ABA Weekend Bass Series TN Central Division KY Lake, March 29

My good buddy David Gnewikow and I fished a team tournament out of KY Dam Marina last weekend so we decided we would practice separately. I had a horrible day on the north end of the lake managing only 3 keepers. Dave figured out a pretty strong umbrella rig pattern down south so we decided to spend our tournament there. We caught a ton of fish but never caught any big ones and ended up 13th with 17lbs. I had an electronics trip Monday and had no intentions of fishing afterwards but it was such a nice day I decided to make a few casts. I decided to play around with the pattern Dave had figured out in the Paris area and the third place I hit produced a couple of 3lbers and a 7lber. I found a couple more places that day and when it was said and done my best 5 weighed over 26lbs and I felt like I had really fine tuned the pattern.

I had a guide trip Wednesday and spent the day trying to expand on what I'd found Monday and by the end of the day we'd caught 40 or 50 bass, several stripers in the 15-20lb range and our best 5 largemouth went about 23lbs. After that, I was so dialed into what I needed to look for I decided to not even practice for the upcoming ABA WBS.

TOURNAMENT: After a beautiful week of low wind, sunny skies and mild temperatures, a big cold front rolled through Friday night and Saturday morning. We launched out of Paris Landing Marina into a cold steady rain and a steady 20 mph north wind. Strong current and a stout north wind create some giant swells on KY Lake but I knew from past experience the bite would be on fire in those big waves for the guys that were willing to fight it all day. My first stop was what I thought was my best school but after a half hour I'd caught a handful of stripers and three bass. One of them was pushing 6lbs but it definitely wasn't as good as I was hoping. I made a short run to my next best place and it was on! I caught a largemouth or smallmouth on every cast for about 20 minutes and when I'd exhausted the school at 8 a.m., I had around 21lbs. My next stop was loaded with 2 and 3lb class fish and after catching at least one on every cast for awhile, they shut off and I never upgraded. With the waves getting bigger by the hour I had a decision to make. Should I run around trying to fish everything I'd found earlier in the week, or stay close and rotate through the three places that had already produced for me that morning? I really felt like the two places I'd started on had the potential to produce the winning fish so I decided to spend the day bouncing back and forth between the two. I headed back to where I started for round two and I was catching a striper on every cast. I knew the bass had to be close by so with each cast I moved a littler further up onto the flat and suddenly I had slack knocked in my line four times on one retrieve! I knew then I'd hit the school and my next cast produced a 3 and a 4lber. I made a quick cull and fired out another cast and caught another fish over 4lbs. This went on for awhile and then I hooked my biggest fish of the day, a 6.54lber. The action finally slowed so I headed back to my other little honey hole about a mile away and while the school was still busted up from my earlier assault, I did manage to cull twice. It was 10:45 a.m. and on my scales I had over 25lbs. I caught another 18 to 20lb stringer or two as the day went on but never was able to upgrade again. I'll never complain when I have a 5lb average but this day and age on KY Lake you never feel sure you have a tournament won unless you have over 30lbs and some days your not safe with that, but with the conditions we had that day I thought I may have a shot at the "W". I got in line to weigh in and before I ever made it to the stage, Craig Dowling weighed in 29.08lbs! I knew I didn't have enough to overtake him but I honestly didn't even care. I'd had a blast out there bouncing around on those five footers catching 3 to 6.5 lbers all day. Before the scales closed another 29.08lb bag was weighed in and I ended up 3rd with 25.82lbs and claimed my fourth Toyota Bonus Bucks check in as many tries.

SUMMARY: Absolutely, by far, the most fun I've had in a tournament in a long time. There's just something about fishing in such horrible conditions that most people think it would be impossible to even catch a bass and just thumpin' 'em all day long! I even had to cull an 18lb limit of smallmouth which was pretty cool because I've never even caught a limit of smallmouth in a tournament before.

I've mentioned several times before that every good finish I have, there seems to be a critical piece of equipment that made it possible. This time it was no doubt my new Triton TRX, Mercury Pro XS and MotorGuide 109 trolling motor. I ran around like a mad man all day in those giant waves and my boat and engine got me everywhere I needed to go safely and comfortably. The deck on the new TRX looks like an aircraft carrier and I stood up there all day with waves breaking over the bow and never missed a cast. Last but not least, my MotorGuide 109 allowed me to stay right on my waypoints and quickly return when I blew 100 yards away while culling or rigging baits. Thanks Triton, Mercury and Odom's Blue and Gray Marine for allowing me to run the best tournament rig in the industry!