{"id":31628,"date":"2018-03-16T13:24:07","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T18:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/?p=31628"},"modified":"2018-03-16T13:49:25","modified_gmt":"2018-03-16T18:49:25","slug":"bsu-fishing-duo-qualifies-for-2018-bassmaster-national-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/2018\/03\/16\/bsu-fishing-duo-qualifies-for-2018-bassmaster-national-championship\/","title":{"rendered":"BSU Fishing Duo Qualifies for 2018 Bassmaster National Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bemidji<\/a>
Bemidji State’s Luke Gillund (left) and Jack Kons have qualified for the 2018 Bassmaster College Series Championship.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Two members of the Bemidji State University Fishing Team have qualified for the 2018 Bassmaster College Series National Championship<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jack Kons, a junior business administration major from Savage, Minn., and Luke Gillund, a junior marketing communication major from Ham Lake, Minn., qualified with a 15th-place finish at the Carhartt College Central Tour, Jan. 25-27 at Louisiana’s Toledo Bend Reservoir.<\/p>\n

Bassmaster will announce dates and a location for the 2018 national championship at a later date.<\/p>\n

Kons and Gillund ended the first day of the three-day Central Tour tournament in 34th place. A strong second-day performance helped them jump up to 15th place overall, and the duo held that position when fog canceled the tournament’s third day.<\/p>\n

Competitors kept up to five bass per day, with an option to return smaller fish to the lake as larger fish were caught during the day. During their two-day tournament run, the duo’s catch totaled 29 lbs, 6 oz.<\/p>\n

“We were pretty bummed out that Day Three was canceled because we thought we could move into the Top 10,” Kons said.<\/p>\n

Kons said that he and Gillund enjoyed the challenge of competing at the regional qualifier and are looking forward to the championship.<\/p>\n

“Every day on the water is a new day,” Kons said. “It’s peaceful and most of the time it’s beautiful out there. It’s fun putting the pieces of the puzzle together and having it all come together with a trip to the Bassmasters Championship.”<\/p>\n

\"Thor<\/a>
Thor and Mitch Swanson weigh in on Day 1 of the Bassmaster College Series National Championship, Aug. 10, 2017.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kons and Gillund have guaranteed that a Bemidji State University team will compete for the Bassmaster College Series Championship for a second consecutive year. Gillund will be making his second appearance in the tournament after qualifying with Robbie Troje, a junior business administration major from Hastings, Minn., for the 2017 championship — held on Lake Bemidji, adjacent to the BSU campus<\/a>. Brothers Mitch and Thor Swanson, both seniors from Blaine, Minn., finished ninth overall at the 2017 championships.<\/p>\n

College anglers will have three more opportunities at upcoming College Tour events, in addition to state qualifiers, to earn a berth in the 2018 Bassmaster College Series Championship.<\/p>\n

Bemidji State University — the only college or university in Minnesota which offers a four-year degree program in aquatic biology — is located in northern Minnesota’s lake region, with more than 400 of the state’s 15,000 lakes located within 25 miles of campus. In 2015, Scout.com<\/i><\/a> named Bemidji State the No. 1 college in the country for fishing.<\/p>\n

Carhartt Bassmaster College Series<\/h3>\n

The Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops gives college anglers a platform for competing with their peers in a national setting. Anglers can compete in one of five regionals and in a Wild Card tournament for the opportunity to advance to the national championship. From there, one college angler earns a berth in bass fishing’s premier tournament, the Bassmaster Classic.<\/p>\n

Links<\/h5>\n