BFL KY LAKE REGIONAL OCTOBER 15-17, 2015

BFL REGIONAL PRACTICE: KY Lake had been off limits for a couple weeks and I wasn’t allowed to talk to anyone who’d been on the water. I followed tournament results closely and there were a couple of things I figured out from that. The top-water guys were not catching them good but neither were the grass fishermen. I also felt like I’d found the part of the lake with the biggest population of top-water fish in my previous BFL and I knew a few other guys also knew they were in those areas and none of them did very well in the tournaments that had taken place during my off limits.

I was determined to live and die with top-water in the regional and I still felt like the northern ¼ of the lake was the place to do it. I knew the schools I’d located before my last tournament had to be somewhere and I had 5 days to find them.

BFL REGIONAL PRACTICE: Practice started off pretty good. After some serious map study I’d picked out a couple areas that I felt were set up right to hold a school of spook fish. The 2nd one I pulled up on was absolutely loaded and I had 10 bites on 8 casts and got out of there as quickly as possible so I wouldn’t be seen.

It took me about two hours to find the next school and while they didn’t look as big, I had 3lbers fighting over my plug as I walked it to the boat.

I ended up finding two more top-water schools that day and about 100 yard stretch where I could get a few bites. I checked my little deep school that bailed me out in my two day right at the end of the day and they were stacked!

I was feeling very confident going into day 2 of practice but after several hours of fishing the best stuff I know, I had one blow up on my spook.

I ran around and checked some other patterns and ended up catching a couple of short fish.

I decided on day 3 that I needed to focus more on the part of the lake I’d found so many fish in on Sunday. After 5hrs. I hadn’t had a bite! I decided to sneak in and check one of the schools I’d found on Sunday and never had a sniff there.

I was losing confidence by the minute and decided that my best bet would be to get off the water, prepare my tackle and make any adjustments that needed to be made during the tournament.

BFL REGIONAL DAY 1 OCT. 15: With 189 boat field stacked with some of the best fishermen that aren’t fishing at the tour level I’ve ever competed against, I was concerned that all of my schools had been found by some of my competition.

I was hoping to get a good boat draw on day 1 because it was going to be by far the best weather/water conditions to catch a giant bag of the entire tournament and I wanted to be sure I got a shot at what I felt was the best school on the lake.

I took off boat 16 Thursday morning and let my Triton/Mercury eat in route to my first stop. I was very relieved to see the area void of any other boats when I arrived. 

I started short of my waypoint and had that anxious feeling wondering if my fish would still be around. On about my 2nd cast I told my co that I believed these were the winning fish I just didn’t know if they’d stay put for 3 days and before I finished the sentence a couple of good ones ran shad out of the water right on my waypoint from practice! 

I bombed a cast into the frenzy and for the next half hour I had a blow up on every cast! I made my first cast at 7:30 and at 7:52 I culled my first fish. When the action slowed it was a good feeling having a limit so fast but I was very disappointed in the size of the fish. I had about 13lbs in the boat and had missed a 5lber. I stayed there until 9am just to make sure no one else tried to come in on my school and I never saw another boat. 

I made about a 5 mile run to my 2nd best school and just like clockwork they were sitting right where I’d found them. I caught about 15 keepers out of that school and culled a couple times by ounces and then I hooked into what I was looking for. I made a loooooong cast with my spook and twitched it twice and a 6lber gobbled it up! That gave me around 17lbs and once the action slowed I headed south to fish for giants but never had a bite the rest of the day. 

I was a little surprised and concerned that I’d caught so many fish that day and didn’t have more big bites as I knew it would only get tougher with a major cold front passing through but I still held the day 1 lead by over 2lbs.

BFL REGIONAL DAY 2:  I was one of the last boats to take-off on day 2 but wasn’t concerned as I hadn’t seen another boat all day the first day. The wind was howling out of the north and when I reached my starting spot there were already 3ft mud rollers breaking over the bar. I’ve caught plenty of fish in those conditions but I just had a bad feeling for some reason. 

