N Alabama Wins College Fishing Tournament on Kentucky-Barkley Lakes

GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. (March 31, 2025) – The University of North Alabama duo of Gage King of Birchwood, Tennessee, and Banks Shaw of Harrison, Tennessee, won the MLF College Fishing tournament on Kentucky-Barkley Lakes Friday with a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 8 ounces. The victory earned the Lions’ bass club $2,000 and a qualification into the 2026 MLF College Fishing National Championship. The UNA team put live sonar to work all day to get the win on the big Tennessee River impoundment.

“We kind of just caught fish on the main lake that were just kind of swimming around,” Shaw said. “They weren’t really relating to anything at all. I guess you could say somewhat relating to bait, but all we really did was kind of filter through the suspended junk fish that were with them. Which was kind of hard to do because there was a lot of pollen in the water, and it was really hard to see.”

Their strategy was simple: Stay up north, where they found better quality largemouth bass, and stay on the trolling motor all day. It only produced about 12 bites – but they were the right ones. Shaw and King weighed a limit of four largemouth bass and one smallmouth. They caught their fish primarily on Megabass Vision 110 jerkbaits.

“It seemed like it was kind of just constant throughout the day, but it was never three or four bites all the sudden,” Shaw added. “It was a slow grind for sure.”

The top 10 teams finished:

1st: University of North Alabama – Gage King, Birchwood, Tenn., and Banks Shaw, Harrison, Tenn., five bass, 21-8, $2,000
2nd: Murray State University – Max Newkirk, Louisville, Ky., five bass, 21-6, $1,000
3rd: Murray State University – Ty Reynolds, Salem, Ill., five bass, 20-13, $700
4th: Murray State University – Will Gordon, Athens, Ill., and Drew Morgan, Murray, Ky., five bass, 20-8, $600
5th: University of North Alabama – Dylan Nutt and Carter Nutt, Nashville, Tenn., five bass, 20-0, $500
6th: Wabash Valley College – Dalton Phelps, Bloomington, Ill., and Peyton Rose, Flora, Ill., five bass, 19-6
7th: Troy University – Ridge Faircloth, Bristol, Fla., and Max Hondorp, Pace, Fla., five bass, 19-5             
8th: Carson-Newman University –Cason Price, Littleton, N.C., and Joe Vaulton, Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 19-2              
9th: Carson-Newman University – Alex Gore, Dandridge, Tenn., and Colby Reece, Dandridge, Tenn., five bass, 18-15  
10th: Carson-Newman University – Drake Hemby, Brentwood, Tenn., and Szymon Piton, Orland Park, Ill., five bass, 18-4