March 22, 2017
By Game & Fish Online Staff
Two Savannah College of Art and Design students made tournament bass fishing history by becoming the first women's bass fishing team to qualify for the FLW College Fishing National Championship.
Jaci Skipper and Ryleigh Tyson of Savannah College of Art and Designmade history as the first women's bass fishing team to reach FLW college national championship. (FLW Outdoors photo)
Jaci Skipper of Taylor, Alabama, and Ryleigh Tyson of Savannah, represented SCAD last weekend in the YETI FLW College Fishing Southeastern Conference tournament on Lake Hartwell, Ga.
The freshmen finished 14th out of 176 teams with a five-bass limit of 12 pounds, 8 ounces. The top 17 teams advance to nationals.
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"I grew up in the boat with my dad, and he taught me how humbling this sport can be," said Skipper, according to a press release. "I fished the first two events at Lake Seminole and Lake Guntersville this season with different partners and I zeroed both times. I told Ryleigh that our time was coming. It just so happened that this tournament went well for us.
"My goal every event is to give 110-percent effort and try to catch a five-bass limit," she said. "I fished in high school for Rehobeth High School in Dothan, Alabama, and I know how tough some of these fisheries are and how tough the competition is. The most important thing to me is to always give our best effort."
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Via Nathan Ragsdale /YouTube
The  FLW College Fishing Southeastern Conference event at Lake Hartwell was the third and final regular-season qualifying tournament for Southeastern Conference anglers in 2017. The next YETI FLW College Fishing event is a Central Conference tournament scheduled for April 1 on the Lake of the Ozarks in Osage Beach, Missouri.
College 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, along with an additional qualifier for every 10 teams over 100 that compete, along with the top 20 teams from the annual advance to the 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.
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com .