I fan cast around the area for about 20 minutes without a bite and something was telling me I needed to leave. I raised my power-poles and started packing up and the wind blew me 30 or 40 yards up onto the bar. Just before I left I power-poled down again and decided to make a few more casts. I cast my bait out of sight and a 2.5lber choked it! My next cast a 2lber ate it but came off. My next cast one missed it and that was the last bite I had on top. 

I knew my school was sitting there for the taking and while I’ve tried to catch these top-water fish 100’s of different ways in the past, it’s never worked. 

I’ll never really know why I did it other than the good Lord was looking out for me, but I dug around in my Triton and pulled out a 5/8oz. Yo-Zuri Rattling Vibe, tied it on the first rod I could get my hands on and fired a long cast out into the school. I burnt the bait about 10 times and killed it and a 3lber swallowed it! I caught about 20 in a row and then the school broke up but I knew the rattle bait was going to be key for the rest of the tournament. 

With the lake swelled up and no success on my southern big fish haunts on day 1, I decided to manage my time and rotate all of the schools I’d found in practice in a 10 mile stretch of the lake and just milk them for all they were worth. 

I upgraded several times throughout the day, weighed 14lbs 15oz and took a 3lb lead into the last day.

BFL REGIONAL DAY 3: The top 12 fished on day 3 and I really liked the conditions we had that morning. It was still a north wind but it had layed down a little and it just seemed like a top-water day. Just a few casts into the morning a big one blew my spook out of the water but missed it. I caught a small keeper and then picked up the vibe. I caught another keeper on the vibe and several short fish and then I hooked a big one! I fought it all the way to the boat and it pulled off! Not what you want to see when you have 65 grand on the line! I made a short move to a school I’d added to the rotation on day 2 and caught a 2.5lber and a 3lber but that was it.

My next stopped produced several keepers for my co and I finally hooked into a solid 3lber that jumped off right by the boat! 

I could feel the win slipping away but I had a very peaceful feeling come over me. I knew that I’d done everything I could do to win and it just wasn’t meant to be. Once I accepted the fact I probably wasn’t going to win but I was at least going to the All American next year, I really settled down and just cut up with my co, fished and had fun the rest of the day. I eventually caught a limit and culled a few times but overall it was by far the toughest day yet.

On my way to Wal-mart I text my parents and friends who were coming out to watch the weigh-in and let them know that I wasn’t going to win the tournament but I was ok with that. They all told me the normal stuff about I should still feel good about doing as good as I’d done and all that good stuff.

Once we got to Wal-mart I saw the guy that had the best chance to catch me and asked him if he wanted to make it dramatic and wait until we put them on the scales or tell each other what we had. He said there was no drama he didn’t catch anything! I said man I had a bad day you don’t need much to pass me and he said “I zeroed!” I felt bad for him but I suddenly had a ray of hope. I looked around and found the guy in 3rd and I knew he needed about 18lbs to knock me out. I asked him if he had 18 and he said it would be real close and my heart sank a little but I sucked it up and congratulated him and then he laughed and said he was kidding he only had 2 fish! I couldn’t believe what was about to happen but it looked like I’d just won my first boat and close to 70 grand but we wouldn’t know for sure until the scales closed.

I was the last to weigh-in and my 12lbs 2oz was over 7lbs more than enough for the win.

SUMMARY: This was a pretty awesome deal I have to say. I’d had a pretty poor year as far as winnings went and the money couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve also wanted to win a boat for a long time and I’ve come close several times but never could seal the deal. I’ve also since found out that the All American is going to be held on Barkley Lake next June where I’ll have a shot at over 100 grand fishing against 49 other guys! This was just a true blessing and it made it even more special after the roller coaster ride I had to make it to this tournament in the Mountain division of the BFL’s this year.

