Chris Johnston had never cast a line into Kentucky Lake prior to practice for last week’s BASSFest.
The Ontario native, who earned a shot to compete against the Elite Series pros via his Top-10 points finish in last year’s Northern Opens and two weeks ago won the Sturgeon Bay Open with his brother, Cory, looked nothing like a rookie on the vast TVA lake in finishing 13th, a mere 2 ounces out of the Top 12.
“It’s been a really good start to the year,” Johnston said after catching stringers of 21-03, 20-13 and 20-05 at BASSFest.
He said he relied heavily on his Garmin electronics and the new LakeVü HD mapping that offers users a picture of the lake bottom with 1-foot contours.
“It makes my job so much easier,” he said. “I looked at the high-percentage areas because I didn’t have much time or experience there. I looked for what looked good to me.”
He said he tried to target classic ledge stuff, but also other little nuances that others might overlook or not be able to see on their maps.
“I fished classic ledge stuff or a bend in the river channel – anywhere where there was current blowing over the ledge,” he said. “I also fished shoals or high points on the ledge. The fish were always on the current side of the high spot. It was pretty predictable. If you found a high spot on a ledge, they’d be on it.”
His key depth zone was 18 to 22 feet.
“I never found any of those mega schools by any means,” he added. “There were some down there, but the graph wouldn’t light up like some guys say it does. I wasn’t fishing hundreds of them. It also helped that I wasn’t around a lot of boats other than Dean Rojas on day 1. We were side by side pretty much.”
He had no regrets other than a couple lost fish that he said could’ve bumped him up higher. He caught of his day-1 fish on a drop shot and threw a football jig on day 2.
“I was disappointed to be 1 ounce out,” he said, “but going in, had I known I’d finish 13th, I’d be happy with it.”
The Big Bite Lookback, which focuses on the angler who's first out of the final cut at each tour-level event, is brought to you by the great folks at Big Bite Baits.
