BASS College championship is on!

There’s more to fishing than fishing. Consider this touching story from today’s first round of the college national championship today: 

Dave Gullette would be standing in the front row cheering, emailing photos to all his coworkers and otherwise beaming with pride right now to see his son, Michael, and Michael’s teammate, Nathan Martin, in the lead at the 2014 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship on Chatuge Reservoir in Georgia.

But Dave Gullette, Michael’s father and biggest fan, died in January, right after Michael qualified for

Michael Gullette and Nathan Martin with four big bass

the championship. “We’re dedicating this tournament to him,” Michael said. “We came here to win it for him,” Martin said.

Gullette and Martin weighed in 14 pounds, 15 ounces today, putting the University of North Alabama (UNA) team 9 ounces ahead of the second-place Bethel University team of Zach Parker and Matt Roberts.

Nick LaDart and Brian Eaton of ULM are in fourth place with 12-3 and Bret Pruett and Jackson Blackett of ULM are in 13th with 9-15. Trapper Munn and Dustin Perkins of ULM are in 36th while Kaleb Boudreaux and Mathew Loetscher of Louisiana Tech are in 43rd.

Day 1 set the stage for the championship, but Day 2 will be a big day for anglers who have a lot of ground to make up. To make the cut for Day 3, the team has to be in the Top 5. The Top 5 teams will compete for the championship trophy, and then the Top 4 teams advance to the 2014 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series College Bracket, Aug. 2-5, also on Chatuge Reservoir. In that event, the anglers will fish individually, and the winner earns a berth in the 2015 Bassmaster Classic. Stay tuned…