I don’t know the exact number but I’ve been fortunate to win a pretty good chunk of money in the fall on KY Lake the last several years. There’s a lot that goes into what I like to look for but there are 3 things that are musts in what I do this time of year. I wouldn’t have won a fraction of the money I’ve won in the fall without my Power-Poles and my All Pro Rods APX Elite 7’ MH Crankin rod. It’s hard to explain but it’s the absolute perfect rod for launching big top-water baits a mile and hooking and landing big fish on those long cast. The most important thing is my faith in God. All I ask is that he keep us safe and give me the ability to make the right decisions while on the water and he takes it from there. Thank you all for the emails and texts this past month or so, it means a lot!

LBL BFL SUPER TOURNAMENT SEPTEMBER 26-27, 2015

LBL BFL SUPER TOURNAMENT PRACTICE: I really wanted to put my time in for this one for a couple reasons. 

First of all, I was running out of chances to win an event this year and as I’ve said many times before, wins are very important from a financial standpoint because of all of the contingency money I can earn. 

Second, I’ve won 5 of the last 6 two day draw events I’ve fished in September and I really wanted to keep my streak alive. 

I had a feeling last year when I saw more and more boats showing up on the areas I’d had all of my September success that I may have a tough time finding an area with the ingredients I needed to win my 6th consecutive September two day.

The areas I’ve won off of in the past were all out of the way places that took hours or days to pick apart and when I found the fish, I could tell they had never seen a lure before. With baits raining down on these areas on a more consistent basis, I knew the fish wouldn’t have time to build up and settle in and if I was going to keep my streak alive I would have to find a brand new area that I hadn’t exploited in the past.

The catch was that most of the places, new and old, that fit the bill, were covered up with grass.

I spent my first day of practice further north than usual and eliminated everything I had in mind either due to too much grass, or lack of fish.

My second day of practice I fished all of the places I’d done well on in the past and while some were set up right, I never had a bite on my spook.

By day 3 of practice, I’d written off a top-water bite and honestly didn’t know what to do. Top-water has accounted for 75% of the fish I’ve caught in my past September wins and with no deep fish to be found on the ledges, I decided to do something I’ve never tried this time of year and I headed to the back of Big Sandy.

After several hours without a bite I was getting ready to pull the plug and head to the hydrilla where the majority of the fish population was hanging out but I also knew with such thick mats, catching the winning fish from the grass would be a tough task.

Just before I headed to the grass for the rest of the day my good friend Jackson Ryley sent me a text that read, “Don’t give up on your spook, just caught a 6lber!” A couple hours later another text popped in from Jackson, “Just found the Mother Lode!” While I was excited for Jackson and excited to know a top-water bite was happening, I was a little let down that I had given up on it even though I believed a winning school of top-water fish existed somewhere on the lake and if Jackson had indeed found the “Mother Lode”, there was a good chance I was going to get beaten at my own game when the tournament started.

I spent my last day of practice slinging hook-less top-water plugs on a part of the lake I’ve never fished this time of year in a last ditch effort to find the winners.

It started off good and I hit a stretch where I had 7 blow ups on as many casts. This was a good sign but the fish I saw were only 3lb class fish and I knew that wouldn’t get it done.

I went bite-less for several hours and with time running out I made a long cast and a 5lber exploded on my bait. A couple twitches later another big one blew it up and as it neared the boat it had a couple fish in the 6lb class following it in and I knew I’d found what I’d been searching for.

As I headed towards the ramp I remembered a little deep point a school had shown up on this time last year and I decided to scan it with my Lowrance. I was pleasantly surprised to see about 50 bass lined up across the point and my day 1 game plan became very clear. I would rotate between my two top-water schools and if I needed keepers to fill out my limit, I’d hit my deep school.

