LBL BFL #3 May 11, 2013

We launched out of Kuttawa Harbor on north Barkley and there was so much debris floating in the river they delayed our take off by an hour. I was also in an early flight which meant I was going to have about five hours to fish if I made a long run. With all of that in the back of my head and 300 boats getting an hour head start on me out of Paris, I made a critical mistake. I saw a few pockets on the Lowrance Insight map on the North end of KY Lake that set up just like what I’d been fishing. Even though I’d never fished these pockets in my life, I decided to roll the dice and start north where there would be less fishing pressure and more time to pick things apart. The fish didn’t help me much when they threw me a curve ball on my first stop. I shut down in a pocket I’ve never even seen and caught three fish on my first three flips. They were small, but enough to get my interest. Before I made it half way back in the pocket, I had a small limit, had caught about ten other short fish and could basically call my shot as to where I’d get a bite. My biggest fish was a 17”er but I just knew I could keep running these pockets and put together a decent bag. A couple hours later, I’d fished three more pockets and had only caught two short fish. By that time, it was too late to run to the Paris area and too late to spend very much time looking for my 5XD fish. I was still about ten miles north of my closest crankbait place and flipping place where I’d actually caught some in practice so I headed that way. I spent a half hour scanning a bar looking for that little group of 4lbers but never saw them. I finally grabbed a 5XD and speed cranked around the bar hoping I’d run into them but never did. With 45 minutes left to fish, I made a run across the lake to some familiar flipping water and pulled up on my favorite stretch. When time ran out, I’d caught two 3lbers and lost a 5lb class fish and had to head back. I weighed in a disappointing 13lbs 6oz and finished in 40th place.


SUMMARY: The lesson I learned in this one was simple. A few years ago when I first starting fishing KY and Barkley a lot and having a little success, I went to where I thought I had the best chance to have the best finish I could have. I didn’t care how many other boats were launching out of where and I didn’t care if I had to run one mile or 100 miles. For some reason I’ve had this mind set lately of staying away from where all the other boats are going to be instead of doing what I need to do to put myself in the position to win or at least cash a check. I guess sometimes you have to fall on your face to wake up and realize what you’re doing wrong. This definitely made me do some thinking about how I used to approach tournaments when it was going to be a busy day on the lake and my old way seemed to work pretty well. If I had this to do over again, I would have run straight to where I’d been catching fish and fallen in behind the other boats. I guess the moral of the story is, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

 

LBL BFL #3 Practice

BARKLEY BFL PRACTICE DAY 1: Both lakes were getting pounded before this tournament with several big weekday fish offs and classics coming out of the north end. Plus, the Austin Peay University tournament was scheduled the same day as our BFL and they were coming out of Paris Landing and always draw over 300 boats. A friend of mine was fishing the USA Bassin Classic out of KY Dam on Thursday and Friday and since I knew the Paris area would be covered up on Saturday, I decided to try and help him find some fish for his tournament and hopefully find a pattern I could run myself on the north end of KY Lake during my BFL. We hit the lake Tuesday and the first high water crankbait spot I pulled up on produced several 3lb fish and a couple of 4lbers and they were sitting right where they were supposed to be. The next couple places I hit were fishless so I decided to idle around and try and find them with my Lowrance. The next four places we hit I was able to spot small groups of 4 to 6 fish but they were all over the place as far as where they would be sitting. Some were on the tips of bars, some off the sides, some right on top. It was a time consuming way to try and locate them and when theyre in groups that small you can easily over look them. When we found them they were decent fish in the 4lb range but I knew fishing that way would still be a gamble at least for me making a long run on Saturday.


BARKLEY BFL PRACTICE DAY 2: I hit the water with my buddy again on Wednesday and we spent some time around the Paris area trying to expand on what we'd found Tuesday. It was the same type of deal where Id idle around for 30 minutes, spot a few on the Lowrance and crank them up with a 5XD. The pattern was holding but the size was going down. Most of the fish we caught that day were 2.5 to 3lbers. I decided to do some flipping just to make sure we werent over looking something and we caught plenty doing that but nothing over 3.5lbs.


