I have watched some of the Southern Collegiate Bass Fishing tournaments on TV and they were interesting, although I didn’t fully understand what they were all about.

Last weekend they held a tournament on Logan Martin Lake and I spent some time with them.

Each team was composed of two students from a college, university or community college from eight southeastern states. Each school could have several teams, but the weigh in was individual two-man teams. Some large schools had seven or eight teams while other small colleges had only one or two teams.

These are two-day tournaments with a five-fish limit per boat each day or 10 fish total.

They fished out of all kinds of boats. One team fished out of a 14-foot aluminum boat with a 15 hp motor and weighted in an impressive limit of bass both days.

Many of these boys had never fished on Logan Martin Lake more than a few times, but still caught fish. I was impressed with the number of two-man teams that had a limit of nice bass every day.

Bethel College, located in McKenzie, Tenn., has an excellent program where they offer scholarships to the students who are on the bass fishing team.

Can you imagine that? Having your tuition partially or fully paid for by bass fishing.

The results of the tournament were as follows:

1. Auburn University – Paul Davis/Jordan Lee – 29.86 pounds

2. Faulkner University – Austin Post/Josh Lock – 29.29 pounds

3. University of Alabama – Ben Weldon/Warren Hoffman – 28.41 pounds

Big Fish – Tennessee Tech – Seth Davis – 5.90 pounds

There were a total of 84 fishermen or 42 boats. This was an impressive turnout of college fishermen.

There were some nice prizes for the winners, such as boxes of fishing tackle from Davis Bait Co. and Slider Bait Co. Rods and reels and even a little cash to help the guys cover travel expenses. I this is a great thing to do. There was also a surprise visit from Aaron Martin, a famous and popular professional bass fisherman.

He spent some time with the contestants after the weigh in showing them new ways to fish and new baits.

Most of us like to cheer for our favorite college football or baseball team, but we can’t all be jocks.

Now maybe bass fishing can give a few more students a shot at the spotlight. I sure wish someone had started fishing like this when I was in school.