LBL BFL DAY 1 SEPT. 26: I headed to my best school and caught a solid keeper on my first cast. I was concerned that it wasn’t a giant but a few cast later a big one flushed my spook. I dragged about a 6lber into the net and had that old feeling that good things were about to happen. I spent an hour fishing back and forth on a 25 yard stretch and never had another bite. I headed to the school of 3lbers and after an hour searching for them, they’d vanished. On my way back to the big ones I decided to throw on my deep place and caught a 3lber on a Baja Outdoors X-wing spinnerbait and lost a solid keeper trying to swing it over the side of the boat. To make a long story short, I bounced back and forth between my two top-water schools until the last minute and only had one bite which was about a 2.5lber that jumped off by the boat. On my way in I had a few minutes to spare and was hoping I could scrounge up two more keepers off of my deep spot. I caught one keeper pretty quick and just before I had to head back I hooked up with another 2.5lber but it jumped and threw my bait. I was very disappointed with my day especially since I had several missed opportunities that would’ve at least kept me in the hunt for day two. I weighed in 4 fish for 13lbs. 14oz. and made the day 2 cut in 11th place about 10lbs out of the lead.

LBL BFL DAY 2 SEPT. 27: I knew being 10lbs back would be tough to overcome but I’ve also seen 30-40lb stringers this time of year and whether I’m in the lead by 10lbs or behind by 10lbs in a multi-day event, I know it’s not over until it’s over.

I decided to run the same route I’d run on day one and if it didn’t pan out in the first couple hours I would gamble and make a run south.

I caught a 4lber right from the get go but that was my only bite. My next stop didn’t produce and then I headed for my deep school to try and scrounge up a limit. I caught two solid keepers there on the X-wing but that was it.

I headed south and ran a series of shallow water sweet spots. I reached the first one, dropped my power-poles and began fan casting my spook around the boat. About 10 cast in a big fish exploded on my spook and I thought it missed it. I was looking for my spook on the surface and my rod started loading up. I leaned into the fish and couldn’t budge it. I eventually worked a 6lb. 14oz. toad into the net. I was pretty pumped but I knew I needed 4 more bites like that to have a shot at the win.

I ran a dozen more places just like that one and never had another bite. I headed back north and allowed myself a few minutes on each of my starting places and ended up catching another 4lber on my last stop.

Once we arrived at Wal-mart for weigh-in most of the other competitors were grumbling about how tough it had been. I weighed-in 20lbs 7oz and took the lead. One by one guys weighed just a couple fish and the next thing I knew it was down to me and the day 1 leader. The tournament director asked me how I felt about it and I told him that I knew I wasn’t going to win I just hoped I lost by more than 2.5lbs as I’d lost several fish on day 1 that would’ve easily made up that deficit.

I had no idea what the day 1 leader had caught and when the scales settled I was very relieved to see 20lbs 7oz on the screen.


SUMMARY: I talk a lot about how finishing 2nd is tough to stomach and there’s a big difference in pay between 1st and 2nd but if I have to finish 2nd this is how I like for it to happen. Kyle Metzger had found the winning fish and caught them and beat my tail by almost 10lbs. I can live with finishing 2nd in a situation like that because even if I’d landed every fish I’d hooked during the tournament, I still couldn’t have won. It was disappointing to see my winning streak in September come to an end but I felt I’d at least had a decent showing and I had a weird feeling that God had a bigger plan for me in the form of a good finish in my upcoming BFL Regional on KY Lake October 15,

Nightfishion Classic and Barren River BF

My main focus heading into September should’ve been the last Mountain Division BFL Super Tournament on the Barren River. I’d dug quite a hole for myself and between missing a tournament and having a top 10 fish jump out of my bag on the way to the scales in the June event, I was sitting in 71st in the point’s standings. The good news was that FLW was taking the top 50 in points to the regionals this year instead of the top 40 but while I was only 21 places out of where I needed to be, I was actually 60 points out of the top 50. That meant not only did I have to have a good tournament, I needed some guys inside the top 50 to zero in the last event if I were to have any prayer of making the top 50 and qualifying for the KY Lake regional which was the whole point of me fishing that division to begin with. So, instead of spending every spare second I had on the Barren trying to figure it out, I decided to fish a night tournament on Barkley Lake with my good buddy Mike Hardin the last weekend of August and then spend the week before the tournament chasing big smallmouth in Northern Michigan with my good friend Troy Hollowell! What can I say, I’m a sucker for those big northern brown fish!

