Well I just finished up the regular season for the KY BWS division with a 10th place finish which was enough to get into the top 40 and qualify for the regional down at Lay Lake. It wasn't the year I was looking for, don't get me wrong I wasn't looking at coming down and being in the top 10 at every tournament but just thought the catching would be better than it was. From everyone that I've talked though have all said this has been an off year all starting with the near record flood this spring to the record heat has had the fish really messed up. As for my first year in the KY division of the BWS I guess I can't really complain. I was only able to fish 4 events, having to miss the first one due to have to attend my captains classes for getting my guide license, and checked in 2 of those both out Barkley with a 12th and 10th place finishes. I also had my worst regular season finish in the BWS ever with a 58th in my first KY division tournament, which was a flipping bite, when we received 6" of rain in a few hours and the lake came up 10', that doesn't happen on the lakes of Minnesota. I sanwiched a 33rd on KY in there also on a balmy 102 degree flat calm day...LOL. After all that I was still able to make it into the top 40 by 50 points when going into the weekend I was out by 29. Hopefully I've got one my big win left here on the big ponds when Ryan Otto comes down to fish the Fishers of Men regional in mid September.

    BWS divisional tournament practice was so so. I gave it a half hearted attempt as I felt I wouldn't win and just needed to catch a couple of fish each day to make the top 40. Looking back to 2007 - 2009 no one other than last years winner had ever caught a limit both days of this tournament this time of year so I really wasn't expecting much of a bite anyway. The weather was crazy also with some very severe thunderstorms popping up ahead of an approaching cold front. I got caught in one these on Saturday while prefishing, that rolled down the KY lake around 2:30 with a wall of water and 50+mph winds and 6' rollers resulting in one guy drowning. I spent much of the day idling around watching my side imaging unit and marking what I thought would be productive areas. I did stop and fish one ledge point that held a couple stumps and caught a 5lber right away but not another bite. Sunday I did much of the same but on Barkley just idling along the ledges marking promising looking structure and did very little fishing. I did manage to get out a couple nights during the week which proved to be a good idea. Tuesday night I got out for 3 hours and was going to check some new stuff that I had marked on Sunday along a road bed. When I stopped at my way point marking where the road bed ran into the bank I started fishing across the mouth of the cove the road bed cut across. Only a few cast down the road bed I heard that all sweet sound of fish busting shad on the surface. I turned around to see the water boiling with shad swimming for their lives. I put my C-rig down and threw a crankbait into the mix and instantly hooked up with a feisty short fish, it was like a 13 or 14 incher but thought he was 3lbs. I got him  unhooked and fired another cast toward the area, which was where the road bed ran up onto a flat by the bank. Again I hooked up and again and again and again I spent an hour and half catching a fish literally on every cast. In the end though I maybe boated 5 or 6 keepers and had a 4lber jump off. I was able to get out with friend Wayne Winters for a few hours on Thursday and check a few areas that didn't really produce what we were looking for which had me wonder if I should stay on Barkley on Friday or spend the day over on KY Lake. Friday I decided to stay on Barkley and fished with fellow damn yankee (for those that do not know that is what  a northern is when they move down here because your not leaving after their vacation is over) Doug Peitzrak on the south end of lake. When we put the boat in and got out to the main river we were very surprised to see the amount of current being generated along with all the debris floating around it brought back memories of the record flooding we had this past spring with full size trees coming down river. We fished some ledges inside the bays where there was still some cleaner water but with little success so we decided to put some time in out in the muddy main river stuff. This proved to be a better choice though not great but we did manage to catch a bunch of fish on the upper current points of the small buck brush islands. We would catch the fish in the eddies just down current of the point where the fish could get out of the current enough to ambush the shad the current would sweep by. At the days end I had made my mind up that I would only use this as a back up and would stick with the upper end of Barkley and move over to Kentucky after I had a limit to work on a bigger fish.

