Thanks to Terry Bolton’s 8oz of dead fish penalties, Steve Kennedy walked away with the $100,000 pay day. This FLW tour stopped proved to be more fruitful than the previous stop at Lake Cumberland.
1st- Steve Kennedy with limited practice quickly eliminated thoughts of a shallow pattern and focused dragging a PJ’s Finesse football jig paired with a Kinami Double Tailed Grub on deep river ledges. When the jig slowed he Carolina-figged 10.5″ Zoom Ole Monster Worm. He also weighed on Nories Bugs , Baby Brush Hogs & a Bomber Fat Free Shad. He attributes his success to fishing the football jig, which is a technique learned from a co-angler on Kentucky lake a few years ago.
2nd – Terry Bolton really had the winning fish has he been able to keep his fish alive. He also probed deep ledges with 4 baits that he fished erratically. The 4 main baits were the following: 3/4oz Terry Oldhan Chart/White Spinnerbait, 5/8oz custom football jig (black/brown or gourd green) made by David Crass tipped with a green-pumpkin Zoom Chunk , Zoom Ole Monster Worm (plum) paired with 3/8oz Tru-Tungsten Tungsten Sinker, and finally a Chart/Blue Luhr Jensen Hot Lips. He attributes his success to local knowledge and fishing deeper than most.
3rd – Gary Yamamoto split his time deep & shallow. Once he made the Top 10 cut, he decided to chase fish in less pressured fish, by fishing what he called ugly water. He junk fished with his new “swimming senko” that does not have a real name and is not out yet. His deeper spot was in a marina and he used a Kut-Tail worm (green-pumpkin/chart tail) on a Shakey-head . He attributes success to versatility and previous knowledge from other tournaments.
4th – David Fritts fished ledges with crankbaits, what else would you expect. He only used two bait, Rapala DT 14 & DT 16 in Pearl/Blue Back & Pearl/Brown Back colors. Fished them both on 10lb Rapala cranking line and changed the hooks out for #4 VMC Sure Set Treble Hooks.
5th – Curt Lytle fished shallow on Lake Barkley all 4 days. He rotated between a Berkley Power Hawg & a Power Jig . He targeted post spawn fish in heavy laydowns & logs outside of coves. All his fish came between 3-6ft of water. His success came from a solid seasonal pattern and sticking with it.
This tournament had several patterns going, but it seemed the deep ledge fish dominated. On a side note, Jim Moynagh, Carver, MN Pro has continued his success this year with a strong 8th place finish and lead after two days. His day-2 bag was the biggest of the tournament (23-04) which he caught on his All-Terrain Rock Jigs.
Rich
www.richlindgren.com
basstournament.blogspot.com
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