ULM team wins College Series Central Regional on the Ouachita River

Munn, Perkins team up for 19 pounds, 6 ounces to claim 1st place on home waters

After a slow opening day on Friday, Trapper Munn and Dustin Perkins picked up the pace Saturday with five fish weighing 11-3, enough to win the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Central Regional on the Ouachita River with a two-day total of 19 pounds, 6 ounces.

The University of Louisiana at Monroe anglers did their damage in a backwater lake known as Little Moon, targeting cypress trees in 8- to 10-feet of water.

“We’d pitch a Sweet Beaver right next to the trees, and they would smoke it on the way down,” Munn said.

And ‘home field advantage’ was key for the ULM duo — Little Moon is inaccessible by boat at normal water levels, but the two anglers discovered they could get into the backwater lake because the Ouachita River was swollen by recent heavy rains.

“There wasn’t even a ditch to go through,” Munn said. “You just have to weave randomly through the woods. Then you pop out into a lake and run it. Then go through some more woods and then pop out into the other lake.”

Brandon Greco and Austin Watkins of Louisiana Tech finished in 2nd place by 12 ounces with a two-day total of 18-10.

The Top 13 teams from the Central Regional will advance to fish in the 2014 Carhartt Bassmaster College Series Championship, which will be held later this summer at a date and site to be announced next week.

The ultimate prize of the College Series is an invitation to compete in the 2015 Bassmaster Classic, which goes to the winner of a bracket-format fish-off involving members of the Top 4 teams in the championship.