Stihl's Reel in the Outdoors, LBL BFL April 12, April Fishing in General and Tom O'Bryants Unbelievable Month

I have lot's of stuff to ramble about this week and it all sort of ties in together so instead of writing four separate blogs, I've decided to try and pack it all into one and keep it as short as possible so no one falls asleep on me while reading.

It's no secret to those that know me that April and I don't mesh very well on KY Lake unless the water reaches flood stage. I can go from lost to catching 20+ lbs overnight if that water reaches the shoreline cover. I've worked hard since my first year of fishing the BFL's on KY/Barkley Lakes back in 2006 to try and understand low water April fishing better. One thing that definitely stands out is that April is always, without a doubt, the lowest winning weight tournament of the year in the LBL division of the BFL's unless of course, the water is in the bushes.

I think one reason I stumble this time of year is the fact that I really, really, really don't like fishing the bank on KY Lake. I like fishing shallow, I just like to stay out in the middle to fish shallow. Barkley is a different story, I have some banks that are a flipper's paradise over there that I have a ton of confidence in but usually it's just a smaller grade fish on average you catch as opposed to KY. That's why this year I decided to be a little more open minded and try and overcome my hatred of bank beating leading up to this tournament.

Another thing I've learned for sure over the years is that I have to be content with "only" being around 2.5 to 3lb class fish this time of year. I say "only" because normally that size fish WILL NOT win or come close to winning on KY Lake. One year I thought I could only catch around 14lbs on KY Lake so I gambled and went to Barkley without practice and only caught a few keepers, 14lbs made the top 5 in that event. That's why this year I had told a couple of my buddies to remind me before this tournament that if I could get around 3lbers, I could end up doing really well.

PRACTICE: I was coming off of a 3rd place finish in the ABA WBS in which I caught my fish shallow but still somewhat offshore on a Redeye Shad and was hoping that would hold up for one more week. I had a guide trip last Tuesday and realized the fish had made yet another move and I knew then that it was inevitable that I was going to have to fish the bank!

Joe Thomas and I have been trying to get together for awhile now and film a show and every time I'm whackin' those ol' biggun's, he's busy. I told him the water would be in the bushes soon and it would make a great show and he said he really needed to do something before that. Wouldn't you know the first time I get to do a major T.V. deal, it's during my absolute least favorite time to fish my favorite lake. I really wanted to have a good day because I wanted Joe to want to come back and film again when the fishing is on fire.  We headed out Wednesday morning and I was just praying something good would happen.

We ran through my Redeye Shad places just to make sure another wave hadn't moved in and I caught a nice smallmouth pretty quickly . Unfortunately that was the only "t.v." fish we caught off of that pattern and we both knew it was bank time. I explained to Joe that I hated fishing the bank but the fish should be on the first available cover closest to the bank so we headed to my favorite creek, that is if I have to venture into a creek. The first piece of cover we came to I pitched in and caught a fish pushing 4lbs and while we were messing with that the wind blew us closer to the bank and Joe popped one on a square bill in the 4lb class.  Long story short, we ended up putting a little pattern together and while we didn't catch a ton of keepers, everyone we caught was in the 3 to 5.5lb range which they said would make for a great show!  I was very relieved that they were happy with the day and it was an absolute blast filming with Joe and Jimmy the camera man.  After just a little while in the boat it was like we'd known each other forever and I look forward to doing it again especially when we can do something fun as opposed to throwing at gravel banks all day! I also got a little excited about what we found that day believe it or not and I had a good  feeling that if the fish were on those type banks on KY, Barkley may just be the ticket for me to break the April curse.

I spent the next two days on south and even further south Barkley and the fishing was phenomenal.  I wasn't catching giant fish, but I caught 15 to 18lbs both days within a few minutes.  I shook off the majority of the bites I had but when I set the hook they were anywhere from 2.5 to 6lbers.  I was getting anywhere from 50 to 75 bites a day and by 2 p.m. Friday, I was headed home to get all of my  Rodents out of storage and get ready to go to work on them Saturday morning.

