I decided to spend the rest of my practice trying to find a shallow pattern as well as a school or two on an oddball place. I couldn't make anything happen fishing shallow bars, stumps or brush but I did find a couple of schools on some subtle humps in a couple of creeks. The few I caught out of these schools ranged from very small to 3 lbers and I knew that wasn't going to get it done. I happened to run by a place and even though I've never seen the fish get there in late summer, I scanned the ledge. I caught a glimpse of a small group of bass about 20 feet to the left of my boat on my Side Imaging and fired a cast into them. My bait never made it to the bottom and a 4.5lber had it choked! I was pretty pumped over this find and left immediately as not to be seen in the area by any other fishermen. This hidden school was heavy on my mind the rest of the day and I was concerned that they were just passing through the area since I only saw about 50 fish on my Lowrance. On the way in, I had to give it one more look to make sure they were still there and the school had quadrupled in size! I never made a cast because that told me there were more fish coming to the school and I knew from past experience they would have plenty of bigguns' mixed in.
WBS TOURNAMENT: I don't get nervous very often before a tournament but I was a little anxious Saturday morning because I knew if my hidden school would be home, I could get on them and I could execute, I would make a run at the win. When I arrived there wasn't a boat in sight and I pulled up within range of my way point. Me and my co angler, Dave Ruckdeschel, brought an all out assault of crankbaits through the area and never had a bite. I assumed they were gone and I would be in for a long day fighting the crowds and chasing suspended fish around but I decided to drag a jig around for awhile and give them a chance to get grouped up. Within a few casts I had a bite on the jig and because it was still dark and hazy I didn't get a good look at the fish when it jumped so instead of calling for the net I just swung it aboard and threw it in the livewell. About 15 minutes later I felt another tick and swung another good fish into the boat. The fish never truly schooled up, but over a four hour period, I slowly fished back and forth on a 50 yard stretch and we would pick up a fish or two on every pass. Once I started culling I decided to weigh all of my fish and the two I had caught that morning were both 5lbers! I had no idea they were that big and I had nearly 22lbs by 10:30. It was a painstakingly slow way to fish which is not my style and after a couple passes without a bite, I decided to move on. There were two schools that I'd been catching some big ones out of while guiding and they just happened to be a couple that were still lingering around after the 4th of July. It was pretty well known there were some good fish on these two particular places and I really felt like if I could have them to myself I could win the tournament but I knew that would never happen on a Saturday. When I got within sight of the first one there wasn't a boat to be seen. I told Dave that apparently the school wasn't there because if they were there would be multiple boats on them. I scanned the ledge and they were loaded right where they were supposed to be. I'd caught numerous 5-6lbers and 20lb + stringers on my guide trips there and I couldn't believe I was going to get a shot at these girls on a Saturday! I worked on them for at least an hour from different angles with different baits but never could get them to fire. I did catch a few but the only one that helped was a 3.75lber that culled a 3.25lber. I was disappointed I couldn't take advantage of a rare opportunity to get a school like that during a tournament but sometimes they just don't cooperate. Off in the distance I could see the other school that had produced some GIANTS for me on previous trips and they were void of any fishermen as well. I made my way there, scanned around and they were stacked. I worked them over for an hour or so and never even had the first bite. I finished up the day bouncing back and fourth between those two schools but never upgraded. I weighed in 22.14lbs and finished 3rd just 3/4 of a pound shy of the win.
SUMMARY: I had three schools I thought I could put together the winning stringer off of and I had all of them to myself with plenty of room to work, I just didn't get it done. I say it time and time again but all I ever ask for is the opportunity to fish where I feel like I need to fish to win and if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. Third place was good enough for the Triton Gold and Toyota Tundra money so overall it was a pretty good day.
