UCLA Wins MLF College Fishing Tournament on Clear Lake | Bass Angler Magazine
LAKEPORT, Calif. (March 11, 2024) – The UCLA duo of Joey Gentle and Justin Gentle, brothers from Kelseyville, California, won the MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI event on Clear Lake Presented by Tackle Warehouse Friday with a five-bass limit weighing 16 pounds, 13 ounces. The victory earned the Gentle brothers a qualification into the 2025 MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing National Championship.
Before the tournament, Joey and Justin suspected that conditions would be tough since they would be fishing in the wake of a cold front. So they spent practice scouting areas where they thought bass would be setting up in deeper water or staging outside of their spawning areas.
Their best spots wound up being tule clumps on the north end of Clear Lake, where the exposure to the southern sun warmed the water a few degrees higher than in other parts of the lake. Specifically, one 100-yard stretch of tules at the mouth of a spawning slough produced all the bass they eventually weighed in.
Their go-to lure was a drop-shot with a Roboworm 4 1/2-inch Straight Tail Worm in the M.M.III color rigged with a Roboworm ReBarb Hook.
“We would cast in there and fish it methodically, but we also wanted to cover a lot of ground,” Joey said.
Interestingly, when the Gentle brothers pulled up to their best spot in the morning, they encountered MLF pro Ken Mah, the eventual winner of the multi-day Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats event that was wrapping up the same day.
Mah was locked down in the mouth of a slough to the left of a small point, and the UCLA anglers fished the mouth of a different slough to the right of the point. Showing great sportsmanship, fishing etiquette and mutual respect, Mah and the Bruins settled into their own areas and gave one another plenty of room to fish.
“There were a lot of people up north, and there was a lot of ‘combat fishing,’” said Joey, “And he was just thankful we were respectful.
“We didn’t want to get close to his piece. He was kind of locked in on his own spot and obviously had all his confidence there.”
Joey and Justin put a 4-pounder in the boat first thing tournament morning, followed by a fast limit.
“That was just a good confidence thing, knowing that at any moment we could pull out another good fish,” Joey added. “Filling out a quick limit after that really just guided us to having confidence we were doing the right thing.”
They stuck it out there the rest of the day and were able to cull up to their eventual winning limit of 16-13.
Joey, age 18 and a business economics major, is the president and one of the founders of the new bass club at UCLA. Justin, age 20, majors in civil engineering and is the club’s vice president. This is the first tournament they’ve fished together in several years, after having fished Abu Garcia High School Fishing tournaments together prior to Justin’s graduation.
The top 10 teams on Clear Lake finished:
- 1st: UCLA – Joey Gentle and Justin Gentle, both of Kelseyville, Calif., five bass, 16-13
- 2nd: Fresno State University – Kent Moua and Seth Moua, both of Fresno, Calif., four bass, 14-9
- 3rd: Simpson University – Brayden Bishop, Anderson, Calif., and Jacob Greene, American Canyon, Calif., four bass, 13-13
- 4th: Simpson University – Landon Ford, Rescue, Calif., and James Hawkinson, Grantite Bay, Calif., four bass, 13-9
- 5th: Chico State University – Austin Brown, Chico, Calif., and Brandon Huse, Gualala, Calif., four bass, 12-13
- 6th: Sonoma State University – Justin Keegan, South San Francisco, Calif., and Cody Wyatt, Rohnert Park, Calif., three bass, 9-7
- 7th: Simpson University – David Berry, Harare, Hawaii, Aiden Grad, Pasco, Wash., two bass, 6-10
- 8th: Chico State University – Jordan Harris, Elk Grove, Calif., and Fisher Perkins, Rocklin, Calif., two bass, 6-6
- 9th: Simpson University – Michael Bray, Redding, Calif., and Brennan Osborn, Beaverton, Ore., two bass, 5-14
- 10th: California State University-Sacramento – Miles Bootay and Jim Emory, both of Sacramento, Calif., one bass, 3-6
The full list of National Championship Qualifiers and complete results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
The Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI event on Clear Lake was hosted by Konocti Vista Casino Resort & Marina. The next tournament for MLF College Fishing anglers will be the Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI event on Table Rock Lake, April 5 in Branson, Missouri.
The 2024 MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI season features college teams from across the country competing in nine regular-season tournaments. The top 12 percent of teams from each regular-season tournament advance to the 2025 Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI National Championship.
Proud sponsors of the 2024 MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI include: 7Brew, Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Berkley, BUBBA, E3, Epic Baits, Fishing Clash, General Tire, GSM Outdoors, Lew’s, Mercury, Mossy Oak, Onyx, Phoenix, Polaris, Power-Pole, Strike King, Suzuki, Tackle Warehouse, T-H Marine, Toyota and YETI.
For complete details and updated information, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery Channel, Outdoor Channel, CBS Sports Network, World Fishing Network and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV).
Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 13 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.
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