NIGHTFISHION CLASSIC PRACTICE AND TOURNAMENT: I try to fish one night tournament a year with my good friend Mike Hardin. He loves it, is very good at it and I think we’ve won all but one that we’ve fished together and we finished second in that one. We usually fish out of Paris Landing Marina against a pretty small field and don’t weigh-in until 2am. Mike had asked me to fish the Nightfishion classic with him this year and it was going to be a little bit different. One big difference was that we were launching out of Barkley State Park about 30 miles from KY Lake and we had to be back at Midnight. Normally we would’ve just fished around close and enjoyed the peace and quiet of a night time derby but this tournament paid 10 grand for first place! That’s some pretty serious cash for a night tournament and we both agreed our best shot at the win would be to make a long run to Paris. That’s where I felt confident in catching a few before dark and that’s Mike’s bread and butter after the sun goes down. Not knowing if it was even feasible to make that kind of a run at 4pm and be back by midnight, I decided to do a little scouting on North KY Lake just in case we couldn’t make it all the way to Paris. While talking to Troy Hollowell about our Michigan trip I asked him what the fish were doing on North KY. He said that a lot of schools had shown back up on the ledges and they had some grown ones in them. I headed out the Thursday before the tournament and I couldn’t believe what I saw on my Lowrance. The schools from Kenlake to Danville had been gone for over a month and it seemed like every obvious place north of Kenlake was loaded! Not only were the northern ledges loaded with bass but they were big ones too! It was more difficult to catch a 2lber than a 5lber if that tells you what kind of quality was swimming around down there. I told Mike I thought we could catch well over 20lbs before dark but we’d need to stay north on KY Lake which would take him out of range of his normal night time stomping grounds. He said that was fine and that we would make due once it got dark because 20+ sounded good to him.

We had around 100 boats which I knew was going to be a cluster trying to run around in the dark on Barkley Lake but we launched at 4:05pm and headed towards the canal. We reached our first school at 4:35pm and I caught two small keepers on my first cast on a crankbait. My next cast produced a 3lber and then they scattered. I wasn’t worried about it too much because I really didn’t think we’d have that much company but the next six places I wanted to fish had at least one boat sitting on them. We found one that was open and I saw a few scattered bass on my Lowrance. Mike popped a 4lber on a swimbait but that was it for that spot. We headed back to where we’d started and the school had regrouped. We caught doubles on about six casts in a row but they were all short fish. After about 20 minutes without a bite we were running out of daylight and I was running out of ideas as to what we should do. Just before I pulled the plug on that school I caught a 3lber as I was pulling my swimbait out of the water. We decided to make one more lap around the lake and see if any schools had opened up and if not we’d get our night gear rigged up.

Every school was still getting hammered so we got night ready and headed to a stump filled ledge. I was pretty disappointed that we only had 15lbs before dark and I knew I’d put Mike in a bind having him so far from his best night stuff. He assured me we would be ok and once it got good and dark he bowed up on a good one. I cut my head lamp on and netted a good largemouth that culled a 15” keeper. We weren’t real sure just how big that fish was as it’s hard to judge when it’s pitch black but we guessed it was around 5.5lbs.

About a half hour went by and we just kept working back and forth on the ledge and then I loaded up on a good fish. Mike scooped mine up and I culled another 15”er. He asked me how big mine was and I said around 5lbs. We decided to spend the rest of the evening fishing around that same ledge and we each lost a good fish but never caught any that would help our cause. We thought we had around 19lbs and when we got to weigh-in I was blown away when I heard that 29lbs was leading. That is a monster stringer any time of year but for a night tournament on Barkley in August, that’s ridiculous!

When we got to the scales they wanted us to weigh one of our big fish and when Mike picked the two big ones up not only could we barely tell them apart, they were substantially larger than what we thought. The one Mike had caught definitely had the fattest belly so we dropped her on the scales and she weighed 7.03lbs! That was a nice surprise and she ended up being big fish of the tournament and our total weight was good enough for 4th place at 23.38lbs.

