Milliken heads UNO bass fishing club

Ben Milliken started a bass fishing club at UNO because he enjoys fishing and the competition it provides. When he is fishing, Milliken said, he thinks about where the fish will be, how to line up the next cast and whether to stay or go to a different location on the water.

“You have to manage the fish,” Milliken said.

Milliken said the club has 12 members every semester and meets once a month to discuss club business and fish.

Milliken said the club attends about 20 tournaments a year, but the biggest is the Forrest L. Wood (FLW) tournament. The tournament is held in different locations, but has its headquarters in Kentucky.

FLW has no entry fee for the college division and a boat is provided for each team. There are 40 teams that have two people per team.

Milliken said that all tournaments are catch-and-release, meaning the fish are released shortly after they are caught. The prize for first place is $10,000.

While not everyone comes out with a cash prize, Milliken said everyone who participates receives a check for a portion of the gas used to attend the tournament.

Milliken said it “takes skill and patience with good equipment” to fish for long spans of time. According to Milliken, whomever wants to fish in a tournament just has to say so.

In a typical year, he goes to about half the tournaments. Milliken said that he may often break fishing lines due to snags and lose a lot of money doing so, but “it’s worth it.”

One of his best memories was when he was trying to get a snag out and fell into the lake.

For more information contact Milliken at bsmilliken@unomaha.edu.