Paris,
TN - Following an epic slugfest at Alabama’s Lake Guntersville, anticipation is high heading into the sixth stop on the 2009 Bassmaster Elite Series at Kentucky Lake. Deviating from the normal Thursday through Sunday format, this week the Elite anglers will begin competition on Wednesday and conclude on Saturday afternoon.
One other noted difference is that this year, the Elites will be launching out of Paris Landing in Tennessee rather than over 40 miles down lake at the Kentucky Dam where they launched in 2008. In ’08, many of the top contenders made the run up to Paris while several top finishers also worked exclusively in Lake Barkley, now located over a 40 mile run from launch.
(Photos by Mark Jeffreys and Matt Pangrac)
While the Elites got a break from the raingear several weeks ago at Guntersville, it looks as though the raingear might be necessary once again this week. Scattered thunderstorms are predicted for the opening two rounds of competition with high temperatures dipping into the low 70s for Thursday and steadily climbing into the 80s again by the conclusion on Saturday.
While there are some quality bass to be had, many of the anglers that The BZ spoke with at the Paris Landing ramp on Monday evening, said that finding consistent numbers of quality bites was akin to finding a needle in a haystack.
When speaking of the current conditions, the key emphasis is on the current – or lack of. With the majority of the field predicted to mine Kentucky’s infamous off shore ledges, current should play in important factor in success this week. However, many anglers noted that the strongest current didn’t appear until later on in the first two practice days, long after tournament hours would have concluded.
When the Elites visited Kentucky last year in mid June, Kevin VanDam stood atop the podium with a four day total eclipsing the 80 pound mark. His winning combination of a spoon, crankbait, and jig should all play again this year. In 2006, Morizo Shimizu won on Kentucky with 66 pounds of bass.
With only two tournaments left in the regular season after Kentucky Lake, it’s time to start looking at the 2009 Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year race. Currently, Kevin VanDam holds a slim lead over Skeet Reese. Alton Jones sits almost 60 points back in third, followed by Aaron Martens. When VanDam won in 2008, Reese, Jones, and Martens all logged top 30 finishes.
Here’s what some of the anglers had to say about their first two days of practice on Kentucky Lake:
Greg Hackney
“It’s actually a little tougher than I expected. They’re not running a lot of water but they did run a little bit this morning and the fishing was good then. It’s easy to get bit after they stop running water but it’s hard to catch the quality ones. The lake is in incredible shape and historically, they run the water during the week so I feel like they are going to run it during the tournament and it’s going to be normal Kentucky Lake – big bags and lots of them.
“I actually think that going out of Paris, we are on the better end of the lake. It’s had grass the last couple of years and so I think on average that will help the weights. I don’t necessarily think that it’s easier to catch numbers on this end but I think there’s more quality on this end. I think you’ll be able to look right outside the take off and see a bunch of anglers.
“Barkley could play, but it’s going to be hard to beat Kentucky Lake as good as it is right now. I don’t think that it’ll be as good as Guntersville, but I still expect to see 90 pounds to win maybe close to 100. Guntersville was unbelievable and I do see Kentucky Lake getting that good at some point because the lake seems to be on an upswing.
“18 to 19 pounds a day will be solid. I think to get a check it will take between 16 and 17 pounds a day.”
Matt Herren
“They pulled the water down about five foot over the last three weeks. It seems like the whole key this week will be finding the groups of fish that have moved out and are set up on that post spawn deal. You have some fish that are coming and some that are on the way so it all comes down to the current flow.
“There’s some water in the bushes and I’m sure that there will be some guys trying to fish them but I’m not one of them. It was really tough yesterday because it was Sunday and there was no current flow. Today, there was a little flow and the bite was a little bit better. Hopefully, we’ll get some more water this week. When the water moves, they bite and when the water doesn’t move, it’s tough.
“The
rain will probably hurt it because as long
as it’s sunny and hot, they will pull
water for electricity. When it’s cloudy
and raining, the area doesn’t need any
juice. The current is really what will fire
the fish up.
“I
think it will take somewhere between 15 and
17 a day to make the top 50. This lake is
absolutely full of 3 pounders. You’re
going to have 20 to 30 guys that are on a
good school of fish and they will snatch
them up and the rest of the guys are going
to struggle.”
Kelly
Jordon
“It’s crazy how many little ones are out
on the ledges. Keepers are kind of hard to
come by until you hit a school of them. I’ve
found a couple schools of them and I hope
they stay there but it’s kind of
frustrating catching little bitty ones on
every cast ten to thirteen inches. Even a
limit of keepers here isn’t going to do
you any good because that will only weight
about 12 pounds.
“You need to find the three to six pounders and right now they are difficult to catch or maybe it’s just that the little ones are getting to the bait first. I’ve caught them mixed in practice and usually when you get around good ones there’s not that many little ones around but this time there are so many little ones that it’s crazy.
“There’s going to be some good fish caught, of course. I think that the fish are moving a lot and I’m scared that the fish I found are going to move. If they will keep it regular, current is a good thing. Somebody is also liable to bust them up on the bank.
“This is the best end of the lake and this year I think there will be a lot more guys on top of each other in some of the more well know areas so guys are trying to spread out. What’s different this year too is that the matted hydrilla is hardly growing at all. The stuff that I’ve pulled up is dead. I sure would have liked to see some green grass mats.”
Gerald Swindle
“The lake is kind of going through a transition. There have been so many boats on the lake – last week they had 375 boats in the Triton Owners tournament and 175 boats in the Triton Gold tournament. There were two tournaments the week before so the fish are moving out but a lot of them are getting removed as they go.
“Practice has been kind of interesting because I’ve had to move around and try to figure out areas where they haven’t been beaten. You can tell when you get on a school that hasn’t been fished for because they’ll eat it. When you find a school that has seen pressure, they’ll barely hit the bait. The deal is that if they don’t move the water, we’re in trouble.
"When that water shuts off, it’s a slow, slow bite. The whole key is going to be strategizing which way to be when they kick the water on. They were supposed to be running it all day, but it seems like the last two days around three in the afternoon they’ve kicked it on the heaviest and that’s out of the tournament time frame.
“It isn’t as easy as it looked last week when everyone in the Triton tournament weighed in limits. It’s not Guntersville easy. However, if you stay out there on the river and throw a big plug or a big jig and catch five, you’re going to have a limit that will weight over fifteen pounds. It just comes down to timing the current and getting everything to go your way.”
