Nolan Minor of West Virginia University and Nick Ratliff of Campbellsville University in Kentucky will battle for the championship of the 2018 Carharrt Bassmaster College Series College Bracket at Milford.

The two anglers made it through the semifinals Wednesday. Minor said in the semifinal round he was working secondary points with chunk rock, and fishing with walking bait and jerk bait in areas

“When I would have an area that I was pretty confident there were fish in it I would first make a pass through that area with the top water.” If the small mouth missed the top water bait he would return to the same area with jerk bait. “It worked twice for me today.”

Ratliff said with the wind blowing Wednesday morning it was a concern. “I made a few adjustments, caught a couple on my backup deal, I got one other area that’s kind of out of the wind if it blows in this direction. I caught my two biggest off of there and I’ve actually caught three fish off of there the last two days.”

The two anglers will begin fishing in the championship round at 6:20 a.m. Thursday. The final weigh-in will be held about 1:45 p.m. at Acorns Resort. The winner will have earned a berth in the Bassmaster Classic, considered the World Series of bass fishing.

Minor and Ratliff are the final two fishermen remaining in the tournament at Milford Lake out of a field of eight competitors that began on Tuesday.