Why!
WHY! This is the question I found myself asking during and after the second FLW Central Everstart Series tournament on KY/Barkley lakes. I couldn't wait for this tournament as it was going to be early than it has ever been here helping neutralize the field some what. Finding fish is always the key but staying with them is a whole nother deal and that would be a huge factor as it is during any transition period on any body of water. My calender of practice was going to be the Thurs thru Weds just as if I was out of town for a tournament. As it turned out I did a guide trip on Thurs with gale force North winds that ushered in a severe cold front plummeting temps from the mid 70s on Weds to the mid 40's. Needless to say the fishing was not very spectacular and just became a game of getting out to the wind so you could fish. I dropped the two gentleman off and went home thawed out and decided to go back out after wind settled some after all it was only 2pm. I put in close the house and ran to a some what protected creek and started on one bank and fished it all the way to the back without as much as a sniff. At this point I was pretty discourage and was considering just putting it back on the trailer. When I decided I would just fish the entire creek so I put the trolling motor back in the water and started working down the other bank. 40 minutes later I boated 5 nice keepers in the 12-13lb range that would be enough each day to get a check. Friday brought another guide trip and even worse weather with snow, sleet, hail, rain, and thunder mix. With the wind blowing hard out to the North again we set out to find them some fish for a tournament they were fishing on Saturday. We checked some stuff within the bay we put in at as there are many tournaments out of there with lots of fish being released also. I caught a keeper on a lone stick up with a lipless bait and a couple small fish that was it. I decided to take them back to the creek that I had caught them the afternoon before. The first pass we made we caught 1 short fish throwing crankbaits as I did yesterday. Knowing there had to be more fish we made another pass with shakey heads. This was a good move as we did pick up few more fish including a couple keepers. With the temps hovering around the 32 degree mark with a steady 30 mph North wind and steady rain we cut the trip short.
With the guide trips done it was time to put some serious prefishing time in for the upcoming Everstart tournament. I spent Saturday staying out of some of the other tournament anglers ways going on that day and fished a bunch of out of the way stuff that didn't pan out to anything. Sunday I decided to run down to the Paris area and either find a little something to build on or completely write it off. After spending the entire day down there only catching a couple keepers and very few short fish I wrote it off. Monday I had friend and long time Barkley fisherman with me and we headed for the south end of Barkley. The first spot we stopped on I boat a 6lber that ate the Outkast Tackle T-2 football jig for breakfast. Chris boated a couple shorts with a crankbait also. We checked some other stuff in the area but with no success so off to the next creek. I dropped him off on shore so he could do a conference call and I went back to fishing a jig on a couple of points on a flat in the bay but nothing playing. I moved out to another flat and picked up a crankbait and boat a short fish but that was the extent of that fun. After the conference call was over I picked Chris up of his little island and headed to the next creek where we fished a couple lead in banks without a bite. Before leaving the bay I side scanned a flat that had stumps on it and lined down the edge where it broke from 5 to 10 feet of water. Spinning the boat around we began fan casting crankbaits when Chris loads up on a good one it's a fat 5+lb fish. We catch a couple more short fish from the flat and head for the next creek to look for the type of stuff the two big fish have come from. It was a very hit and miss pattern but in the end the only one we could put together. Tuesday brought a bunch of nothing fishing wise with a few small fish but we were completely unable to put anything together. Wednesday it rained got cold, not that it hadn't be all week with highs only in the mid 40s at best, Chris didn't come out and I ran the upper end of KY with nothing but short fish to show for it.
Day 1 of the tournament I ran down to the South end of Barkley and started on a spot the my buddy Doug gave up to me some what reluctantly but said it was a 15 min. deal if the fish are there. Well this day they weren't there so off to my second starting spot so to speak. This is the flat that I caught my big fish on but things didn't happen quite as fast as I hoped. The first couple of passes didn't yield anything but as I am watching the graph I noticed lots of shad with larger arches mixed in with them in deeper water. I began to stroke the T-2 football jig when I bowed up on a nice 31/2lb fish and a 2lb fish on the next pass. After missing a couple of fish I mixed it up with a blade bait stroking that threw the bait balls. This only produced one short fish so off to the next stop. This was the stump flat that Chris caught the 5lber on and again the first couple of passes didn't give up anything on the crankbait so I switched back to the jig. I bowed up on a good fish just to have it come off. My co-angler put down his jig and picked up his crankbait and on the next cast boats a 3lb fish...really! After netting that for him I fired my crankbait back to the same spot and instantly hook up with 21/2lb fish and net it myself as he still celebrating his catch. After getting him in the box I hook up with a 3lb fish and net him before he has even got his fish in the box yet. As fast as the flurry started it was over, we circled the back side of the flat and tried different angles but couldn't get anymore to go. We ran around and checked some more stuff but those turned out to be our only keepers for the day. My 4 went 11.01lbs good for a 41st place start and in a check for now.
