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Hunter Clough and Cole Mayo – College Team Fishing ABT Championship at Eufaula

Hunter Clough and Cole Mayo – College Team Fishing ABT Championship

Without a doubt some of the fast growing segments of tournament bass fishing are the student ranks.  High School and College fishing programs are gaining traction, and more and more clubs are springing up across the country each year.

Alabama Bass Trail decided to create a division that gave college anglers a chance to compete in the tournaments, and have their own chance to qualify for the championship based on their standings amongst the other college teams.  One of those teams that will be at the 2016 ABT Championship at Lake Eufaula in October are Hunter Clough and Cole Mayo of the Gadsden area.

The ironic thing is that the team is fishing together for the first time in their lives, and they are fishing the Alabama Bass Trail for the first time as well.  “We’d talked about partnering up before, but this as the first time we’ve been able to pull it off,” said the Gadsden State students.  “It’s really cool to be a part of something like this and to do it in our first year competing together has been fun.”

With both of the anglers being students, and with Clough working and Mayo being on orders for the first part of the season with Air National Guard, practice time was limited.  However, they credit their complementary fishing styles, forged primarily on Neely Henry Lake with being able to adapt and have some success.  “We both spend a lot of time Flippin’ and Pitchin’ on Neely Henry, so we are both really comfortable doing that,” they said.  “With limited practice because of our schedules, we both stuck to what we are good at, and did our best to figure things out on the fly.”

They say they are both excited to be fishing in their first ABT Championship.  “It’s a Hunter Clough and Cole Mayo – College Team Fishing ABT Championship at Eufaula

big event with a lot of really good fishermen in it,” they said.  “We’ll be heading down to Eufaula and trying to figure a few things out here in a week or so.”

When asked about their highlight of the year, Mayo was quick to respond.  “I really love the fact that we got a check at the last event of the year at Weiss Lake – and beat my dad in the process,” he said with a chuckle.  “I guess we’ll go down to Eufaula and see if we can do it again.”

Mayo’s father Bill and his teammate Walt Roberts qualified for the 2016 ABT Championship as well – Looks like there might be a friendly family rivalry brewing at Eufaula.

The sponsors of the 2016 Alabama Bass Trail include; Bill Penney Toyota, Phoenix Bass Boats, Garmin, Academy Sports & Outdoors, Wind Creek Hospitality – Wetumpka, Wind Creek Hospitality – Montgomery, Alabama Tourism Department, SCA Performance, Mt. Dew, Boat US, T-H Marine Supplies, AllState, TVA, Alabama Power, Fish Neely Henry Lake.com, Lew’s Fishing, Frogg Toggs, Crossed Industries, Alabama Foundation Specialist, Costa, YETI, Leer, E3 Apparel.

For information about Alabama Bass Trail and for complete tournament standings visit www.alabamabasstrail.org.