Ledet and Cooper team up for 17-pound bag Saturday and Northwestern victory
The hometown team came through in the clutch Saturday when John Ledet and Justin Cooper of Northwestern State in Natchitoches brought in a final day 17-pound bag to claim the 2015 Bassmaster College Series Central Regional on the Red River.
The Demons’ three-day total of 30-9 gave them a 4-pound cushion over second place Arkansas Tech.
“The good Lord blessed us today,” Cooper said. “We went into some spots that I’ve had a lot of success in before, and we just caught them.”
Wednesday’s cold front wreaked havoc on the field, but Ledet and Cooper switched tactics Saturday to take home the title.
“The first two days we tried to wait out our prespawn fish that we had found, but they wouldn’t bite fast enough,” Ledet said. “Then today we decided we had to change things up if we wanted to win this thing. We started to run and gun and finally ran into a school of fish that wanted to bite.”
The two caught a five-fish stringer Saturday anchored by a 6-2 female on a flat filled with lily pad stems in the Little Jungle.
“I caught that fish on a 3 1/2-inch V&M Baby Split Tail Beaver in about 5 feet of water next to a sunken duck blind,” Cooper said.
In addition to the win, Ledet and Cooper qualified for the Bassmaster College Series National Championship with the remainder of the Top 14 teams from the Central Regional.
