LBL BFL #5 Practice

Monday I tried a few of the jig places I'd fished in the BWS and it wasnt happening.  My deep fish were still cooperating but 17lbs was about as good as I could do out there on a good day and while I never went to my best Sexy Dawg spot, I did spend some time throwing it on my guide trips last week and caught several keepers up to 3lbs. I really spent some time thinking about how my best top water place was set up and decided to spend most of my practice looking for similar places. After really studying my top water area from the BWS I had thought of about 20 places that might fit the pattern.  The first one I hit was a slow go but before I left I caught a 5lber.  I paid close attention to where that fish was sitting and tried to look for the same type deal on my next few stops.  My next few places were unproductive but the fifth one was the one!  It had all of the ingredients, shallow water close to deep, stumps and most importantly, GIANT SHAD!  I covered a good portion of the bar without a bite and all of a sudden one knocked my bait 2 feet in the air.  I kept the bait moving and another took a swipe at it. Just before it got to the boat a 4.5lber grabbed it and it had about ten big ones swimming with it!  I dropped a waypoint and trolled up the bar a little ways, made a few casts and an 8lber engulfed my Sexy Dawg!  I was pretty bent out of shape and probably should've left but I made a few more casts and covered a little more ground and when I finished my best 5 would've weighed between 32 and 34lbs!  I spend a lot of time on KY Lake and a lot of other great lakes and this is by far the most impressive school of fish I've ever seen!  I went out the next day and ran the pattern again and found six more places holding big ones and one school that had a ton 3 to 4lbers.  It's three more days until tournament day and I'm going crazy waiting for it to get here. I think if the wind doesn't blow too hard I can smoke 'em this weekend!