Day 2 of the tournament I ran back down to the 15 min spot and in the first 15 mins of the day I knew exactly how my day was going to go. I dropped the trolling motor in the water tell my co-angler we are only going to be here a couple minutes then go I started fan casting this flat. I've got 6 or 7 cast in before he is up and ready to fish on his second cast he boats a 3lb largemouth. After netting it for him I fire to quick cast to where he had just caught that fish. Ready to fish again he fires out another cast and bows up on a 5lbs smallie after an epic battle I net that fish for him and I am mentally ruined for the day. All I can think about is those two fish get me a check easy but the day has just begun there is plenty of time for a quick flurry and I'm back in the game. After running everything from yesterday and even some new stuff it was time to work our way back so we stopped on the 15 min spot again. This time working it from the other direction. With his rods tangled up I was able to get in a couple dozen cast before he was ready to fish. On his second cast he again bows up on a 5lb largemouth and all I can ask myself is WHY!!!!!!!!! Really WHY!!! We had the same bait throwing at the same bank, why did he get bit and not me. At the end of the day I layed a big egg and fell out of check range down to 71st place and he weighed 3 fish for 13lbs and made the top 10 cut. This one hurts and will for a while just because of the question WHY?
With the guide trips done it was time to put some serious prefishing time in for the upcoming Everstart tournament. I spent Saturday staying out of some of the other tournament anglers ways going on that day and fished a bunch of out of the way stuff that didn't pan out to anything. Sunday I decided to run down to the Paris area and either find a little something to build on or completely write it off. After spending the entire day down there only catching a couple keepers and very few short fish I wrote it off. Monday I had friend and long time Barkley fisherman with me and we headed for the south end of Barkley. The first spot we stopped on I boat a 6lber that ate the Outkast Tackle T-2 football jig for breakfast. Chris boated a couple shorts with a crankbait also. We checked some other stuff in the area but with no success so off to the next creek. I dropped him off on shore so he could do a conference call and I went back to fishing a jig on a couple of points on a flat in the bay but nothing playing. I moved out to another flat and picked up a crankbait and boat a short fish but that was the extent of that fun. After the conference call was over I picked Chris up of his little island and headed to the next creek where we fished a couple lead in banks without a bite. Before leaving the bay I side scanned a flat that had stumps on it and lined down the edge where it broke from 5 to 10 feet of water. Spinning the boat around we began fan casting crankbaits when Chris loads up on a good one it's a fat 5+lb fish. We catch a couple more short fish from the flat and head for the next creek to look for the type of stuff the two big fish have come from. It was a very hit and miss pattern but in the end the only one we could put together. Tuesday brought a bunch of nothing fishing wise with a few small fish but we were completely unable to put anything together. Wednesday it rained got cold, not that it hadn't be all week with highs only in the mid 40s at best, Chris didn't come out and I ran the upper end of KY with nothing but short fish to show for it.
Day 1 of the tournament I ran down to the South end of Barkley and started on a spot the my buddy Doug gave up to me some what reluctantly but said it was a 15 min. deal if the fish are there. Well this day they weren't there so off to my second starting spot so to speak. This is the flat that I caught my big fish on but things didn't happen quite as fast as I hoped. The first couple of passes didn't yield anything but as I am watching the graph I noticed lots of shad with larger arches mixed in with them in deeper water. I began to stroke the T-2 football jig when I bowed up on a nice 31/2lb fish and a 2lb fish on the next pass. After missing a couple of fish I mixed it up with a blade bait stroking that threw the bait balls. This only produced one short fish so off to the next stop. This was the stump flat that Chris caught the 5lber on and again the first couple of passes didn't give up anything on the crankbait so I switched back to the jig. I bowed up on a good fish just to have it come off. My co-angler put down his jig and picked up his crankbait and on the next cast boats a 3lb fish...really! After netting that for him I fired my crankbait back to the same spot and instantly hook up with 21/2lb fish and net it myself as he still celebrating his catch. After getting him in the box I hook up with a 3lb fish and net him before he has even got his fish in the box yet. As fast as the flurry started it was over, we circled the back side of the flat and tried different angles but couldn't get anymore to go. We ran around and checked some more stuff but those turned out to be our only keepers for the day. My 4 went 11.01lbs good for a 41st place start and in a check for now.
Day 2 of the tournament I ran back down to the 15 min spot and in the first 15 mins of the day I knew exactly how my day was going to go. I dropped the trolling motor in the water tell my co-angler we are only going to be here a couple minutes then go I started fan casting this flat. I've got 6 or 7 cast in before he is up and ready to fish on his second cast he boats a 3lb largemouth. After netting it for him I fire to quick cast to where he had just caught that fish. Ready to fish again he fires out another cast and bows up on a 5lbs smallie after an epic battle I net that fish for him and I am mentally ruined for the day. All I can think about is those two fish get me a check easy but the day has just begun there is plenty of time for a quick flurry and I'm back in the game. After running everything from yesterday and even some new stuff it was time to work our way back so we stopped on the 15 min spot again. This time working it from the other direction. With his rods tangled up I was able to get in a couple dozen cast before he was ready to fish. On his second cast he again bows up on a 5lb largemouth and all I can ask myself is WHY!!!!!!!!! Really WHY!!! We had the same bait throwing at the same bank, why did he get bit and not me. At the end of the day I layed a big egg and fell out of check range down to 71st place and he weighed 3 fish for 13lbs and made the top 10 cut. This one hurts and will for a while just because of the question WHY?
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