-10 pounds.”

Anglers take off from the Lawrenceburg city boat ramp at 6 a.m. Sunday. Weigh-in will be at the public marina beginning at 12:30 p.m. Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.

Schools competing in the Tanner's Creek tournament include: Bowling Green State, Central Michigan, Christopher Newport, Misericordia, Fairmont State, Glenville State, Grand Valley State, Hampden-Sydney, Kent State, La Roche College, Liberty, Mansfield, Messiah, Michigan State, Northwood, Ohio State, Ohio University, Penn State, Radford, Ramapo College, Rochester Institute of Technology, Roanoke, Shepherd, Slippery Rock , Springfield, SUNY-Buffalo, SUNY-Cortland, SUNY-Plattsburgh, Pennsylvania-Shippensburg, Akron, Connecticut, Dayton, Virginia Commonwealth, Virginia Tech, Vermont Military Institute, Wayne State, West Point, West Virginia, Western Michigan and Xavier University.

Four regular-season qualifying events are held in each conference – Central, Northern, Southeastern, Southern and Western.

Top five teams from each qualifying tournament will advance to one of five televised three-day National Guard FLW College Fishing Conference Championships, where the first-place team wins a Ranger 177TR bass boat with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.

Top five teams from each conference championship advance to the national championship.

College Fishing is free to enter and FLW provides boats and drivers for each competing team along with travel allowances. All participants must be registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or university.

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