Aug. 8, 2024
Ferris State student Fishing Club members reel in Anglers of the Year honors for success in College Bass Tour events throughout Lower Peninsula
Ferris State University Fishing Club members Jordan DeGroot and Erick Hannahs reeled in Anglers of the Year honors after success in events around the state.
DeGroot, of Coopersville, and Hannahs, of Muskegon, earned the awards for the 2024 season after top 10 finishes in each event this season. Both are Construction Management majors.
“You experience every kind of emotion during a tournament,” Hannahs said. “It is us two and the fish in front of us, where you do what you must to get the bites. I have lots of friends from other schools and Ferris’ fishing team on the tour, and it is great to celebrate each event across the tour.”
The two began the year finishing second on June 1 on Houghton Lake before scoring back-to-back wins on June 23 and 24 on the Grand River and Muskegon Lake, respectively. They earned a sixth-place result on July 20, on Lake St. Clair.
This run gave DeGroot and Hannahs a comfortable 27-point lead in the tour’s standings, with nearly 70 pounds of bass landed in the first four events.
“I credit Erick for practicing on every lake befo
Ferris State University Fishing Club members Jordan DeGroot (right) and Erick Hannahs (left) proudly show off their catch at a recent tournament.
re our event,” DeGroot said. “We have been bringing in the key bites. He and I fished together so well. We don’t give up, and we encourage each other through each event. We play it like someone would have a bigger bag of fish.”
DeGroot said every tournament this season was fun.
“I have had some strong event finishes in previous years, but everything has come together this year and that helped us reach the top,” Hannahs said. “Our schedule came together the way I liked. On this tour, you can submit large and smallmouth bass. I prefer smallmouth and that worked great for us this year.”
DeGroot and Hannahs tipped their caps to Fishing Club teammates Brett Bartlett, a Digital Animation and Game Design major, and Surveying Engineering student Nick Niernberg, both of Standish, who were winners at the Lake St. Clair tournament, with 21.24 pounds caught along with taking Big Bass honors for a 5.67-pound fish.
DeGroot and Hannahs turned in a 5.4-pound bass that day and received a second-place check.
The College Bass Tour closing event was Saturday, Aug. 3, at the Lake Erie Metropark near Gibraltar. Thirty-eight student teams competed in two or more of the tour events.
He added that Fishing Club members have benefited from their sponsors, X-Bar Automation, Triangle Associates, Pioneer/Tailored Construction, Richardson Chevrolet, Surveying Solutions Inc., Silver Streak Outdoors, Forward Energy, The Dream and The Nightmare Golf Courses and Baker Mechanical.
“We could not be so successful without their support,” DeGroot said.