Cal State Long Beach seniors Justin Gangel (at left) and Alex Cox show off their haul at one of the FLW regional tournaments earlier this year. Photo courtesy of CSULB Media Relations.
In preparations for this weekend’s three day FLW College Fishing Western Conference Championship at Utah Lake, Cal State Long Beach senior Justin Gangel made the 10-hour drive to the site and fished it for an entire week straight.
“It wasn’t really fun. It was hot and the fishing wasn’t that great, but I think what I learned will give us a good edge over the rest of the competition,” said Gangel, who will be competing against 40 other two-person teams alongside fellow CSULB campus Club Sports and Recreation fishing team member Alex Cox. “From what I have heard from other teams that have gone up there and practiced and the people who are trying to research the lake, they either don’t have an idea where to start and the teams that went out didn’t catch anything.”
The Cox-Gangel team qualified for the event based on its fifth-place finish in the first Western Conference bass fishing tournament of this year’s season, held back in January on Lake Shasta in Redding. If they finish in the top five at the Western Conference Championship this weekend, the pair will advance to the National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship tournament, held in April of next year. Last year, the team barely missed qualifying for nationals, finishing seventh in the 2001 Western Conference Championship.
Like the regular tournaments throughout the year, competition is based on each team’s five best fish cought each day. In each event, finishes are determined by the combined weight of these best five fish. But judging from his recent trip to Utah Lake, Gangel doubts most teams will even catch five fish at all.
“At the rate the fishing was up there and from what I’ve heard and from who I’ve talked to, it really could be a one- or two-fish-a-day tournament just because of the harsh conditions,” Gangel explained.
Utah Lake is the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River. It is unique in that the majority of it is no more than six feet deep while measuring approximately 30 miles across and 15 miles wide.
Though competition begins this weekend, coverage of the Western Conference Championship will not be broadcast until November when it will air in high-definition on the NBC Sports Network November 4 from 10AM to 11AM.
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