RENEGADE TEAM TOURNAMENT JULY 13: I try to fish a tournament every so often with my good friend, sponsor and owner of Strike Force Fish Attractant, Jeremy Estes. This year it was the Renegade out of Kuttawa Harbor on North Barkley Lake. I was pretty pumped about this one because it was the Twin Lakes division and they always have a 60+ boat field which meant the full Triton Gold bonus of 7 grand was up for grabs. Jeremy and I headed straight to where I started in the WBS and instead of starting with crankbaits we immediately picked up our jigs. It wasn't looking very promising and after about an hour of fishing Jeremy had caught one small keeper. I knew this was going to be our best shot at catching 5lb class fish and was not very happy that they weren't cooperating! I eased along the ledge and when I got to my waypoint where I'd originally found the school in practice, we doubled up. I had a 5lber, Jeremy had a 4lber and it looked like things were about to turn around. We caught small keepers on our next few casts but then it was over. We made several more passes through the area but never had another bite. I'd been keeping my eye on a huge community hole close by that a minimum of 6 boats had set on all day the day before and I hadn't seen any boats around it. This was one of those suspended schools I'd found and I really felt like if we had room to move around with the fish, we could pick up a few good ones. We headed to the ledge and I scanned around and found a group of suspenders. I pulled out my bait that specializes in suspended bass and caught a 3.5lber on my first cast that culled a 2.5. Then I caught several in a row that culled but only by ounces and that little group moved on us. I scanned down the ledge and found the bulk of the school sitting about 10ft off the bottom in 27ft of water. I jumped up and fired a cast right into the school and a 4lber choked my bait within a few cranks of the reel handle. Before we could even get the fish in the live well and cull, the school had moved. I put my Motor Guide on high and started searching for the school on my sonar. I found them about 30 yards away, backed up, burnt my bait through the school and a 5lber stopped it in it's tracks! Once again, I thought we had tapped into the winning fish but then they vanished. I trolled around and then idled around but never could relocate the school. I had another group of suspenders close by that I'd caught some big ones out of so we headed that way. They were sitting right on my way point and we caught a few pretty quickly but they were just 3lbers. With a long run in some pretty rough water and early weigh-in time of 2:00, I told Jeremy we had a decision to make. Did we gamble on the two schools that had failed me the day before which were another 20 miles away, or maximize our time and run back through the two areas that had produced for us so far that morning? With the waves getting bigger by the hour and over 20lbs already in the boat, we both agreed our best bet would be to stay close by and really spend some time trying to get one or two more good bites. I'd like to tell you we relocated one of the schools and culled up to 25lbs but it didn't happen. We never culled the rest of the day and we ended up in 2nd place with 20.77lbs.
SUMMARY: Man! Two nail biters in two days! This one really hurt because the difference in first and 2nd was just a measly $9,000! The worst part about this was that the two schools we chose not to run to produced 24lbs including a 6.5lber in about 15 minutes the next day on a guide trip! I know there's no way to know if we would've caught any of those fish had we gone there on Sunday but when you miss out on 9 grand by about a pound it sure makes you wish you'd at least given them a look!
LBL BFL PRACTICE: By Wednesday after the Renegade, every school I had on the main lake had disappeared. I still had a school of small fish mixed with the occasional good one in a creek but as far as schools went, that was it. I knew then it was time to change gears heading into the BFL. I planned on spending my first day of practice fishing some of the best shallow stuff I know but on the way, just for good measure, I had to scan the place I'd caught my 22lbs in the WBS. Unfortunately it was void of life and I only caught two tiny little bass fishing the shallow stuff the rest of the day. On the way in that dismal day, I decided to scan my 22lb hole one last time just in case they'd shown up because historically it's an early morning and late evening school. I drove down the ledge and when I reached the end.....JACKPOT! They were loaded! I made two casts and caught a 4 and a 5lber and headed to the ramp with a brand new outlook on the upcoming BFL.
