I guess this is why they call it fishing and not catching, I've been on all the right stuff but just seem to missing something and when I get it figured out watch out! I sometimes feel I've never done this before as I go out and struggle to get bit and watch other guys bringing in 24lb plus bags but seem them on the same stuff I've been fishing really makes it sting. I just keep trying to remind myself that this is a learning year and these guys have been here most of their lives just like if I was still in MN. I know it's something stupid and when I figure it out look out, I may not win but I will be in contention. It's that one thing though that has me not sure of what to think. Is it the baits I'm using, my presentation, depth, speed, color, weight, size the list goes on and when your not catching them this is what runs thru your mind daily even if you know your on a good spot which doesn't help the mental aspect of the sport.

    Tournament wise Mary and I fished a tournament here called the "Free Tournament" which is a no entry fee tournament put on by a local church and the payout guaranteed by an individual wanting people to here the word of Christ. It was a great event with a 1st place payout of $5000, and the Riverwoods Church put on a great feed before hand along with some great music. Al Odom president and owner of the Fishers of Men bass tour along with his V.P. Bobby Eads where on hand also. In fact Al was the presenting speaker at this years event and brought a tear to everyones eyes with the story of his sons death and how his faith in GOD was what kept there families spirits up and got them through such a tragic event. 

    Practice was very weak for me as fishing was very spotty at best with no numbers of fish on any one spot, though that changed on Thursday night prior to the event. After along day on the water checking 20 or 30 ledges I came across the mother load. I had a spot marked from when the elites had been here and decided to check it out. I started work down the ledge and got to the gps mark without a bite but decided to keep going and lucky I did. I was down the ledge probably 50yds when I loaded up on what I thought was a really good fish when in actuality it was a 4lb and 3lb fish on my Series 6XD with three more over 3lbs following them to the boat. After releasing them I fired out another cast and bowed up on a 5lb+ fish that jumped off at the boat that had two more following it. I picked up an Outkast T-2 football head and boated back to back 2lb spots! I decided to see what else they would eat and picked up a swimbait and boated back to back 3lbers each time a group of fish would follow them to the boat trying to get the bait. At this point I wasn't sure if I should just have some fun and catch as many as I could or leave it for the tournament. This probably sound like a stupid question to ones self but I hadn't found anything else to bring me down here, an hour+ run from our take off, but it was a heck of a school fish but with other tournaments going on the same day I was sure someone else would be on it. I did decide to leave it and hope I could be the first one on it tournament day. Friday I spent looking for something closer so I could spend more time fishing than running and really didn't find much other than a school of keepers which wont get you any where on KY lake. 
   
    Tournament morning was beautiful, warm temps, flat calm ideal conditions for the long run. I was nervous the whole way there with that gut feeling someone was going to be sitting on the spot when we get there. As I rounded the last long corner to were I could see the ledge I wanted to fish there sat reality, a boat fishing another tournament, square on my mark and line. I decided I had ran this far I am going to pull in on the ledge and fish anyway and started down river 80-100yds and worked our way in that direction. I let the wind blow me towards them but with the nose of the boat pointed into the wind as not to show I was trying to move in. After 30 minutes of fishing around and drifting I was able to get to my mark as the other boat moved down the ledge. I understand why they let me have it, after an hour and half of fishing in it we left without even a bite. I ran 20 miles back to the ledge I thought we could at least catch 5 keepers on. This was not to be either as we worked roughly 200yds of this ledge only to catch to short fish. Now the decision was needing to be made do I run back to our starting spot 20 mile or keeping heading back in the direction of checking. With the current being drawing later in the afternoon I decided to run back to our starting spot as we were not fishing for points but first place only and this was the only place I truly thought we could win from. After a 25 minute boat ride we got set up on the spot again and after only a couple of cast I boat a 14 inch spot. A legal fish but not for this tournament as all species had to be 15 inches but I was pumped to catch one right away and figured the school had moved up to feed with the current draw. Guess not, after 45 minutes without another bite I decided to head back towards check in. I planned to give myself enough time to fish to points that have been very good to myself and my buddy Wayne from The Cabin bait and tackle during our Tuesday night tournaments. Stopping short in one bay on the way back I checked on small spot but not action. I see Ronnie the owner of The Cabin sit on a point and went over to see how they had done, they said they only had six keeper bites all day, though they were 18lbs worth of bites. So off to our final two stops. I pulled up on the first one hoping for a miracle with only an hour or so left to fish and knowing it's going to take upper 20's to win we need some big bites and need them now. After a couple of minutes on the spot Mary boats a nice 3lber on a C-rig and I thought this school was on fire and ready  to go. Well not so much this would be the only true keeper we would boat all day and pitched it back before we headed back to check in. In the end a limit of 5 for 28lbs won the tournament and I had nothing like that going so that does easy the pain a little bit. Only a quarter of the boats if that out of the 175 boat field weighed fish so it was a little tough all the way around.