    Tournament day 1 found me drawing out boat 50 out of 53 which in the end didn't hurt to bad considering we had a 20 min. weather delay with a line of severe thunderstorms rolling threw the area right a blast off. When we got the all clear to take off I ran down river which here is actually North to Kuttawa Bay and fish a channel under a bridge that I figured would have current coming threw it due to the heavy current draw on the main river. When I get there, there is already a boat from another tournament sitting on it so I decided to fish my way thru the channel to the other side and fish it. Once we got to the other side the other boat left and we made our way back out there. The banks are lined with riprap as most are but found that they had spilled a bunch of rock in the mouth of the channel on both ends and have caught fish cranking these rock piles. After getting out there I only managed to short fish and decided to leave and fish another point in the bay before leaving. This only gave up a couple short fish also so I decided to head to the school I had found tuesday night on the road bed. I was about 9:30 when we pulled up on it and the fish were busting shad just like they had been. Over the next 3 hours I myself caught a 150 fish on a crankbait and only managed one yes one little keeper. It's now 12:30 and I need to make something happen and decided to run to another point that I found a school on two weeks ago fishing with Mary. Only a few minutes on the spot and I hang a decent 2 1/2lber on a crankbait it took a while but I was able to coax another keeper to eat my crankbait this now gave me 3 keepers but not much size. I ran two more spots in hopes of generating a couple more keeper bites to finish off my limit but the fish all had some sort of decease which had their tall growing to close to the head...aka...short fish. With only hour and half left I decided to run back to the big school to see if something bigger had moved up. As we got there the fish were busting shad all over the place so I jumped on the deck grabbed my topwater and fired a cast towards the flurry of activity and hooked right away with a keeper. After a few more casts and no action on the topwater I picked up the crankbait and again boated a keeper immediately finally this gives me a limit albeit a very small limit it is 5. Which over the past 3 years at this tournament this time of year no one other than last years winner had caught a limit both days so this was on okay start. We had 45 mins. left with a 30 min run so I decided to head back and if we had time fish a quick spot before checking in. Having a little time left I stopped on the end of island that Doug had caught a fish on yesterday. My co-angler picked up a big worm while I was still throwing a crankbait and made the exact cast Doug had and boated a nice 2 1/4lb keeper, his only one for the day, which will get him some valuable points towards the regional. With 5 fish for 9.77lbs I was sitting in 16th with a reasonable chance to make a check if I can catchem tomorrow.

    Day 2 and the final day of the regular season for the KY division of the BWS. I went out boat 2 today and headed straight for the big school of fish from yesterday. Figuring we put a pretty good beating on them I didn't figure we would catch as many but was hoping some keepers had moved in. Within the first couple of casts I bowed up on a nice fish that ate my crankbait and it felt heavy I was excited as to did a school of big fish move in. As my co-angler slid the net in the water and the fish came up and in the net I happy thought were dashed as a 5lb flathead and my crankbait wedge in it's mouth without a single hook actually hooking it. On the next cast I boat a fish that barely measures but it's a start. After an hour of catch a few short fish and seeing very little action I wasn't going to die on the spot and moved about hundred yards to a point that always holds fish but generally small and this time was no exception catching a half dozen or so short fish it was time to move. I headed to the spot that I caught my other two keepers yesterday only to find a boat from another tournament sitting on it. I then ran to a point with a large stump on then end of which also only gave up two short fish. So off again to the next spot another point which I've always caught a couple fish on keepers and shorts but this time it also only gave up a couple short fish. It is now 10:30 and a little panic sets in as I really wanted to wiegh in another limit and needed to, to have a shot at a check. I decided we would make a run to Kentucky Lake and try to get a couple bigger fish and then come back and try to fill out a limit if needed. On the way there I decided to stop on a spot that I had yet to catch a fish yet have been to it holds fish on the right conditions and this seem to be the right conditions. I told my co-angler give me 15 mins to see what happens, this way the best 15 mins. turning into 2 1/2 hour decision I made this year. On my first cast I boat a keeper smallie, then on the next cast I boat another keeper smallie. My co-angler then boats back to back largemouth backed up a few cast later by a beautiful 3 1/2lb smallie. He then continues to boat a couple more smallie culling one of the largemouth and boxing another 3 1/2 lb smallie. At this point I am now very frustrated as I haven't had a bite for an hour after boating the first to smallies. Swallowing my pride I asked him for one of the baits he was throwing, which he more than willing gave me. We were both throwing C-rigs with a fluke type bait but his floated more than mine did. After switching baits we moved down the break little farther and I bowed up on a nice 4.46lb smallie which put me in a little better mood.
  


We moved back down the break to where we had the fish in the beginning and was able to boat another smallie that just measured but I now have 5 more in the box a limit two days in a row which had been done only once before. Again they don't wiegh much but it was a limit. With time running out we made the 40 min. run back to check in and put my 5 fish on the scale that went a scant 13.21lbs, yes much better than yesterday but still small for Kentucky/Barkley standards. In the end only 5 of us brought a limit to the scales both days which made me feel pretty good about my efforts and it was enough for a 10th place finish and the last place check, my second of the year, so all in all, a good tournament and a good regular season.

    Now it's regional time and time to really step it up, this is where the big money for the year is made and where you qualify for the different tour championships. So keep watching the website and the my blog for further up to date action as I have two regionals in September and one in October, until then Tight Lines,B.