Sportsmen's Digest Tuesday Solo Cup #1

I caught numerous 20+ lb stringers on guide trips in the middle of the week last summer when the current was flowing and I could fish anywhere I wanted because no one else was on the lake. Saturday would roll around and Id have to drive by 40 schools before I could find one with no one sitting on it and when I finally found a place the fish wouldnt cooperate because the current wouldnt be moving. Id work my tail off to catch a limit of 2.5 to 3lb fish and all the way back to weigh-in think, “if only this was last Tuesday!” I thought how cool it would be to have a BWS or BFL type event during the week when conditions are optimal and we could all fish where we wanted to fish because there arent 10,000 boats on the water. I just happen to know a great tournament director named Randy Sullivan and I ran the idea by him and the next thing I knew the Tuesday Strike King Solo Cup was born. Its still in its infancy and this first event was somewhat of a test run but with the positive feedback weve gotten so far, it looks like the Solo Cup is here to stay and we have another event scheduled for October 29th. We had 20 boats show up and another ten guys were out of town that week that wouldve have been there. I really wanted to have a good finish since I had kind of help put it together and I had basically recruited the best fishermen from both ends of KY Lake to come and participate, it was going to be a pretty prestigious event.


Two days before the tournament I got a call from Triton Boats asking if I could help out with a photo shoot Tuesday morning. I was about to turn them down when they informed me that it was for the cover of the catalog and it was in the new Triton TRX! That was all it took to convince me because Id been itching to play around in the TRX plus it was for the cover, I couldnt turn down the cover! I decided I could donate a couple hours of my morning to the shoot and still have plenty of time to fish since they were shooting right around the corner from Paris Landing. So Tuesday morning after everyone blasted off, I headed around the corner to where the shoot was taking place complete with my signature shaggy hair nicely trimmed only to find nobody there! Id gotten my phone wet that past weekend and it was on the fritz but after an hour of waiting around I finally got a call to go through and verified that the shoot had been canceled due to cloudy weather. Most people wouldve probably been upset over losing an hour of fishing time but I was much more concerned over the fact Id gotten my hair cut for nothing. I headed back to Paris Landing and had Randy check my boat and I headed out. Ill go ahead and cut to the chase and let you know I didnt catch them very good. I weighed in 15.63lbs and finished in 7th or 8th place I think but it was everything Id hoped it would be from a fishing standpoint. I ran from Paris past the Blood River and back to White Oak creek and back north of Paris and I got to scan or fish every single place I wanted to fish. The current was rolling and the schools were schooling, I just never caught any over 3.5lbs. Ive said many times, I can live without catching them as long as I get a chance to try and I got to try everything I wanted to try at least once. So many weekend days I never get to fish the places that I think will give me the best chance to win and I think the Solo Cup is the cure for that problem. Matt Nix dropped a pile of grass fish on the scales that weighed almost 29lbs and ran away with first place and the $900 check that came with it. Unfortunately Matt didnt get in the side pot and 2nd place overall finisher Micah Smith took home $500 for 2nd and another $600 in side pot money. Eric Shelton popped a near 8lber for big fish of the tournament! Congrats guys.


SUMMARY: Being able to fish everywhere I needed to fish was a nice change from what Im used to. Im actually so used to fishing the “leftover” holes I may have hurt myself a little because I didnt really know where to start. I ran around fishing every school really fast and never really settled in but Ill take fishing them all too fast over having to milk a school because its the only one I can get any day. Thanks to everyone that came out and I hope to see everyone back Oct. 29th at Paris Landing.

 

KY BWS #4 Practice and Tournament

PRACTICE: The Big Bass Splash was out of Paris Landing and with my lack of success in the grass the few times Id fished it, I made up my mind to practice north on KY Lake one day and south on Barkley one day. I headed to the Blood River area and started staring at my Lowrance and while most of the schools were long gone, the few I found were massive. A few of my schools that had disappeared during July high water had made their way back to the main river ledge and they had multiplied! A couple of these schools probably had over a thousand fish in them by my estimation and while that sounds like the mother lode, its not always good news. Late summer schools tend to suspend really high in the water column which makes them nearly impossible to catch and if you do make them bite, theyre usually on the smaller side in the 2 to 2.5lb range. Apparently these four schools didnt get the memo on it being mid August because they bit like it was June 1st and they were built like it as well! I caught 4lbers out of every one of them usually on my first cast and when I did make multiple casts I caught fish on every one of them. I had low twenties easily on my best five and with Barkley fishing as tough as nails, I knew that kind of weight would put me in contention on Saturday. I never made a cast on Friday because even though I knew it would be tougher on tournament day, there was nothing I could find on south Barkley that would change my game plan. I was KY Lake bound!


