KY BWS #4 Practice

Id been guiding on my deep schools a few days a week so I knew all of the best baits and angles for each school. I also knew that it would be tough to catch much more than 15lbs fishing out deep. All of the reports Id heard were that fishing was super tough and some predicted 15lbs a day would win. I felt like if I could catch a 5lber each day to go along with the 3lbers I could catch out deep, Id have a good shot at the win. I spent both practice days trying to figure out how to catch a big fish. The best ways I knew to catch big fish in late summer was to fish isolated stumps and brush in the 4-8ft range with a jig or fish the grass with top water. The first day I headed to the grass determined to throw a Sexy Dawg all day and never lay it down. The hydrilla was dying off and what few patches Id had some success in had disappeared but I stuck with my plan and covered a ton of water. I caught a few fish throughout the day as I worked my way back towards Paris Landing but none were over 2.5lbs. By the time I made it back to the Danville area, I knew the grass wasnt going to cut it. I spent the rest of the day scanning a few schools just to make sure they were still around and hit all of the isolated stumps and brush I knew with a jig. My schools were sitting right where Id left them but I never got a bite off of the stump pattern. This same time last year I caught a lot of fish around the Spiny Naiad and they stayed put as long as there was a little grass left. As I fished on into the fall last year, the Naiad disappeared but I kept beating the areas to death because there had been so many fish around. One day I was fishing one of my best stretches and I saw a huge gizzard shad fly out of the water. I trolled out into the flat and immediately started catching 3lbers on the Sexy Dawg. At the time, I thought it was luck that I happened to be right there when the bass chased the shad through the area, but as the fall progressed I continued to catch fish off of this place and they were always within a few yards of my waypoint. The grass never grew in that area this year but as I ran by it during practice I thought Id twitch my Sexy Dawg around on top of the flat where I caught them last fall. I started shy of my waypoint and as soon as I got within range a 5lber crushed it! I was pretty pumped up because I knew 5lbers were going to be gold in this derby and last year when they were on this stretch they were loaded! Unfortunately I fished around for awhile and never had another bite but I still felt good about possibly getting at least one good one there if I fished it both days of the tournament.


Day two of practice I did more of the same on the north end of the lake. I made sure my schools were still around and fished shallow water for big bites most of the day. Once again, it was a pretty slow day for the most part other than confirming my deep fish were still around. On the way back to the ramp, I ran by a shallow bar I havent fished in a while and wheeled in to make a few casts with the jig. I hit the biggest stump on the bar and a 6.5lber choked it. That was all I needed to see. I packed it up and headed to the meeting with plans of spending day 1 out deep until I caught around 15lbs and then jig and top water for a big fish.