BARKLEY BFL PRACTICE DAY 3: Not really impressed with what Id seen on KY Lake, I still had Barkley as an option. If the water had been normal it wouldve been a no brainer as to where I wouldve gone, south Barkley. With the water being four feet high though, Barkley had me nervous because Ive never done much good over there in high water so I decided to phone a friend. I called my buddy Tommy Ellis who has been flipping on both lakes probably as long as anyone. I asked him if he had any advice on flipping on Barkley in high rising water. Without hesitation he replied, “Yes, go to KY Lake!” I told him Id done some flipping on KY and wasnt seeing any size and he assured me there were plenty of big fish left in the bushes so I hit the water Friday morning with one rod on the deck of my Triton. I flipped all day and while I caught plenty of fish, I still never saw anything much over 3lbs so I decided to spend my tournament flipping and possibly scanning a bar or two for some of those small groups of 4lbers.

 

KY BWS #2 May 4, 2013

I can’t remember the last time I was nervous over a tournament but I couldn’t wait to get this one started. I knew if they bit half as good as they did on Wednesday I’d have a shot at the win. I talked to my good buddy David Gnewikow at the meeting Friday night and he informed me that he didn’t experience the phenomenal flipping bite I had on Wednesday during his practice session on Friday. He did however check a lot of the cranking holes I’d eliminated and several of them were loaded! That got in my head a little because I knew I’d either missed them, or they’d made a move since I’d been on the lake and when they come out, they come out fast. I knew several of the places David had found them on but there was no way I was going to fish them against him since I would’ve still thought they were void of life if he hadn’t told me they’d shown up. I did make a quick stop on the place I’d caught the most fish off of on Wednesday that morning and caught a 3lber and a few small keepers on my 5XD but that was it. I threw the 3lber in the livewell but tossed the little keepers back because I was pretty sure I could make those up once I started flipping. I headed to my best flipping area and just like clockwork, I got a bite on my first flip! I knew I was about to bow up on a giant and when I set the hook an 8”er came flying out of the water! That was not what I wanted to see. When I set the hook here in practice it was at least a 4lber, every time! After 30 minutes, I hadn’t had another bite and as hard as it was to accept, I knew I was in for a long day. I stuck to my plan and flipped the entire day all over the lake and when it was said and done, I’d only caught about 20 keepers and not a single one of them would weigh 4lbs. It was a gloomy ride back to Moors Resort and when I found out the cranker’s had all smoked them, it made it even worse. I weighed 17.41lbs and managed the last check in 14th place and the Toyota Bonus Bucks which eased the pain a little. The good news was my ‘ol buddy David G caught a pile of fish on his 6XD that day and the biggest five weighed in at 26.04lbs and he went home with the win! Congrats David!


SUMMARY: I’ve been burnt flipping more times than not but when those big egg laden girls are stacked in that brush like they were on Wednesday, it’s hard to imagine that’s not the way to win. One thing I learned from this tournament is that I need to start practicing on Friday again. I’ve gotten away from it the past couple of years because there are so many boats on the water and I like to spend that day prepping tackle for the tournament. Things change so fast, especially this time of year, you can miss the winning pattern by a day or two and David proved that to me in a big way.

 

BWS KY DIVISION #2 PRACTICE April 30 and May 1, 2013

KY BWS PRACTICE DAY 1: The rain set in last week and the lake is four feet above pool and the flood gates are open. A pretty good ledge fishing friend of mine named Randy Haynes told me a few years ago that if the flood gates are open, theres a pile of giants somewhere choking themselves on 6XDs! For those of you that dont know Randy yet you will soon enough! Hes probably the best ledge fisherman on the planet and when he speaks, I listen! Coming off a good tournament the weekend before, I was pumped to get back on the water and I hit the lake Tuesday with a 5XD and a 6XD ready to rock. The last time the water got to this level I absolutely murdered them cranking and I headed straight to those places. The first stop I caught a 3lb largemouth and a 3lb smallmouth on my first two casts but that was it. When its right, therell be hundreds of fish on these places so I was a little discouraged. The next place I hit, I caught two 3lb smallmouth, a 4lb smallmouth and a 6lb largemouth. That was a little better, but still not the giant schools I was expecting to find. I cranked the rest of the day and never caught more than two off of a place and the size progressively got smaller.


KY BWS PRACTICE DAY 2: I headed out Wednesday intending on cranking the entire day in a different part of the lake. After four hours without a bite I couldnt stand it anymore and I pulled the All Pro 8 footer out and headed to the bushes. The flipping bite was off the chain and I caught so many 3 and 3.5lbers I couldnt count them but I just wasnt seeing the size I wanted to see. I changed locations and it was on! My best five in a 30 minute span were around 26lbs and I shook off at least 30 bites! The best part is these big fish are still full of eggs and thats all I needed to see, I made up my mind what Im going to do and where Im going to do it tomorrow!!!