TOURNAMENT:  I made a short (for me) 50 mile run from Moors Resort to my first stop and couldn't wait to get the action underway.  We caught a couple short fish real quick and I knew it was about to happen.  As I made my way down the bank, bites were few and far between and other than a small keeper my co angler picked up, every fish we caught wasn't even close to 15".  I decided the only thing different that day compared to practice was that the sun wasn't on the bank yet so I made a short run to another good stretch of bank that the sun was beaming down on.  I made it to the end of the stretch and had only caught one short.  I fished over to the other side of the pocket and as I worked my way out I saw a white flash under the water.  I trolled in for closer inspection and I saw about a 3.5lber and a 2lber hovering over a bed.  I dropped my Power Poles and made a quiet pitch to the bed and neither fish moved.  After a few pitches I finally popped the female in the side with my bait and she slowly swam out of the bed and the male back peddled up under some branches.  That's when it hit me that the fish were right smack in the middle of the spawning ritual and the only way to catch them is to pester them into biting.  On a clear lake this wouldn't have been that big of a deal but on south Barkley, it's not an option.  If I had it to do over again, I would've immediately headed back to KY Lake and tried to salvage the day but I noticed in practice the better fish I caught in this particular pocket had some blood on their tails and the fish I caught 25 miles further south didn't.  That made me think that just maybe those more southern fish were still a day or two behind and I could still catch 'em if I fished thoroughly enough.  I made another 25 mile run south and picked every little piece of cover apart and ended up catching one keeper the rest of the day.


SUMMARY:  Believe it or not, I wasn't as bent out of shape over such a horrible day as you would think.  I've been burnt on this same deal before and it's just part of it sometimes during the spawn.  I've had a very blessed season so far and can't let one bomb in a tournament get me down. The main thing I was upset over is not setting the hook on the 50 to 75 bites I was getting in practice.  Had I known they weren't going to bite on Saturday, I would've been sure to let them all know I was there on Thursday and Friday. Congrats to my good friends Jeff Archie, Jackson Ryley and Terry Chastain on top 10 finishes!

This is an entirely different subject but when a guy does what the guy I'm about to talk about has done they deserve some recognition.

A lot of people may have never heard of Tom O'Bryant because he doesn't do the social media thing, or the team deal thing or the fancy jersey thing but what he does do is flat out catch 'em!  He and I became friends a couple of years ago when we dueled it out for the "W" in a couple of ABA WBS events.  The first one was August 2012 and Tom had me beat fair and square but a fish care penalty cost him the win and I ended up with the trophy and the fairly substantial Triton Gold/Mercury check that came with it.  Tom was the first guy to congratulate me and I really respected him for that.  Our next tournament was the two day event and Tom was in first right ahead of me after day one.  His fish didn't bite on day two and for the second time in a month I edged him out and once again he was all smiles and the first to congratulate me.  We went through the same thing last year in the two day event and Tom lost the fish to beat me but I landed every bite I had and once again edged him out.  The point I'm trying to make is that at that point some people would be ready to strangle me and making all kinds of excuses as to why they didn't win but Tom just isn't that way.  He's got the same smile on his face when he catches 8lbs as when he catches 34lbs like he did a month ago.  What he's done the past month is pretty incredible and hasn't gotten a lot of attention because it has been in smaller tournaments that don't get the publicity the BFL's and WBS get.  He's caught five bass over 10lbs the past month, three of which were in competition!  He won a Sportsmen's Digest team event in March with 33.94lbs and had a 10.24 and a 10.98lber!  Yesterday he weighed in 28+ and had an absolute freak that weighed 11.84lbs.  There are a bunch of guys on this lake that a lot of people don't know because they don't play the Facebook game or write articles or wear fancy jerseys that can flat out catch fish as good as anybody on the planet.  These are the guys that don't care about the glory they just fish solely for they're love of our sport and I just want to give a shout out to all of them, especially Mr. O'Bryant.

Me and Joe Thomas Reelin' in the Outdoors!

TOM THE GIANT SLAYER!