Pressure Has Schools Spread Out At Kentucky

By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

For the second straight year, B.A.S.S. has turned to a Tennessee River impoundment to provide a big-fish backdrop for its BASSFest event that it hopes will recapture the feel and excitement of the bygone era of summertime Bassmaster Classics.

Last year, Lake Chickamauga served as the venue for the inaugural BASSFest and FLW Tour pro/Bassmaster Open angler Jacob Wheeler, who paid a one-time entry fee of $5,000, walked away with the victory and Classic berth.

This week, the ledges of Kentucky Lake will garner most of the attention. After visiting the famed impoundment that straddles the border of its namesake state and Tennessee four times in five years between 2006-10, B.A.S.S. makes its long-awaited return to the massive TVA lake.

Now into their post-spawn and summer rituals, the scads of 3- and 4-pounders that flock to the lake’s lengthy ledges will be in the crosshairs of the 124-man field (111 Elite Series pros, 13 Open anglers) set to compete.

The water has been high for many weeks as a result of a soggy spring and there’s a fair amount of color in the water, which still hasn’t reached the 80-degree mark. While there are plenty of fish meandering around the river channel drops and points, the massive mega schools Kentucky Lake is famous for have yet to take shape.

The weather hasn't been working in the anglers' favor either. Hot, sunny days are more conducive to better offshore fishing, but the field has had nothing but clouds and relatively mild temperatures throughout practice.

The general consensus is that the winning stringers will still come from the ledges, but it remains to be seen whether one stretch will produce the victor’s catch or if it’ll have to come from various locales due to others fishing the same spots. As is the case with most major tournaments on TVA lakes anymore, sharing water could be an issue that looms large in the outcome.

This BASSFest will have a more serious tone compared to last year’s version, which felt like more of a mid-season exhibition tournament. Angler of the Year points will be up for grabs this week for the Elite Series competitors and that’s probably music to the ears of those who struggled during the West Coast swing.

Kentucky Lake marks the start of the second half of the Elite Series season and will be followed by a tidal fishery (Chesapeake Bay) and two northern smallmouth-heavy venues (St. Lawrence River, Lake St. Clair).

Before getting into more about the bite, here's the lowdown on the lake itself.

BassFan Lake Profile

> Lake Name: Kentucky and Barkley lakes
> Type of Water: Flood-control reservoirs
> Surface Acres (full pool): Kentucky = 160,000; Barkley = 80,000
> Primary structure/cover: Shallow – flooded buckbrush, vegetation, willows; Offshore – ledges and humps
> Primary forage: Shad, some crawfish and bluegill
> Average depth: Kentucky = 15 feet; Barkley = 8 feet
> Species: Largemouths (mostly), smallmouths (some jumbos), spotted bass (not usually a major factor)
> Minimum length: 15" (largemouth/smallmouth), 12” (spotted bass)
> Reputation: Big lake with lots of fish, including some giants, that can be caught many ways
> Weather: Clouds will mix with sun throughout the week with potential for rain on Saturday before sunny conditions take over Sunday
> Water temperature: Mid to upper 70s
> Water visibility/color: 18 inches in most areas/fair amount of stain from north to south
> Water level: Slightly above summer pool
> Fish in: 3 to 30 feet
> Fish phase: Early summer and post-spawn
> Primary patterns: Crankbaits, Carolina-rigs, football-head jigs, spoons, worms (particularly large ones), swimbaits, flipping, topwater
> Winning weight: 89 pounds
> Cut weight (Top 12): 58 pounds
> Check weight (60th after 3 days): 41 pounds
> Fishing quality (1=poor, 5=great): 3 for Kentucky/Barkley
> Biggest factors: Timing – hit it right and the bigger fish will bite
> Biggest decision: Run and gun, or wait for the big ones to put on the feed bag
> Wildcard: Giant bites – they've been showing up frequently this year

For a closer look at Kentucky Lake, check out the embedded map below, courtesy of Navionics.

Plenty of Material

While the Elite Series hasn’t been to Kentucky Lake in a few years, it’s become a regular stop for the FLW Tour and Rayovac Series, which often attracts some of the best sticks on the lake and from all points along the Tennessee River.