I spent the next day scanning South of Paris and fishing shallow bars, stumps and brush. Four hours into the day I hadn't seen a bass on my Lowrance or on the end of my line. I finally decided to check some grass out so I headed to a stretch where I'd won a tournament punching hydrilla back in 2012. The grass was only a couple feet off the bottom so I pulled my swim jig out and started down the edge. On my 6th cast a fish knocked slack in my line but I missed it. I made another cast and caught a 3lber. My next cast I could feel the bass fighting over my bait and one finally engulfed it! My rod loaded up on what felt like a big one and then my line snapped! I tied another jig on, made one more cast, caught a 4lber and I left. I spent the rest of the day scanning and grass fishing but only found one small school on a creek hump and caught a couple of random small keepers out of the grass.
LBL BFL TOURNAMENT JULY 26: I hate to put all my chips in one basket but I knew this tournament depended on my first stop, the place where my WBS fish had suddenly reappeared. I made a mad dash straight there Saturday morning and when I got within sight of it I saw the last thing I expected to see. There was a boat already setting there that wasn't in my tournament. I almost felt like I'd taken 12 grand and set it on fire because that place was no doubt my only hope of winning the tournament. I cruised on by to my next best place trying to keep my composure and when I got to that spot there was a boat with three guys in it jacking on 'em! At that point I was extremely frustrated and was way out of whack with my rotation. I'd wanted to reach my grass fish at about 10:00 and there it was 6:45 and I had nowhere to fish other than my grass stretch. I headed to the grass and spent a couple hours fishing around but my school was nowhere to be found. I did pick up a small keeper on a Sexy Dawg but that was the only bite I had. I worked my way back towards Paris and scanned a creek hump where I'd seen a few in practice and saw three bass sitting there. I was able to catch a 2.75lber on a spinner bait but that was it. I scanned several more places as I worked my way back but never saw a fish. I ended up back where I'd seen the three guys earlier that morning and no one was there. This school had been full of really small bass but about every tenth one I caught, I'd catch a pretty good one. Once I got lined up, I caught six in a row but the biggest two were just small keepers. I could tell the school was feeling the effects of the thrashing they'd taken earlier that day and they would relocate every time I'd catch a few. With nothing better to go to, I decided to really spend some time and chase them around and after a couple hours I had a limit worth about 11lbs. I was about to pull the plug on the operation but I scanned around one last time and spotted the school out in 12ft of water. They had moved out behind my boat and I'd been throwing the wrong direction for the past hour! Once I found them I quickly culled a small keeper with a 2.75lber and my next cast a big one loaded up on my spinner bait. My co angler scooped her up in the net and it was a 6.5lber! Time was running out so I decided to spend the rest of the day just trying to trigger one more big one into biting out of that school but it never happened. It ended up being a tough day on the majority of the field and I managed a 7th place finish with 16lbs 10oz and narrowly missed the big bass money with my 6lb 8oz gift from God. My old buddy Terry Bolton beat me out with a 6lb 12ozer.
SUMMARY: I really like when fishing gets tough in the late summer on KY Lake. The last few years I've been fortunate to figure something out in the dog days of summer when the bite is a little tougher and I've really felt like I had a shot to win the last 8 or 10 tournaments I've fished when lots of guys are crying the blues. This tournament was no different and I was as confident going into this one as I have been all year until I saw that boat sitting on what I thought was my best place. Unfortunately that's part of the game, we all have to deal with it and it's only going to get worse especially during weekend tournaments. I'm just thankful the Good Lord sent me a big bite that allowed me to salvage my day and put a little bit of money in the bank even if it wasn't the $12,000 payday I had my sights set on.
LBL BFL PRACTICE: By Wednesday after the Renegade, every school I had on the main lake had disappeared. I still had a school of small fish mixed with the occasional good one in a creek but as far as schools went, that was it. I knew then it was time to change gears heading into the BFL. I planned on spending my first day of practice fishing some of the best shallow stuff I know but on the way, just for good measure, I had to scan the place I'd caught my 22lbs in the WBS. Unfortunately it was void of life and I only caught two tiny little bass fishing the shallow stuff the rest of the day. On the way in that dismal day, I decided to scan my 22lb hole one last time just in case they'd shown up because historically it's an early morning and late evening school. I drove down the ledge and when I reached the end.....JACKPOT! They were loaded! I made two casts and caught a 4 and a 5lber and headed to the ramp with a brand new outlook on the upcoming BFL.
