Travis Blenn, right, and Jake Hoselton with their winning bag of smallmouth. Submitted photo.
Kansas State bass fisherman Travis Blenn took one big step toward achieving his dream of fishing professionally last Sunday when he and teammate Jake Hoselton took the top prize at the Kansas BASS Nation College State Championship on Milford Reservoir.
With the win, Blenn and Hoselton are now qualified to fish in the Bassmaster College National Championship from July 19-21 on Lake Tenkiller in Cherokee County, Okla.
“It’s a huge relief,” Blenn said earlier this week from the Bassmaster College Southern Open. “I’m really excited to get down to Tenkiller. I’m actually down at (Alabama’s Lake) Pickwick now. Since I already qualified I’m just down here for fun now.”
Blenn, Hoselton and the rest of the field faced tough conditions on Sunday at Milford, fishing cold temperatures and heavy winds all day. The pair won the tournament with only three keepers weighing just over nine pounds — all smallmouths.
“It made us really slow down,” Blenn said. “The wind limited a lot of the areas we could fish, so it was really about just grinding it out.”
If Hoselton and Blenn, who won the FLW national championship last season alongside Kyle Alsop, are among the top four teams on Tenkiller, they also will qualify for the Bassmaster College Series Classic Bracket, which runs Aug. 14-16 back home on Milford. The winner of that tournament will qualify for the big show — a spot in the 2019 Bassmaster Classic in Knoxville, Tenn.
“I’m lucky enough that my sister is living in Tulsa and I’ll be able to leave my boat down there all summer,” Blenn said. “So until the lake goes off limits, I’ll be down there just about every weekend practicing.”
“It’s a huge relief,” Blenn said earlier this week from the Bassmaster College Southern Open. “I’m really excited to get down to Tenkiller. I’m actually down at (Alabama’s Lake) Pickwick now. Since I already qualified I’m just down here for fun now.”
Blenn, Hoselton and the rest of the field faced tough conditions on Sunday at Milford, fishing cold temperatures and heavy winds all day. The pair won the tournament with only three keepers weighing just over nine pounds — all smallmouths.
“It made us really slow down,” Blenn said. “The wind limited a lot of the areas we could fish, so it was really about just grinding it out.”
If Hoselton and Blenn, who won the FLW national championship last season alongside Kyle Alsop, are among the top four teams on Tenkiller, they also will qualify for the Bassmaster College Series Classic Bracket, which runs Aug. 14-16 back home on Milford. The winner of that tournament will qualify for the big show — a spot in the 2019 Bassmaster Classic in Knoxville, Tenn.
“I’m lucky enough that my sister is living in Tulsa and I’ll be able to leave my boat down there all summer,” Blenn said. “So until the lake goes off limits, I’ll be down there just about every weekend practicing.”
RSS Feed