MARBURY — MARBURY -- On Monday, Matthew Poulos begins an internship at the White House, Christian Latimer goes back to caring for the owls and snakes at Watkins Nature Center and Ben Dziwulski starts plotting how to outsmart spotted bass.
But on the Potomac River and its tributaries Saturday, the three Maryland anglers gave it their all at the National Guard FLW College Fishing tournament.
The weather was perfect, the famed grass beds held lots of bass and the competition was fierce. Just one ounce separated the winning two-man team from West Virginia's Fairmont State University (15 pounds, 5 ounces) from runner-up Vermont Technical College.
Dziwulski of Woodbine and North Carolina State teammate Kevin Beverley collected $2,000 for finishing fifth with a catch weighing 12 pounds, 12 ounces - good enough to advance to the regional competition in North Carolina in December.
Latimer, a Mitchellville resident and senior majoring in natural resources at Cornell, and his teammate, William Miner of Silver Spring, finished just behind the N.C. State team, with a total of 12 pounds, 10 ounces.
"It's extremely disappointing to lose $2,000 by 2 ounces," Latimer said, shaking his head.
Added Miner: "It's less than a cup of water."
The pair, fishing partners since high school, vowed to work on their technique in time for the next regional qualifier on the St. Lawrence River in July.
For Poulos, a West Point cadet from Rockville, the tournament was a great way to relax before starting a four-week stint at the White House as an intern for the National Security Council. His summer assignments at the academy and in the field kept him from practicing much. He and partner Joe Conroy brought in four fish weighing 5 pounds, 15 ounces.
"I caught a 10-pound catfish early, and that got my confidence up a little bit. But it was just slow," he said.
After a fast start, Dziwulski also went through an agonizingly slow period that convinced him he was going to finish out of the money.
"It was like, awesome, awesome, awesome, then we lost three fish," he said. "We were literally packing up and leaving. Then [the announcer] said '12-2,' and you heard me screaming from the parking lot. It was by the skin of my teeth, but that was fine with me."
Angling for dollars
On Wednesday, the Department of Natural Resources will release another 50 volunteers into Chesapeake Bay as part of the Maryland Fishing Challenge called "The Search for Diamond Jim."
