Frank Lillig 2015

[fishermanfrank]

Hey everyone, man it sure has been a while since I have been on here. I got super busy this fall semester taking 5 courses along with being the President of the Kennesaw State University Fishing Team, Assistant Director for American Bass Anglers American Fishing Tour Division 125, all my fishing tournaments and when I found some free time I did some landscaping on the side to build up my expense money. I definitely have had my hands full lately but things are finally starting to fall into place and set for a huge 2016.
2015 was one amazing year and is the best year I have ever had bass fishing. This past year I fished in:
1.) American Bass Anglers American Fishing Tour – Division 125 Lake Allatoona as a boater
2.) American Bass Anglers Weekend Bass Series – Alabama North and Tennessee East Divisions as a Co-angler
3.) Lake Hartwell FLW Collegiate Fishing Event as a Boater
4.) ACA BoatUS National Championship on Pickwick Lake as a Boater
5.) Fishlife Collegiate Tour switched between a Boater and Co-angler

I worked my butt off in the class room, on the water, and off the water this past year and it definitely paid off. My highlights for 2015 includes:
- Winning Big Fish Day 2 of the ACA BoatUS College Fishing National Championship on Pickwick Lake 05/21/22/15 where I beat out over 300 collegiate anglers for that award.
- 3rd Place finish on Lake Chickamauga 07/18/15 for the ABA WBS TN East as a Co-angler
- Co-angler Divisional Champion winning 1st Place finish on Lake Guntersville 10/03-04/15 for ABA WBS AL North 2 Day Divisional Championship!!
- Co-angler Divisional Champion winning 1st Place finish on Lake Chickamauga 10/10-11/15 for ABA WBS TN East 2 Day Divisional Championship!!
o I cannot even explain what it felt like to not only win once but back to back weekends!! This means I will be fishing in the 2nd ever Ray Scott National Championship as a Co-angler for a chance at a 2 Year Lease on a Brand New Ram Truck and a Brand New Triton TRX 19 with a 225 Mercury Pro XS on Lake Hartwell the same week as Spring Break!! So I will be able to fish that whole week without missing any class!!
- I had a 10th place finish with my teammate for the Fishlife Collegiate Tour Championship 11/14-15/15 on the Alabama River out of Roland Cooper State Park Ramp. We only weighed 4 fish day 1 and had a 3.5-4lbs largemouth spit the hooks of a spinnerbait right at the boat right before weigh-in on day 1. If we would of landed that fish we would of finished at least 4th place. But it was still a solid finish for a couple of Georgia boys fishing in the Alabama boy’s back yard.
- To finish off my tournament season for 2015 I finished strong with a 2nd place finish after one of the best days I have ever had on Lake Allatoona for ABA AFT D-125 12/05/15 and just happened to finally do it on a tournament day with a 5 fish limit of all Spotted Bass that weighed 12.04lbs. The winner had 13.43lbs. I will take it. That is my first time breaking the 10lbs limit mark on Lake Allatoona while fishing day time hours and fishing solo. Lake Allatoona is one challenging lake for sure but building up my knowledge these last few years has finally started to help me out.

Overall it was one amazing year and very thankful for the opportunities I had this year. If my schedule works out better I will try to do some more fishing reports for my bigger events.
Big things are in store for 2016. This past fall semester was the first semester being officially merged with Southern Polytechnic State University (Now Marietta Campus) and they also had a fishing team. With the schools merging they wanted all the sports to merge into 1 team so I was responsible for recruiting from 2 campuses this past semester. I worked extremely hard recruiting and now had 14 active members on the fishing team and 1 more is planning to join as soon as the Spring Semester starts up. We will have about 6 members with a boat and will have great participation in 2016.
Thank you everyone that participated in the KSU Fishing Team Fundraiser Tournament the Porko helped me run the day after Black Friday 1 year ago. The funds we raised were very helpful for the fishing team and allowed us to fish in a hand full of events this past season. The fishing team is now well organized will new members that actually want to fish and should be able to have great participation in all 3 major Collegiate Trails in 2016 which includes:
1.) ACA Boat US Collegiate Series
2.) BASS Collegiate Series Southern Division
3.) FLW Collegiate Series Southeastern Division
4.) Then Fishlife Collegiate Tour next Fall

I am working the details out with Porko but it looks like we will be able to squeeze in our next Kennesaw State University Fishing Team Fundraiser Tournament sometime this upcoming spring on Lake Allatoona. I should have a date and details to share with everyone within the next week or 2.

I am planning to fish in as many Collegiate Fishing Events as I can in 2016 which includes BASS, ACA BoatUS, FLW, and Fishlife Collegiate Tour as mostly a boater. I will also fish a few ABA Ram Open Series for AL North and TN East next year as a Co-angler. I am slowly getting to where I want to be with the fishing. I am just trying to work as hard as I can and more break through’s will be in store. I am just enjoying every moment as I continue climbing to higher levels of competition.

Thanks for your time and I hope everyone has a Blessed Christmas and Happy New Years!!
Frank

[1kicker]

Great post, for a great year with a lot of activities. Good luck to you in 2016.

[fishermanfrank]

Thanks buddy!!

[pheonix819]

Congrats on the great year and thrive for a better 2016.

[fishermanfrank]

Thank Buddy!! Congrats on a solid year for you too!!

[Skeeter Steve]

Great accomplishments!

Congratulations!


Steve

[fishermanfrank]

Thanks buddy!! It goes to show you hard work pays off!! I just have to keep at it and see how long I can keep this momentum going.
I am trying my best to do what I can while I still am debt free by not being married with kids, house payments, car payments, boat payments, and student loan payments.
I just have to keep the right head on my shoulders and the sky is the limits.

One of the biggest things I have learned over these last few years is to always keep an open mind and nothing replaces time on the water.
Keeping an open mind to me is to always be willing to make adjustments in the moment on the given day such as changing lure/bait colors to even a complete switch in lure/bait choices to start getting bites. Like say you caught them really well in practice but conditions change and it is up to us to change with it in order to get the fish to bite. I have definitely learned a crazy amount in such a short amount of time and can't wait to see how far I can go. Versatility is definitely a huge deal to my success. I was willing to go up to 65lbs braid for frogging and flipping on Guntersville and Chickamauga and then down to 6lbs test fluro on my dropshot and a new technique I am starting to perfect on tightlining a finesse hair jig and yes the old faithful shaky head on 8-12lbs fluro. It is all about fishing the conditions and fishing in the moment. I am having a blast and making a lot of great fishing buddies and memories along the way.

[ProMo]

Good year my friend, keep it rolling right on into 2016

[fishermanfrank]

Thanks buddy!!