TOURNAMENT: I knew something would put a damper on my plans and it did. Thunder was roaring and lightening was all around us as we launched out of Barkley State Park marina. Ive expressed my fear of lightening in past entries and Ive also expressed my fear of the bass refusal to group up on cloudy, rainy days! We lucked out on the storms and by the time I drove 25 miles north on Barkley to the canal and back south 40 miles on KY, I somehow avoided all of the electricity and other than rain drops to the face at 75 mph I was no worse for wear. I arrived at my first spot which was a small school but their usually 4lb class fish and I didnt even have the nerve to scan it. I was afraid I wouldnt see anything and Id get bummed out so I just started fishing. I made a few casts and never had a bite and I knew then they werent home. I finally spotted a couple on my sonar and dropped a Purple Haze, Strike King Super Finesse worm down on them and immediately caught a 17”er. The Super Finesse worm is made of the Elaztech plastic and it is the deal for drop shotting. You can catch hundreds of bass on the same worm and if the fish throws the bait off, it floats back up. One pack will last you an entire season, I trolled around looking for more fish on the sonar and while I was dialed into that my co angler caught a chunky little 3.5lber casting a worm around the boat. I picked up another small keeper on a spinner bait and that was all I could stand. We packed up and headed to one of the 1000 fish schools. I was a little concerned about them being where Id left them Thursday with the clouds over head but I quickly settled down when I reached my waypoint and starting seeing bass! They were lined up for 50 yards just like they were in practice and I knew I was about to put 20lbs in my Triton and 12 grand in my checking account! I got lined up on them and made a cast without a bite. I figured Id missed the school a little so I eased up and fired another cast out and nothing. I was pretty sure I was lined up on them but after ten more casts without a sniff, I figured I had to be missing the school. As I eased towards my waypoint, I saw what I didnt want to see. I started marking bass on my sonar by the hundreds which meant Id just made at least 20 casts right into their nest and they werent interested. My concern had been the fish not being schooled up, I never even considered them not biting. I tried a few different baits with no luck so I finally put my drop shot right in their faces and still couldnt get any takers. I made a big circle around the school raining baits down on them from all angles and I finally hooked up with a 3.5lber on the spinner bait. I fired back out as quickly as I could and popped another 17” keeper. I thought I ignited the school and it was about to be a beat down but I never had another bite. I decided to make a short run and let the fish settle down and try them again on my way back. The next school was loaded as well but proved to be even less productive. I had one more giant school a little further south and there was a huge storm heading that direction. I decided to go try them and hang with them until the storm got close and then head back to my starting place. That group was stacked and I caught several keepers in a row on the spinner bait but they were just 2.5lbers. Once they cooled down I put the drop shot right on their noses and managed to coax a trio of 3lbers into biting. I headed back to my best school to finish out the day and caught a 3.5lber on my first cast but never upgraded after that. I weighed in 16.13lbs and finished in 4th place less than 1.5lbs shy of the win and the 8 grand in Triton/Mercury bonus money!


SUMMARY: Well, I said I can live without catching them as long as I get to try and I got to fish everything I needed to fish and it just wasnt meant to be. It was a little frustrating knowing that on my previous six trips Id boated enough weight to have easily won this tournament and on the day I really needed it I couldnt make it happen. I was definitely around the right kind of fish and I wouldnt change a thing as far as my game plan went. I really think if the sun wouldve shown itself, the fish wouldve been a little more cooperative, but thats beyond my control. Its still tough to be that close to a big pay day but I have several more chances coming up in September and October.