It also hosts a slew of local derbies and just last weekend played host to the 2-day Triton Owners Tournament. Nearly 300 teams weighed in a fish and it took more than 53 pounds to win, not to mention a 22 1/2-pound average to log a Top-10 finish.

Some might complain about the amount of pressure the lake gets, but it’s worth noting that last year’s Triton Owners event overlapped a Rayovac Series tournament the weekend after Memorial Day and even with more than 600 tournament boats on the lake, it still took more than 75 pounds to win the Rayovac Series there.

Just a few weeks ago, Tom Redington targeted the early arrivals on the ledges and won the Rayovac Series with a 3-day total of 71-13, switching between a 10-inch worm and a 6-inch swimbait along the way.

“They were coming every day by the hundreds,” says FLW Tour pro Jason Lambert, who finished 2nd at Kentucky Lake in last year’s Tour event there and notched a Top-10 in the most recent Rayovac.

Last year’s FLW Tour was held in late June and Skip Johnson, a Michigan resident with California roots, milked one creek channel on the south end for more than 88 pounds for the win. His weights ranged from 19-12 to 24-00 on the final day as he tossed a jig/craw combo along with an 8-inch worm.

When the Elite Series last visited in 2010, Kevin VanDam employed the then-new Strike King 6XD crankbait (with and without rattles) to pull in more than 92 pounds and post his 17th career B.A.S.S. victory. One key to that event was VanDam saving two areas for the final day as spectator traffic and local fishing pressure was a factor he had to account for.

Under Pressure

Lambert believes the size of the lake and the sheer quantity of bass in it shields it from being impacted by fishing pressure.

“That lake is so big, pressure doesn’t hurt it as much as it does a place like Pickwick,” Lambert said. “There are so many more fish per square mile in that lake than anywhere in the Tennessee River chain. You can screw around for a few hours and still catch 20 pounds. There’s that many fish in that lake. I believe there are more 3- to 5-pounders in Kentucky Lake than in the rest of the Tennessee River put together.”

Finding the areas that hold concentrations of those types of fish is only part of the challenge this week. If someone finds the right spot and catches a good bag in short order, he faces a dilemma – does he leave and risk someone else tapping into it or does he forgo the chance to improve his catch elsewhere and just float around, playing defense on the spot?

Bobby Lane followed the latter formula in June 2009 as he needed only a couple hours each days to rack up 80 pounds over the first 3 days en route to victory.

The other line of thinking, Lambert says, is to just out-spot the other competitors. He believes the key to surviving the first 2 days will be having more than enough key spots to go to.

“Whoever has the most places that has fish on them – that’s going to separate the top guys from the pack,” Lambert said. “Who has stuff to go to when everything else is covered up. As the tournament goes on and the field dwindles, more spots will open up to him.”

He mentioned last year’s FLW Tour event as an exception as Johnson won off one area, much like Lane did, and there was no big local tournament that weekend and the weather on the final day was bad, so it minimized the local pressure factor.

Nothing Too Big

In some ways, Kentucky Lake has become the new land of the giants – giant baits, that is. Last year, the Ben Parker mega-sized spoon burst on the scene during the FLW Tour event at Kentucky Lake and gave anglers another deep-water option alongside hefty jigs and foot-long worms and crankbaits that reach 25-plus feet.

It’ll be much of the same this week, said Lambert, who’s not ruling out a swimbait playing a role in the winning stringers.

“It’s going to be the same deal, it always is,” he said. “It’ll be big baits … big whatever. The last 2 years, the whole river chain has turned into a gizzard shad fishery. We’ve had such harsh winters and I think we’ve possibly lost a lot of the threadfin shad. It’s all about big baits … giant worms, giant everything.

“If they’re in a feeding mode, you can’t be throwing something that’s too big. I’ve caught them here on the 8-inch Bull Shad, but that’s a different type of fishing when you’re targeting fish keying on individual shad. They just get ready to eat and they’ll eat whatever you throw.”

