As Southern Arkansas University’s Fishing Team continues to reel in points and rocket up the national rankings, the talented Mulerider anglers hope to recruit more team members and students to SAU.
The SAU Fishing Team was established in 2012, and by the end of last year’s season had already reeled in a ranking of 44 of the 278 national collegiate fishing teams. With strong finishes already this season, the team has raced up to number 34 in the U.S.
SAU’s Joey Cifuentes, senior Exercise Science major from Clinton, helped develop the SAU team and continues to be a leader as he won the Co-angler Division of the Fishing League Worldwide (FLW) Rayovac Series at Rayburn Reservoir in October 2014.
According to FLWfishing.com, Cifuentes took home the FLW title in a dream circumstance as he was co-angler with legendary pro Larry Nixon, who is “one of the most decorated bass fishing pros in the modern world.”
Cifuentes and “The General” Nixon grew up in the same part of Arkansas, met through family connections, went fishing together, and the pro took a liking to the SAU student, said the FLW report.
In January, the SAU duo of Hunter Bruce, junior Criminal Justice major from Paris, Texas, and Steven Self, junior Agriculture Education major from Amity, Arkansas, earned a 19th-place finish among 93 teams in the FLW College Fishing event on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. In February, SAU’s Charles Swilley Jr., freshman Agriculture Science major from Ashdown, and Troy Elliot, senior Communications Design major from Waldo, finished 30th and Bruce and Self earned a 36th-place finish at Lake Texoma.
Bruce and Swilley are optimistic about the upcoming Big Bass Bash because of their previous experience at Kentucky Lake. The team will return to this familiar spot in June for the First Annual FLW College Open.
“This year holds a lot for the team, we are competing in more tournaments than we have in years past,” said Bruce.
Tournaments are held all over the south, including in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and as far as Colorado.
“We will travel up to two days in advance to the lake that the tournament is on in order to figure out where and how to fish that specific lake,” said Bruce. “We then take what we have learned from that lake and build on other lakes as the season and years go by.”
Bruce sees the SAU Fishing Team as an excellent opportunity for students coming to the University who love the outdoors and love to get their hands dirty. He also understands the benefits to SAU, having a decorated team competing in prestigious fishing tournaments across the nation and bringing attention and publicity to the University.
The SAU Fishing Team is made up of seventeen members and three advisors – Pablo Bacon, Jennifer Ford, and Sandra Smith. The team roster includes two female anglers: Melissa Day, a junior Marine Biology major from New Boston, Texas, and Lindsey Witham, a junior Nursing BSN major from Benton, Arkansas. Bruce said that they have only seen one other collegiate fishing team with a female angler.
Witham, a strong member of the team, happens to be engaged to fellow team member Josh Roberts, a junior Agriculture Business major from Murfreesboro, Arkansas.
The team mainly focuses on the FLW College tournaments. They also plan to drop a line and participate in the B.A.S.S. College Series.
Thanks to the generosity of SAU alum Fred Eason, 1969 Political Science major, the SAU fishing team angles in style in the beautiful Ranger Comanche, equipped with a powerful 225 Yamaha engine on the on the back. Eason brought the boat to campus in Fall 2013 and donated it to the SAU Foundation for the team.
Each tournament consists of two fishermen, also known as anglers. These two anglers compete for their university against sometimes hundreds of other competitors. A winner is selected when the team weighs in a combined total of five fish at the end of the tournament hours; biggest combined weight wins.
SAU anglers just have to pay $25 at the beginning of the semester. Visitors are welcome at any of their 4 p.m. Wednesday meetings in Reynolds Center room 211. Follow them on Facebook, where they are the “SAU Fishing Club.”
