LBL BFL #3 Practice

BARKLEY BFL PRACTICE DAY 1: Both lakes were getting pounded before this tournament with several big weekday fish offs and classics coming out of the north end. Plus, the Austin Peay University tournament was scheduled the same day as our BFL and they were coming out of Paris Landing and always draw over 300 boats. A friend of mine was fishing the USA Bassin Classic out of KY Dam on Thursday and Friday and since I knew the Paris area would be covered up on Saturday, I decided to try and help him find some fish for his tournament and hopefully find a pattern I could run myself on the north end of KY Lake during my BFL. We hit the lake Tuesday and the first high water crankbait spot I pulled up on produced several 3lb fish and a couple of 4lbers and they were sitting right where they were supposed to be. The next couple places I hit were fishless so I decided to idle around and try and find them with my Lowrance. The next four places we hit I was able to spot small groups of 4 to 6 fish but they were all over the place as far as where they would be sitting. Some were on the tips of bars, some off the sides, some right on top. It was a time consuming way to try and locate them and when theyre in groups that small you can easily over look them. When we found them they were decent fish in the 4lb range but I knew fishing that way would still be a gamble at least for me making a long run on Saturday.


BARKLEY BFL PRACTICE DAY 2: I hit the water with my buddy again on Wednesday and we spent some time around the Paris area trying to expand on what we'd found Tuesday. It was the same type of deal where Id idle around for 30 minutes, spot a few on the Lowrance and crank them up with a 5XD. The pattern was holding but the size was going down. Most of the fish we caught that day were 2.5 to 3lbers. I decided to do some flipping just to make sure we werent over looking something and we caught plenty doing that but nothing over 3.5lbs.


BARKLEY BFL PRACTICE DAY 3: Not really impressed with what Id seen on KY Lake, I still had Barkley as an option. If the water had been normal it wouldve been a no brainer as to where I wouldve gone, south Barkley. With the water being four feet high though, Barkley had me nervous because Ive never done much good over there in high water so I decided to phone a friend. I called my buddy Tommy Ellis who has been flipping on both lakes probably as long as anyone. I asked him if he had any advice on flipping on Barkley in high rising water. Without hesitation he replied, “Yes, go to KY Lake!” I told him Id done some flipping on KY and wasnt seeing any size and he assured me there were plenty of big fish left in the bushes so I hit the water Friday morning with one rod on the deck of my Triton. I flipped all day and while I caught plenty of fish, I still never saw anything much over 3lbs so I decided to spend my tournament flipping and possibly scanning a bar or two for some of those small groups of 4lbers.