Basspack wins collegiate fishing crown

Dziwulski, Cox defend their 2011 championship with win on Pickwick

BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship Series

Ben Dziwulski and Ethan Cox of N.C. State's Basspack won the BoatUS Collegiate Bass fishing Championship May 24-25 on Alabama's Lake Pickwick.

For the first time in its seven-year history, the 2012 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Champions trophy is making a repeat visit to a campus, thanks to N.C. State’s Ben Dziwulski and Ethan Cox.

The Basspack’s duo hauled in a total of 45.60 pounds of largemouth and smallmouth out of Lake Pickwick near Florence, Ala., to win the tourney last week.

Not only did Dziwuslki and Cox win, they did so with only scant practice before the event. They were the last N.C. State team confirmed from the waiting list, and because of the late confirmation, their research consisted of only online resources until they made their official trip to Alabama. Their trip started with a bang, however, when they caught several fish from one particular deep hole using Strike King 5 and 6 XD crankbaits.

 

“We found an amazingly good, deep spot early on Monday, which allowed us to get dialed in pretty quickly and make the most of our time during the official practice period,” Dziwulski said. “We made a few casts and had two 4-pounders, and we knew we were set.”

 

The duo repeated its practice success on last Thursday’s first competition day, when they had a limit in the first hour.

 

“We knew they were the right fish to win, so once we were comfortable with our first day’s weight, we backed off and just watched our spot for several hours,” Cox said. “I'm glad we finally got to unload on them on Friday.”

 

On Friday’s second day of competition, Dziwulski and Cox hauled in the tournament's largest bag of fish, 25.67 pounds, and the day's largest bass at 6.56 pounds. Their haul netted them a $5,000 first-place prize, $1,000 ACA contingency bonus, a $1,000 BoatUS Weigh to Win bonus, the Daily Berkley Big Bass Award, as well as the Cabela's Angler Cash bonus.