Thursday, June 16, 2011
I fished Barkley today – bushes all day, and it was fun. You're not supposed to do that here this time of year, but I'd been having so much fun over there in practice, and you get so many bites – it's just such a good flipping bite –that I stayed there. You just don't get that anymore – a really good flipping bite where you're not pitching, but truly flipping the bushes. I really enjoy that.
I had a few fish on ledges in Kentucky that I found in practice, but I decided to just go have fun today. I caught maybe 30 bass. Most of them were short and I ended up with nine or 10 keepers on the day. I had a couple of big ones and it was just a blessed day. And I caught a 6-pounder about 3 minutes before we had to head back to weigh-in.
It was a short day for me. I was boat 3, so I'm thinking tomorrow, with 2 extra hours, maybe I'll get that afternoon bite that I was leaving today.
The other thing about today, and this is so unusual that I can't remember the last time it happened, is I didn't see another competitor fishing all day. I saw two other competitors running down the river. Even in practice, I never saw anyone fishing. It's just a rare pleasure to enjoy a good bite and have nobody around. And running back, I ran like 20 or 25 miles down Barkley and never saw a boat the whole time. So there's maybe just two competitors within 25 miles of me.
You're not going to set the world on fire over there, but my partner caught a 4-pounder flipping behind me, so I had the potential for a 20-pound day.