 

Sportsmen's Digest Professional Team Trail #2 Practice and Tournament July 20, 2013

Practice: I had been guiding at least three days a week leading up to this one and I felt like I knew where every school of fish on the lake was living. The good news was I for some reason had been catching some big ones out of a lot of the schools Id found and really felt like a 20 to 25lb stringer was possible. My ol buddy David Gnewikow was heading up to fish with me and was only going be able to practice a half day so we decided to spend that half day trying to figure out a way to catch some really big fish! Our half day didnt go so well and when we put it on the trailer we hadnt even caught a limit of bass! We decided to run my schools that had been producing the biggest fish and then just hit as many places as we could think of where we might catch a big fish. 


Tournament: It started off slow and the first couple schools we stopped on werent grouped up very well and we only caught a few small keepers. I pulled into a bay and fished a hump that produces some big ones this time of year and we ended up catching a 3lber and about a 17”er there. I headed to what had been one of my best schools all the way down by Paris and they were nowhere to be found. We made our way south and Dave suggested we hit a place on the river that we had both fished in the Everstart and neither one of us had fished it since that tournament. I drove over the ledge and they were laying right where they were a month earlier and while they werent just jumping in the boat we did manage a 3lber and a 4lber out of that school. We kept working our way south and were catching a few here and there but nothing spectacular. I drove over a school that I hadnt seen in awhile and I had caught some big ones off of it last year but nothing much over 2.5lbs this year so far. I didnt see a huge number of fish but it was enough to fish for and once I got us lined up we caught em every throw for about 20 minutes. They were nice fish all in the 3.5lb range but I kept telling Dave this spot owed me a big one. Not long after that he set the hook and called for the net. I grabbed the net and he had the fish coming towards the boat and then she went air born! About a 6lber launched into the air and Daves worm came flying into the net! We were both really bummed out because we knew that would be hard to make up but we kept our heads down and kept fishing hard. We made our way a little further South than wed planned on fishing but our final stop was worth it when David popped a 5.70lber on his Rage tail Thumper worm! We made our way back towards KY Dam fishing a few places along the way but never manage to cull any along the way. We ended up winning the tournament with 20.81lbs and had Daves 5.70lber was good enough for big fish honors.


SUMMARY: Wow! David and I finally won a tournament together. We havent fished together a lot but weve had some really good days when we have weve just come up a little short on our previous attempts. Now that weve got the monkey off our back maybe we can get a few more Ws under our belt before the end of the year!

CHURCH TOURNAMENT AND PRACTICE JULY 13, 2013 with the Legend, Ed Gettys

PRACTICE: Ive gotten to meet some awesome people over the years and have become good friends with several of them. When I first started fishing a couple of the first names I ever heard were Ed Gettys and Billy Leadbetter. Ed and Billy were legendary on Lake Guntersville and Ed had gone on to have a very successful draw tournament career with several Everstart, Bassmaster Open and BFL Regional wins to his credit. Ed and I became friends a few years ago and stay with each other when were at the others home lake but Id never had a chance to fish with him until this event. We practiced separately and by tournament day Ed had found about 20 schools he thought had potential to cough up a good fish or two and I had basically eliminated most of my schools for having big fish potential but I did find a new school that I caught a 7lber out of on Thursday. We decided to just head south out of KY Dam and fish everything we could get on that we thought had potential and just see what happened.


Tournament: We headed up the lake and the first three places we stopped on were loaded with bass. We would catch a few really quickly on a 6XD and a Bottom Dweller spinnerbait but then the school would just shut down. I could still see them on my Lowrance after we caught a few but they were just extremely tough to catch. To make a long story short we basically caught a couple off of every place we hit only to have them to shut down after that. We weighed in 17.64lbs and finished 15th out of 225 boats.


SUMMARY: I really enjoyed fishing with my buddy Ed and getting to see how an old school off shore fisherman operates. Ed was fishing ledges when he was 13 years old out of a Jon boat with a rope and a rock to find the drop offs! He has adapted well to the technical side of locating fish but he still uses a lot of his old tricks for lining up on schools and finding the little sweet spots on structure and it was really cool to spend a day in the boat with someone I have so much respect for.