    I also just fished our 4th BWS tournament in the KY division for the 2010 season. Prefishing wasn't going so good for this either at least size wise though I was at least catching fish. I haven't been able to find a solid deep bite as the schools have really pulled apart and scattered. Most everything I've found has been shallow with small keepers with a few decent but not winning fish mixed in. Though I did have one area in the lake that has had a school of good fish on it that other guys have been fishing and bring in some good weights from. I spent Thursday on the South end of the lake looking for some more shallow fish and found a couple of areas with a ton of fish chasing shad and was able to catch them pretty easy on an Outkast Swim jig, a shallow running crankbait, and Tru-Tungsten 4" swimbait. These fish were in mid bay areas around islands in shallow water. I also found a shallow flat on the top of a ledge that has a massive school of fish with some good fish mixed in. I noticed these fish busting shad as I was fishing the ledge it's self and decided to investigate and maybe have a little fun with some topwater. As usual by the time I got up there they had quite feeding. I decided to throw a swimbait around and was getting hit but wasn't able to get hooked up and started thinking maybe these were whitebass instead. Putting the swimbait down I picked up my Strike King 1XS crankbait and on the first cast hung a 2lber which was followed to the boat by at least a dozen fish, though many were not keepers I was still very excited. After working the area for 15 minutes in was apparent that there was a huge school of fish here and if we weeded through all the small fish you could probably boat a limit of okay keepers. Friday morning I had a 4 hour guide trip in the morning which I stayed on the North end of the lake by the dam. We had a ball catching a bunch of fish and would've had a decent tournament limit with a 5lb kicker. After the trip was over I head south to Paris to get some practice in before the pretournament check in and meeting. On the way there I blew out a trailer tire, that makes one tire or every boat I've owned now, not bad considering all the miles I put on. After getting that fixed I was back on the road and put in at the Paris landing around 2pm, had to stop a Culver's for a little lunch. I ran to the bay that I knew had the better fishing come from it, the one Ronnie had caught his fish on for the Free Tournament. I idle around the area watching my side imaging unit to find all the high percentage spots on these three points, after 45 minutes of idling and 8 waypoints later I got on the front deck to make a few casts. Working the spots in the area that I marked with the gps I was able to get  what I felt were a couple good bites that I shook off  not wanting to burn any fish going into tomorrow. I didn't get as many bites as I wanted but it was enough to give me confidence these fish were still there and decided that's where I would start the tournament. I got checked in and grabbed a bite to at Meo Mio's a cajun style restaurant that has some awesome pasta dishes, with some guys I've met since being down here including my boy Brent Anderson who I stay with down here and he stay with me when we go out of the north end of the lake. After the meeting and partner drawing it was time to get respooled and organized for the tournament day. Talking with Brent about where we've been catching fish and plans for tomorrow it has been very evident we are planning on starting on the same place, NICE! Well since he is boat 11 and I'm boat 41 that pretty much puts me out on the left overs. 

    Tournament day I decided to run to the bay to start anyway and started on a different point and let Brent have the best one to himself as it was really to small for two boats. Watching him boat 4 keepers with two really good ones didn't help the start of my day but it is what it is. As my co angler and I fished our point he was able to boat a small keeper to get things going but we were only able catch a couple more small fish. I made a move around to another point and was able to boat a small keeper myself but again this was the only keeper we boated. Now that 2 hours have ticked by I decided to work my way south to the shallow fish that I had found. Along the way I stopped on 3 more ledges where we both boated another keeper but we just were not able to get a school fired up. With two fish each I thought lets just go get a limit from the smaller shallow fish and then we can try to work the ledges for an upgrade. Well this didn't go as planned what so ever, as I pulled up to the first island there sat a pontoon on the best spot and there are four other boats fishing the same stuff. It quickly became apparent these fish had been beat up as the shad were still there but the bass were not chasing and busting on them like they had been on Thursday, the only three bites I got choked down the 1XS but were very tight to the cover and all short. Thinking our best shot now at getting a limit is the big school of fish on the ledge flat that is where I headed. Pulling up on it I didn't see any activity at all this didn't surprise me as nothing has went right so far today. I started out throwing a jerkbait without a sniff then switched over to the 1XS again nothing now I'm past my waypoint by 50yds and feeling pretty discouraged. My co angler is throwing a shakey head and has missed a couple bites and then boats his 3rd keeper of the day giving him a limit. I decided to pick up my C-rig with a 4" swimbait on it an huck that around. On the first cast I boat a short which was followed to the boat by 6-8 other fish. Yes they are still here, so you're say there's a chance. On the next cast I boat my 3rd keeper a solid 3 1/2lb fish which again was follow by a bunch a fish. Then my co boats another keeper to cull out his small fish and we sat there and caught 50 fish over the next hour. I was able to get one more keeper in the boat a very small one at that then it was time to make the run back to check in. I ended the day with 4 keepers for 9.70lbs good for 33rd place out of 67 boats which moved me up to 46th overall in points 29 points out of the top 40 regional cut even with missing the first tournament. So I accomplished one goal of moving closer to making the regional but definitely fell short on getting a check. Again I have to remind myself this is a learning year and I'm competing against guys that have fished here there whole life so over all being only 29 points out only fishing 3 out 4 tournaments is a good feeling. Good luck and Tight Lines to everyone on there next trip to the lake.