Other Options

In the spring of 2010, the lake experienced near-record high water levels due to flooding in the region. It was 10 feet above full pool at one point and the high water gave the bass all kinds of new habitat in which to spawn. The resulting year class is all grown up now and has helped contribute to Kentucky’s growing reputation as not only a big-bass fishery, but also a destination where 100-fish days are not all that uncommon.

The ledges are loaded with fish right now, but in the wake of intense fishing pressure recently, longtime guide Sam Lashlee thinks a strong alternative may emerge on the southern end of the lake.

“It’s a very beat-up lake right now,” he said. “The fish are out wide on the ledges, but with the electronics now, everybody has found every school of fish on the ledges. There’s grass in New Johnsonville now that’s 2 1/2 to 3 feet tall and I predict somebody will find a couple wads in the grass and that will be a player this week.”

The creek-channel drops are typically where a lot of fish can be found this time of year, but Lashlee says things are ahead of schedule and most of the fish have moved onto the main-lake ledges.

“They’re easy to find, but they’re beat up and not biting all that well,” he said. “It’s going to take a pro to figure out a way to get them to bite, either with a preacher jig or a swing-head jig. That or somebody will find a mega-load in the grass.”

Notes from the Field

Following are practice notes from a few of the anglers who'll be competing this week.

JT Kenney
“I’m not super confident, but I’ve found some good places. There are places that they’re not usually on that they’re on now. It’s a lot different, though, because a lot of the lake is, I wouldn’t say is muddy, but it’s not a good color for fishing deep. If you were fishing the bank, it’d be perfect, but that’s not how you win here in June. With the all the current, it’s weird – there are areas where it’s decent and areas where it’s bad.

“I’ve been ledge-fishing for a long time now and I’m pretty confident in being able to tell what’s a school of bass and what’s not. I’ve marked two schools that were set up perfectly on the structure and I fished for them for 20 minutes and didn’t get a bite. It’s going to be interesting.

I don’t think the weights will be as high as they were in the Triton tournament. The conditions were better then I think and it seems like they’re deteriorating for us. It’s not every little nook and point and ledge has a school on it like it can be sometimes.”

Brent Ehrler
“Its not as good as I thought it would be. With the timing, it should be insane. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of fish will get caught, it’s but not what I thought it would be.

“You can tell there’s been a lot of pressure. They’re real scattered. They’re not tight in schools. There are a ton of schools and normally, they’re stacked on top of each other but they’re spread out right now. They’re not in one spot. They’re more spread out over 40-yard stretches. It feels like they’re just busted up.

“Every school I’ve found, I can drive down the lake and see a boat on every one of my waypoints. Just today, it felt like a Saturday or Sunday. There are so many people on the water.”

Ott DeFoe
“There are plenty of fish here. To me, it seems harder, though. I have more electronics on my boat than I’ve ever had when I’ve fished here and it’s harder than ever to find a group of fish. I’ve only found a handful of groups of fish, but when you find them and can get them to bite, you can usually catch a 4- or 5-pounder. I just haven’t found near as many groups as I thought I would.

“On one hand, if a guy has 20 schools he feels like you he catch a good fish out of, that’s a good start, but I’m nowhere near that number at the moment. Every single group of fish I can find is important.

“Groups of fish have been in a depth range I’m keying in on. We’ve had so much north wind that you can’t tell how strong the current is. I think they’ve had a couple gates open. The water is dirtier than usual. A lot of the lake has 18 inches of visibility. I like the color. It’s not so muddy that it’s ruling stuff out.”

Kevin Short
“It’s not typical Kentucky Lake. It seems to be a little bit off, numbers-wise. The weather’s been crappy. It’s usually hot and sunny with a little breeze and it’s been the total opposite of that so far with no sun and a north wind.

“In some ways, it’s affected the fish, but when you find a school you can catch them. You just can’t go down the bank and chuck and catch little ones. It’s Kentucky Lake – they live here. I figure we’re going to catch them.

“There’s just so much to fish here. This place is so amazing because you can get on a point or a line or an edge and make six casts and catch 15 pounds, then move out 5 feet deeper and make six casts and catch 25. That’s always blown my mind about this place.”