I spent the next day scanning South of Paris and fishing shallow bars, stumps and brush. Four hours into the day I hadn't seen a bass on my Lowrance or on the end of my line. I finally decided to check some grass out so I headed to a stretch where I'd won a tournament punching hydrilla back in 2012. The grass was only a couple feet off the bottom so I pulled my swim jig out and started down the edge. On my 6th cast a fish knocked slack in my line but I missed it. I made another cast and caught a 3lber. My next cast I could feel the bass fighting over my bait and one finally engulfed it! My rod loaded up on what felt like a big one and then my line snapped! I tied another jig on, made one more cast, caught a 4lber and I left. I spent the rest of the day scanning and grass fishing but only found one small school on a creek hump and caught a couple of random small keepers out of the grass.
LBL BFL TOURNAMENT JULY 26: I hate to put all my chips in one basket but I knew this tournament depended on my first stop, the place where my WBS fish had suddenly reappeared. I made a mad dash straight there Saturday morning and when I got within sight of it I saw the last thing I expected to see. There was a boat already setting there that wasn't in my tournament. I almost felt like I'd taken 12 grand and set it on fire because that place was no doubt my only hope of winning the tournament. I cruised on by to my next best place trying to keep my composure and when I got to that spot there was a boat with three guys in it jacking on 'em! At that point I was extremely frustrated and was way out of whack with my rotation. I'd wanted to reach my grass fish at about 10:00 and there it was 6:45 and I had nowhere to fish other than my grass stretch. I headed to the grass and spent a couple hours fishing around but my school was nowhere to be found. I did pick up a small keeper on a Sexy Dawg but that was the only bite I had. I worked my way back towards Paris and scanned a creek hump where I'd seen a few in practice and saw three bass sitting there. I was able to catch a 2.75lber on a spinner bait but that was it. I scanned several more places as I worked my way back but never saw a fish. I ended up back where I'd seen the three guys earlier that morning and no one was there. This school had been full of really small bass but about every tenth one I caught, I'd catch a pretty good one. Once I got lined up, I caught six in a row but the biggest two were just small keepers. I could tell the school was feeling the effects of the thrashing they'd taken earlier that day and they would relocate every time I'd catch a few. With nothing better to go to, I decided to really spend some time and chase them around and after a couple hours I had a limit worth about 11lbs. I was about to pull the plug on the operation but I scanned around one last time and spotted the school out in 12ft of water. They had moved out behind my boat and I'd been throwing the wrong direction for the past hour! Once I found them I quickly culled a small keeper with a 2.75lber and my next cast a big one loaded up on my spinner bait. My co angler scooped her up in the net and it was a 6.5lber! Time was running out so I decided to spend the rest of the day just trying to trigger one more big one into biting out of that school but it never happened. It ended up being a tough day on the majority of the field and I managed a 7th place finish with 16lbs 10oz and narrowly missed the big bass money with my 6lb 8oz gift from God. My old buddy Terry Bolton beat me out with a 6lb 12ozer.
SUMMARY: I really like when fishing gets tough in the late summer on KY Lake. The last few years I've been fortunate to figure something out in the dog days of summer when the bite is a little tougher and I've really felt like I had a shot to win the last 8 or 10 tournaments I've fished when lots of guys are crying the blues. This tournament was no different and I was as confident going into this one as I have been all year until I saw that boat sitting on what I thought was my best place. Unfortunately that's part of the game, we all have to deal with it and it's only going to get worse especially during weekend tournaments. I'm just thankful the Good Lord sent me a big bite that allowed me to salvage my day and put a little bit of money in the bank even if it wasn't the $12,000 payday I had my sights set on.
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