Paul Steele Open Practice and Tournament June 29, 2013

PRACTICE: I had the opportunity to fish the Paul Steel benefit tournament out of Paris Landing with my buddy Triton McClain. Triton is 13 years old and this was our first time fishing together. We headed out Friday to hunt some new places and check some old ones to try and get an idea of what we needed to do on Saturday. Everything was pretty much the same as the last time I had been on the water, schools everywhere with size hard to come by. We managed a couple of decent bites in the 4lb range out of some of the schools wed fished and had about 18lbs for the day. On our way in I ran right by a place that I had found a giant school of fish on early last summer. Id been checking this place several times a week since early may and had yet to see a fish on it so far this year. I had pretty much written it off for this year but since I had to drive right by there I decided to scan over it just for the heck of it. As soon as I hit the top of the bar my Lowrance lit up with bass. I told Triton we were about to smoke em and I caught two 3lbers on my first cast! He made a cast with his 6XD and caught a 4.5lber and we packed up and headed for the house.


TOURNAMENT: We took a left out of Paris Landing and headed straight for our 6XD fish wed left biting on Friday. Last year when I found this school they bit early in the morning and I was hoping they were in the same mood this go round. I made a few casts around my waypoint and never had a bite and was beginning to think they had moved on. I trolled around to hit the bar from another angle and loaded up with a 3lber on my first cast! We caught them every cast for the next hour and when the dust settled we had right at 22lbs in the boat. We ran down south and did everything I could think of to try and upgrade and though we caught a ton of 3 to 3.75lbers we never caught anything that would cull. The wind had picked up and the pleasure boaters were out in full force and unfortunately by the time we made it to weigh in three of our fish and expired and we lost 1.5lbs to fish care penalties. We ended up finishing in 6th place.


SUMMARY: I had a blast fishing with my buddy Triton. We caught well over 100 keepers and unfortunately having those fish expire on us cost us a few places in the standings. I go out of my way to take care of my fish and Im not sure what caused this other than how early in the morning we caught them. Looking back on it we wouldve been better off to just weigh in at 6a.m. and call it a day!

 

KY BWS #3 June 22, 2013

    
I headed straight to my giant school on Saturday morning and caught one over 3lbs on my first cast on a big Shadalicious. I caught a bunch over the next hour and was only keeping fish over 3lbs. The bite finally slowed after another hour or so and I weighed all of my fish and had a little over 17lbs. I was a little disappointed those 4.5lbers didnt bite but I had a feeling they would before the day was over. I ran to another school I found on Friday and culled once with a 3.75lber. I hit another school and caught a few 3s but never culled. I was chomping to get back to where I started but I had one more school I had to check. I drove over them and they were stacked! I have no idea how many I caught but I got tired of catching them on a 6XD and I never culled once with any of them. My co angler did manage a couple of cull fish there so it wasnt a total loss. I headed back to where I started the morning and got right on the stretch where Id caught the big ones on Wednesday. For the last hour of the day I caught a 3.75lber every time I got to my waypoint and culled all but one fish I had in the livewell. Unfortunately 3.75lbers dont win tournaments and I weighed in 18.85lbs and finished in 7th place.


SUMMARY: Well, it was a fun day. I caught well over 100 fish and the bigger fish were right where they were supposed to be, they just werent big enough. I still had a blast, got a little check and won some more Toyota money so I cant complain. Oh yea, that Gnewikow guy had a 9.42lber and won the tournament with 26lbs! Congrats Dave! Again!
      

KY BWS #3 PRACTICE

Id made up my mind there was no way I was strictly fishing school fish in this one because I just couldnt catch the right size. I had a guide trip on Wednesday and I told them we probably wouldnt catch any big ones but we would try and catch 100 fish. We caught 20 on our first stop, 18 on our next stop and 15 on our next stop. We had about 17lbs out of all of those and then I found the biggest school of fish I think Ive ever seen. There were so many I even questioned the fact they could be bass but once we started fishing, they were all bass! We fished a 75 yard stretch pretty quickly and caught 48 keepers along the way. This isnt that unusual but what was special about it is that there was this one little stretch within the 75 yards that produced 24lbs on five casts! We ended the day with 121 keepers and they had a blast and I have a new outlook on fishing the schools in the tournament Saturday. Ive spent the last two days looking and looking and Ive found many new schools but Im back to the old 3lber syndrome. On the way in on today I drove over the 75 yard stretch I guided on and they were loaded! Thats where Ill spend the majority of my day tomorrow, we'll see what happens!