KY BWS #2 May 4, 2013

I can’t remember the last time I was nervous over a tournament but I couldn’t wait to get this one started. I knew if they bit half as good as they did on Wednesday I’d have a shot at the win. I talked to my good buddy David Gnewikow at the meeting Friday night and he informed me that he didn’t experience the phenomenal flipping bite I had on Wednesday during his practice session on Friday. He did however check a lot of the cranking holes I’d eliminated and several of them were loaded! That got in my head a little because I knew I’d either missed them, or they’d made a move since I’d been on the lake and when they come out, they come out fast. I knew several of the places David had found them on but there was no way I was going to fish them against him since I would’ve still thought they were void of life if he hadn’t told me they’d shown up. I did make a quick stop on the place I’d caught the most fish off of on Wednesday that morning and caught a 3lber and a few small keepers on my 5XD but that was it. I threw the 3lber in the livewell but tossed the little keepers back because I was pretty sure I could make those up once I started flipping. I headed to my best flipping area and just like clockwork, I got a bite on my first flip! I knew I was about to bow up on a giant and when I set the hook an 8”er came flying out of the water! That was not what I wanted to see. When I set the hook here in practice it was at least a 4lber, every time! After 30 minutes, I hadn’t had another bite and as hard as it was to accept, I knew I was in for a long day. I stuck to my plan and flipped the entire day all over the lake and when it was said and done, I’d only caught about 20 keepers and not a single one of them would weigh 4lbs. It was a gloomy ride back to Moors Resort and when I found out the cranker’s had all smoked them, it made it even worse. I weighed 17.41lbs and managed the last check in 14th place and the Toyota Bonus Bucks which eased the pain a little. The good news was my ‘ol buddy David G caught a pile of fish on his 6XD that day and the biggest five weighed in at 26.04lbs and he went home with the win! Congrats David!


SUMMARY: I’ve been burnt flipping more times than not but when those big egg laden girls are stacked in that brush like they were on Wednesday, it’s hard to imagine that’s not the way to win. One thing I learned from this tournament is that I need to start practicing on Friday again. I’ve gotten away from it the past couple of years because there are so many boats on the water and I like to spend that day prepping tackle for the tournament. Things change so fast, especially this time of year, you can miss the winning pattern by a day or two and David proved that to me in a big way.