Kansas State fishermen win Bassmaster College Series National Championship

Kyle Alsop and Taylor Bivins of Kansas State University won the 2016 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series National Championship on Saturday in Campbellsville, Ky.

Alsop and Bivins finished the three-day event on Green River Lake with 36 pounds, 4 ounces. They were the only team in the field of 89 teams to bring in more than 10 pounds every day.

“It was a grind,” said Bivins, who just graduated from Kansas State in May with a degree in wildlife and outdoor enterprise management. “We had to fish really slow the whole time.”

Alsop, a senior majoring in engineering, said fishing that way isn’t their normal style.

“I hate it,” he said. “But it was our only way to be consistent.”

They landed the biggest bass of the day twice. On day one, they caught a bass weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces, the largest on the tournament. On Saturday, they landed one weighing 5 pounds, 9 ounces.

“The key was definitely the big bite,” Alsop said. “We were blessed to get one big one every day.”

Alsop and Bivins qualified for the 2016 Carhartt Bassmaster College Classic Bracket presented by Bass Pro Shops, which runs Thursday through Aug. 6 on Kentucky Lake in Tennessee. The best fisherman in that head-to-head competition earns a berth in the 2017 GEICO Bassmaster Classic.

Alsop and Bivins earned a check for their Kansas State team for $2,500 from Carhartt and another check for $2,500 from B.A.S.S. They were also presented with a Humminbird Helix unit.

“We were due for a win,” said Alsop. “We’ve always finished well in tournaments — no worse than 30th place — but we could never get above fourth place. It’s incredible we did it here.

This story was originally published July 30, 2016 at 5:43 PM with the headline "Kansas State fishermen win Bassmaster College Series National Championship."