SUMMARY: Apparently we weren’t the only ones that got the memo on the biggun’s being out on North KY Lake. The top 7 all came from that area and amazingly 1st and 2nd both had they’re weight before dark. We took home a little over a grand for our efforts and it’s always a good time fishing with my old buddy Mike Hardin. I couldn’t have done it without him because there is no way I would’ve run all the way to Barkley State Park in the dark! I lost a few years off of my life as I was a nervous wreck the entire way but once again the good Lord took care of us and for that I’m very thankful.

BARREN RIVER BFL PRACTICE: I had an absolute blast catching big smallies with Troy up in Michigan but by the time I got home and got everything ready for Barren, I was down to one full day of practice. The only chance of making the KY Lake regional was to have a good finish in this last tournament and I was afraid one day on an unfamiliar lake just wouldn’t be enough to put it together. A couple of good friends of mine had spent several days practicing and they were nice enough to fill me in on what they’d found since I had a limited practice session. The main thing they told me was that there weren’t any schools left out deep. That narrowed it down because I would’ve spent at least half of my day scanning out deep without that tidbit of info. I rolled into Barren State Park at 6pm on Thursday evening and decided to squeeze an hour or so in before dark. There had been a big school right outside the State Park Marina back in June and I decided to spend some time up shallow in that area in hopes of locating some of the fish that had resided in that school.

I started down the bank and when I got to the back of the cove there was a pile of old docks laying on the bank and out in shallow water. I picked up a tube and pitched around them and caught a 14”er. As I made my way to the back of the cove it got super shallow and I could see a stump under the water and I pitched my tube on it and one smoked it so I shook him off. By that time it was getting dark and I was churning up mud so I turned and fished my way back out and ended up getting a couple more bites on the way.

I hit the lake Friday morning and headed up the river. I fished coves, flats, shallow banks, deep banks and everything in between. I got several bites pitching my tube around any isolated wood laying in shallow water out away from the bank but there just wasn’t that much of that kind of stuff. I marked every piece that I could find and didn’t set the hook on any of the fish that bit. I decided I would head back down the lake and spend the last few hours of the day scanning out deep just to be sure I couldn’t find any schools. Just when I got to the area I wanted to scan in a big storm started rolling in. I scanned a point and was almost positive I saw a few bass laying on it and they were on the back side about halfway down the structure. I ran to another point close by and the tip where the fish would normally be was void so I got on the backside and eased along the length of the point. When I got halfway down the point I saw a HUGE school of bass off to my right. I couldn’t believe there was such a giant school on such an obvious place that no one had found but all I could figure is that they were so far down the point they’d been over looked. By then thunder was booming and I was ready to take cover but I had to make sure they would bite because on my last trip to Barren even though you found big schools most of them still wouldn’t bite. They were suspended up off the bottom a little bit so I fired a BAJA X spinnerbait out into them and burnt it through the school and a 3lber choked it. Another big bolt of lightning hit nearby so I headed to the ramp with an entirely new game plan for day 1 of the tournament.

BARREN RIVER BFL DAY 1 SEPT. 12: I was boat 72 out of 107 and had a bad feeling I would never get a shot at the big school I’d found Friday afternoon. I headed straight there and was pleasantly surprised when I had it all to myself. I decided not to scan it and instead just fish where they’d been the day before.

I started just short of my waypoint and within a couple cast my co-angler caught a 4lber. A few casts later I caught a 3lber and then he caught a 3lber. My next cast I caught a small keeper and then a 4lber. It looked like it was going to be an easy limit and a great start to the day and then they shut off. I could still see them on my sonar and tried every bait in my boat from every angle imaginable but at 10:30 we hadn’t had another bite.

