Kansas State anglers bring home another national championship

Kyle Alsop and Taylor Bivins brought a national championship to Kansas State University over the weekend.

The members of the Kansas State bass fishing team won the BASS college national championship in a three-day tournament ending Saturday at Green River Lake in Kentucky. Both said they made the trip hoping to place in the top four of the 89-team tournament, to earn a chance to fish another prestigious tournament this week at Tennessee’s Kentucky Lake.

“I don’t think it’s really sunk in yet,” Alsop said Sunday afternoon. “It was all so exciting. I’m so happy with the way things ended.”

Bivins said they spent the first four days of last week practicing their fishing techniques on Green River Lake, Two more teams were from Kansas State.

“That, in itself, is a heck of an accomplishment, to get three teams to qualify when you’ve got so many other really great college fishing teams,” said Bivins, who graduated in May and currently works in Texas.

The university’s team has about 30 members. Assorted fund-raising events, and sponsors, pay for most of their activities.. The three K-State teams at the championship qualified at a 90-boat qualifying tournament in Illinois.

Bivins and Alsop, both from the Kansas City area, are two of the most experienced bass anglers on the team.

“From the time we could walk, and hold a fishing rod, fishing is what we were doing,” said Bivins.

Alsop and Bivins weren’t impressed with what they caught their four days of practicing on Green River Lake. They didn’t catch a bass weighing more than four pounds.

“Because the fishing was slow, we knew it could come down to getting big fish,” he said.

Alsop, a senior majoring in engineering, took care of that early the first day.

After two bass were in the boat on the first day, Alsop set the hook on a bass that weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces. It was the largest bass of the tournament. The team spent most of their time fishing deep brush or rock. Most of their bass were caught on plastic baits.

The big bass helped them to sixth place after the first day. Another five bass the second day moved them to third place. Only the top 12 teams participated on the last day.

“We just tried to stay loose. I wasn’t really nervous that last day,” said Alsop. “I didn’t get nervous until the final minutes at the weigh in, when I found out we were getting weighed last.”

At most major bass tournaments, promoters save the best teams until last to build suspense. Alsop and Bivins won the tournament with a three-day weight of 36 pounds, 4 ounces. That was about nine ounces ahead of Bethel University in Tennessee.

The top four teams are headed to tournament at Tennessee’s Kentucky Lake this week. All eight anglers will be placed in new boats and fish solo. The top angler gets to compete in the Bassmaster Classic next year against the top pro anglers in the world. He will also be sponsored to fish the group’s top tournaments for a year, with the gift of a new truck and fully-rigged bass boat.

Alsop and Bivins won $5,500 at their recent win. Much of it goes back to their college team.

Both anglers said their recent win is especially sweet since so many of the competing teams come from southern schools, where bass fishing has a stronger tradition. The teams can practice all year and have much better funding.

Bivins pointed out the K-State national fishing championship was not a fluke. In 2012, K-State team angler Ryan Patterson won the FLW College Fishing Championship at Lake Murray, S.C. Since his partner had been disqualified, Patterson, originally from Garden Plain, won the team tournament fishing by himself.

“We talked about that, how it’s cool that K-State bass fishermen have won the two biggest college national championship tournaments within just the past four years,” said Bivins. “That says a lot about our team.”

This story was originally published July 31, 2016 at 7:20 PM with the headline "Kansas State anglers bring home another national championship."