Saving the best for last, Montevallo’s Peyton Harris and Dalton Head came from behind to win the 2023 Abu Garcia College Fishing presented by Yeti National Championship presented by Lowrance. The Falcons edged out Bryan College by just 8 ounces to take the title in Kissimmee, Fla. LSU finished third
On Thursday, the third and final day of the tournament, the Falcon duo weighed a five-bass limit totaling 27 pounds, 11 ounces to win. The victory provided a thrilling ending for the fans, friends, families and fellow team anglers in attendance.
“This is incredible,” Harris said as his Montevallo teammates stormed the stage. “We knew in practice we had found something special in Kissimmee. It was a place loaded with fish – prespawn, spawn and postspawn fish, all using the same place. Dalton and I decided to manage the place the best we could and not catch too many the first two days.
“We agreed that when we got to 20 pounds each of the first days, we would leave them alone until the end.”
For their win, the sophomores earned berths into the 2023 Toyota Series Championship as pros for a shot to win up to $235,000.
In addition, they take a Phoenix 518 Pro bass boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury and $10,000 cash back to their University of Montevallo bass club.
“We met our goal the first day by 11:30 and decided to quit fishing in the area,” Head said. “Then, with the fog delay the second day, we only had two hours to fish down there, but still managed to catch 18. Last night, we could not wait to get out there and really step on the gas to see what the area would produce – now we know.”
Harris and Head steadily advanced on the leaderboard, getting in striking range, and delivering the knockout blow on the final day.
Their scorecard started with a “modest” 20-11 for sixth place on Day 1. Despite a three-hour fog delay on Day 2, they scratched up 18-9 to sneak into third place. Then, with all systems go and no fog or lock delays on the final day, they rocketed to the finish line with the 27-11 and won the event by a scant 8 ounces.
“Today we swung for the fence and caught everything in that area that we could,” Harris said. “We knew we would win it or lose it right. And, if we fell short, we fell short.
“But, thankfully, we didn’t.”
Montevallo teammates Brandon Berry and Hunter Bright finished 10th with a total of 42 pounds, 3 ounces.
“We can’t thank the University of Montevallo enough,” Harris said. “Both of us sought out Montevallo as a university because of its impressive fishing program. We knew in order to become better anglers, we needed to go somewhere where we could fish with the best college anglers in the country.
“Fishing with the best pushes us to be our best. And that’s why we are here today.”
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