Derek Remitz
“I’m happy with the few areas I’ve found. It’s just a matter of if I get to fish them by myself or have to share them. It’s the Kentucky Lake I remember. Before, you could idle around and find a few schools each day and I’ve only found four so far. These TVA lakes really cycle, though. We haven’t been here in 5 years and these lakes can catch on fire and the fish grow like they’re on steroids. It happened that way at Guntersville a few years ago.

“It’s June 1st, but it feels like February 1st. The water temperature is quite a bit lower than usual. It’s usually in the 80s and that’s the biggest thing. It hasn’t gotten hot to push more fish out. They’re still out here. There just are no fresh fish coming right now. That can all change with a day or two of sun.”

Top 10 To Watch

With the above in mind and more, here, in no particular order, is BassFan's recommendation on the Top 10 to watch at this event:

1. David Walker – Has posted three straight money finishes since a dud at the Sabine River. He’s won on the Tennessee River before and has a Top-10 at Kentucky to his credit from his FLW days.

2. Kevin VanDam – The man’s record on Kentucky Lake is unrivaled for a non-local (two wins, one 2nd, one 3rd, one 10th since 2003) and he’ll look to maintain his standing among the Top 20 in AOY points this week.

3. Keith Combs – Deep structure in his specialty and he’ll be able to sling a crankbait or drag a worm all week long.

4. Mike McClelland – His track record at Kentucky Lake is mixed, but he’s another deep-structure maven and will be looking to bounce back from two finishes in the 70s out West.

5. John Crews – Enjoying a strong season and coming off a 7th-place finish at the TTBC. Versatility is one of his strong suits and that will be a key this week.

6. Russ Lane – This venue fits right in his wheelhouse with offshore fish and current and deep structure. Looking to move into Classic-berth contention after four so-so finishes so far.

7. Skeet Reese – Already won at Guntersville this year and has a couple Top-5s to his credit at Kentucky. No stranger to big baits or how to throw them effectively.

8. Ott DeFoe – Tennessee native is well-versed in fishing in current and reacting to changes. After missing the money in the first two events, he scored two Top-40s out West to get some traction in the points.

9. Aaron Martens – Riding the high from his win at Havasu last month, he always seems to be in the mix at the slugfest types of tournaments. He’s near the top of the AOY standings and another strong showing on the Tennessee River will keep him there.

10. Jeff Kriet – Has racked up three money finishes so far and is knocking on the door of the Top 20 in points. He badly wants to get into next year’s Classic and has a couple Top-12s at Kentucky to lean on this week.

Launch/Weigh-In Info

> On Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, anglers will launch at 6:15 a.m. CT from Paris Landing Marina (16055 Hwy. 79 N. Buchanan, Tenn.). Weigh-ins on those days will get under way at 3:15 p.m. at Paris Landing Marina (same address). On Friday (Lake Barkley), anglers will launch at 6:15 am CT from Lick Creek Recreational Area (Lick Creek Recreational Area, Dover, Tenn.). Weigh-in on Friday will start at 2:30 p.m. at Lick Creek Recreational Area (same address).

Weather Forecast

> Wed., June 3 – Partly Cloudy - 79°/59°
- Wind: Light and variable

> Thurs., June 4 – Partly Cloudy - 82°/59°
- Wind: Light and variable

> Fri., June 5 – Partly Cloudy - 84°/63°
- Wind: Light and variable

> Sat., June 6 – Morning Rain, Afternoon Thunderstorms - 81°/63°
- Wind: From the NNE at 5 to 10 mph

> Sun., June 7 – Mostly Sunny - 84°/64°
- Wind: From the W at 5 to 10 mph

Notable

> Byron Velvick has informed B.A.S.S. officials that he will not compete the rest of this season as he recovers from a back injury he suffered at the Sacramento River Elite Series. He has applied for a medical exemption in order to compete in 2016. The Elite Series field is now 111 anglers.

> Brent Chapman isn't supremely confident in what he found in practice and he's hoping things come together when the tournament begins tomorrow. To read more about his practice session, click here to check out our Pro View Report.