I decided to run up the river and flip some wood and come back to my deep school later in the day. I got very few bites flipping and the only one I hooked was about a 2.5lber that got wrapped around a log and came off. I headed back to my deep fish and spent the last few hours of the day trying to coax one more bite out of them but it never happened. I weighed in 3 fish for 8lbs 13oz and surprisingly made the day 2 cut in 16th place.

BARREN RIVER BFL DAY 2 SEPT. 13: I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my deep fish biting on day 2 but had to try them. I started there and fished for about 15 minutes without a bite and then decided to scan the point. There were only four bass left down there and I knew I had to make a change. With lots of time left I decided to ease in behind the marina I’d fished on Thursday evening. I got back to the pile of abandon docks and started picking them apart with my tube. I made a long pitch over a dock and hooked a fish pushing 3lbs. It flew out of the water and then headed straight under one of the docks. I tried to get enough leverage to swing her over the dock but she came unbuttoned. I hated to see it happen but knew I was taking a chance before I ever made the cast. I pitched right back into the same spot and yanked a small keeper over the dock and into the boat. I worked my way on into the back of the pocket and it looked much different with the sun shining. There was a nice little distinct ditch that snaked around the flat. I could see dark spots resembling old stumps scattered around on the flat. I started pitching to the dark spots and I saw a good fish flash on my bait and swim out with it. I set the hook and a 4lber went tail walking across the water and came unbuttoned! At that point I was getting very frustrated after seeing two good fish on the end of my line and had neither one in the boat. A few pitches later another fish thumped my tube and I missed it on the hook set. It was pretty obvious there were several fish in that little pocket so I got on my navionics map and tried to find similar places. The first one I checked wasn’t set up right but when I got to the back of the second one it was perfect. A 2.5ft deep ditch winding through a 1.5ft deep mud flat. I dropped my power poles and started pitching at any dark spot I could see and on about my third flip a 3lber ate it up. I set the hook, got it half way to the boat and it came off! At that point I lost it and threw my rod down and broke the tip off and that just happened to be the only flipping stick I’d brought with me. I regained my composure, rigged up another rod with a different hook and when I stood up I saw about a 3lb fish swimming right towards my boat. I was sure it was a carp or a sickly drum or something but as it got closer I verified that it was a largemouth! I’ve never seen a bass acting quite like that and assumed it was injured or blind or on it’s death bed. Just for the heck of it I pitched my tube right on top of it and it’s gills flared as it engulfed my bait. I couldn’t believe what a freebie I was about to get and when I set the hook I came up empty. By that point it was almost comical how many good fish I’d missed or lost and I told my co-angler I didn’t even want to get another bite because I knew I wouldn’t land it. I worked my way around the creek and the last really good looking piece of wood I pitched on I had another solid keeper pull off right as it was coming out of the water. Very frustrated, I was ready to throw in the towel and I told my co, who was a local, I’d take him anywhere he wanted to go. I took him into a big shallow pocket he liked and he caught a keeper and a 3lber back there but I never got a bite. As we were back there fishing I knew I’d figured out probably the best pattern on the lake with the little ditches in the back of the pockets if I could only get the fish in the boat so I decided to run back through everything I’d already fished. I ended up catching two more keepers and a 3lber but time finally ran out. I weighed in 4 fish for 8lbs 10oz and moved up to 8th place for the tournament and squeaked into the KY Lake Regional in 44th place in the points!

SUMMARY: This was a fun but stressful tournament. I knew every bite was critical as far as me making the Regional and when I lost 12lbs worth of fish in the first few hours I just knew I’d blown my shot. I luckily stayed with it and ended up catching just enough to make it to where I needed to be. I’m not real sure why the fish weren’t hooking up good. I was actually running a pattern I run on KY Lake in the spring during the spawn when the water is low and the fish at Barren were acting and biting like spawning fish. I don’t know enough about the spawn to know if there was possibly as second spawn going on but something was definitely strange about the whole deal. Oh well, at least I accomplished the main goal of qualifying for the Regional on KY Lake in October which could be worth as much as 70 grand and an All American berth.