Longtime Kentucky Lake stick Terry Bolton likened his experience last week to fishing a new body of water considering the low water, lack of current and ways the fish were setting up on offshore structure.
He obviously figured it out pretty quick as he spent the first 2 days inside the Top 10, but managed just 11-03 on day 3 and missed the missed out on fishing day 4 by a mere ounce. His 11th-place finish was his best result since a 10th-place finish at the Lake Ouachita Tour Major in May 2010.
In retrospect, there’s not much he really could’ve done differently to improve his finish since the fish on his primary area had moved about 75 yards on day 3.
“Once we found them, we caught them pretty quick, both myself and my co-angler,” he said. “We busted them up pretty good. I could’ve stayed there another 30 or 45 minutes and culled for ounces, but I had to go run something new to have a chance to win.
“When we left there, the wind got really bad and everything I was running to was in the dead center of the lake and when you’re trying to target those fish on structure you have to be so precise fishing those depths and it’s hard to do that when it’s blowing like that. I was just trying to give myself a chance to catch a big stringer.”
Little did he know the places he was running to had already been picked over as he later learned from fellow competitors.
“In essence, I had nothing fresh to go to,” he said. “I tried to fish shallow, but with the winds it made those presentations difficult.”
His finish also moved him into contention for a berth in the Forrest Wood Cup as he shot up the points standings from 43rd to 26th.
“That’s always my goal every year,” he said. “I went into this event knowing I needed a good tournament to get back into position. At Champlain, I traditionally don’t have a good history there. I’ve gone there twice needing to catch some fish to make the Cup and I think I’m 1-for-2, so I’m a little uncertain about 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.
