News Briefs
February 16, 2016
Roman Antoine Guidry
February 17, 2016
Last year, the Nicholls Bass Federation stole the hearts of the college fishing nation when the duo of Tyler Rivet and Allyson Marcel took third in the National College Bassmaster Championships in Wisconsin.
This year, the fast-growing university club will have a chance to defend its home turf against some of the best teams in the country.
The Nicholls Bass Federation will host the 2016 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Central Regional from Feb. 25-27 in Gibson – a three-day event that will feature more than 100 teams from universities around the country.
The tournament will be hosted out of Bob’s Bayou Black Marina, and will be a huge feather in the cap of both Nicholls and the local economy, according to Nicholls Bass Federation faculty sponsor Alyson Theriot. She said the tournament’s biggest winner will be the Houma-Thibodaux area, which she said will cash in big time off all the guests the weekend will bring.
“Participating in a qualifier like the Central Regional is how our bass fishing team was able to represent Nicholls on the national stage in Wisconsin,” Theriot said. “Having Nicholls host one of the five regionals means more people and prospective students will be introduced to all that we offer here, and it supports the local economy because visiting anglers and their families will be eating at our restaurants and staying at our hotels.”
Nicholls wants to be a gracious host, yes. But the anglers also want to hog all of the trophies for themselves once out in the water.
Rivet said he “can’t wait” to fish at the event, calling it a great opportunity for the school’s bass fishing program to showcase how far it has come in the three years since it’s started.
At nationals last year, Rivet fished with Marcel, his girlfriend. This year, he’s changing up his routine and is going to partner with Jess Roberson – his original partner from when the federation was first started.
Rivet said he thinks the Nicholls anglers will have an advantage at the event, because they know the sweet spots in the local waters.
Fishing is allowed anywhere that is not private or posted. Rivet and the Colonels will have 10 teams competing in the tournament – 10 of a little more than 100 who have already entered.
The Nicholls senior said he and Roberson are in it to win it.
“It would be the best feeling ever if we won this tournament,” Rivet said. “That would be such an amazing thing to accomplish. I know we have a lot of weight on our shoulders to bring this home, but that also comes with pressure. Sometimes it’s not good to have so much information, because it’s possible to know too much or to overthink when out on the water. We’re going to just fish and compete as best we can.”
But when out of the water, thinking too much is sometimes a good thing.
Careful, precise planning and deep thought is exactly what landed this event in local waters.
Rivet said he and Marcel talked to tournament officials often at nationals, and the question was raised about whether or not the Houma-Thibodaux area could support its own event.
After the event, the duo came home and pitched the idea to their teammates, and the movement started. The teammates agreed that it was a goal worth striving for, and the ball slowly started rolling forward.
Rivet said the biggest factor was getting the community involved, and that wasn’t a problem. Rivet said he wanted to thank the multiple individuals and businesses who have supported the Nicholls Bass Federation since its inception – a group of people he said would be too long to list.
“We needed community support. That was the biggest thing,” Rivet said. “Once we got that support from the area and from the university, it was on. We were able to make it happen.”
Rivet said the upcoming tournament will be set up just like other bass fishing tournaments on the circuit.
Anglers will compete at designated times throughout the day, before retreating to Bob’s Bayou Black Marina for the weigh-in.
On the final day, the weigh-in will be at Nicholls and will be televised nationally.
Teams will catch a string of bass throughout the day, and will then be ranked based on the weight of their string.
After two days of fishing, the field will be trimmed and the top 13 teams will vie for the championship, which carries an automatic spot at the 2016 Nationals.
Hank Weldon with the Bassmaster College Series said the Thibodaux event will be nice, because it will show how much the sport has grown in the past few years.
He said the community is up to the challenge.
“We always strive to select great venues for our college anglers, and we look for venues and fisheries that can handle the growing field size, as well as provide great fishing and dramatic competition,” Weldon said. “Each year, we get to see a young, aspiring angler’s dream come true – and that’s always an unforgettable moment.”
Rivet agrees. He said he never would have dreamed to see the team grow so far in such a short amount of time.
“Not in a million years,” Rivet said when asked about the federation’s growth. “We didn’t ever see this coming.”•
