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!