Lambert Crushes 29-00 To Secure First Tour Win

By BassFan Staff

One after another on Sunday afternoon, anglers climbed on stage at the Kentucky Dam State Park and plopped 20-pound stringer after 20-pound stringer on the scale. It had clearly been a good day on Kentucky Lake as the 10 finalists had mostly free reign over the Tennessee River impoundment and the post-spawn fish that have been on the move toward the river ledges all week.

There were seven 20-plus-pound bags in all, but it was the last one, the one belonging to Jason Lambert, that brought the proceedings to a halt – literally.

After catching the biggest bag on day 2 and following it up with a day-3 best 25-05 Saturday, Lambert punctuated his impressive week at Kentucky Lake with a memorable 29-00 stringer Sunday to capture his first FLW Tour victory. His four-day total of 97-02 is the biggest winning weight in the 11 FLW Tour events held at the massive TVA lake. His 29-pound bag is also the best single-day mark at Kentucky Lake in a Tour event.

“You don’t get 29-pound days very often,” Lambert said afterward. “Today was one of those days. You spend all of that time idling and looking and, finally, on Sunday when the lake clears out, you have the run of the mill on whatever you want.”

And he hammered away on major community holes more than 60 miles south of the dam. It got to the point where he culled two 5-pounders. He said an observer in his gallery estimated he threw back 15 4-pound class fish.

Lambert had left the dock with a 1 1/2-pound lead over Brandon Hunter, but the final deficit wound up being 7-12 despite Hunter catching 22-12, his second-best total of the tournament. The Benton, Ky., native finished a career-best 2nd with 89-06.

Mark Rose, always a threat on the Tennessee River, won the race for 3rd, advancing two spots behind a 21-12 stringer that gave him 80-04.

Jayme Rampey posted his career-best finish in a Tour event, placing 4th with 79-05 after bagging 24-08, his best effort of the week. Scott Canterbury also caught his best bag of the tournament, a 24-03 sack that moved him up from 9th to 5th with 78-01.

Here's a look at how the rest of the finalists finished up:

6. Bryan Thrift: 77-06
7. Brad Knight: 76-13
8. Jacob Wheeler: 76-13
9. Terry Bolton: 76-06
10. Andy Morgan: 70-12

With the field reduced to 10 competitors on the final day, the lake was wide open and spots that may have been previously unavailable due to additional boats were up for grabs. Several of the finalists also opted to head south toward New Johnsonville and it produced a number of big stringers and the big fish of the event, a 9-04 brute caught by Jacob Wheeler.

The conditions remained consistent throughout the tournament and several competitors credited the intense heat with triggering waves of fish to start or continue their migration to offshore holding spots. Still, it’s widely believed the lake is a few weeks behind schedule compared to years past, which means the fishing should continue to improve in the days and weeks ahead.

Andy Morgan slipped four spots to 10th today with a 15-08 stringer, but he’ll be the new leader in the Angler of the Year race when the scene shifts to Lake Champlain in two weeks for the season finale. Morgan holds a 7-point lead over Jeff Sprague as he tries to become the third FLW Tour angler to win three career AOY titles.

Lambert Hit On All Cylinders

> Day 4: 5, 29-00 (20, 97-02)

Lambert had accumulated five Top-10 finishes in FLW Tour or FLW Series competition at Kentucky Lake over the past four years. He took 2nd to Skip Johnson in the Tour event 2 years ago. He was growing tired of being without a win at a lake he’s studied on the water for years.

It’s understandable why this victory was more meaningful than his FLW Series win at Lake Okeechobee earlier this year.

“It’s a Tour-level event and I have been so freaking close up here so many times,” he said. “It’s a monkey-off-my-back type of deal.”

His first limit weighed about 18 pounds today, highlighted by a near 7-pounder and a 5-plus during what he called a “tough morning.”

“This afternoon, it went off,” he said, referring to the flurry of big bites he strung together on community holes down south. “I culled two fish over 5 pounds today. That doesn’t happen. It was the best day I’ve ever had on that lake.”

A crankbait and big spoon were key factors for him earlier in the tournament, but a straight-tail Castaic Jerky J swimbait threaded on a 1-ounce scrounger head was what did the damage for him on the weekend.

He said he was mainly focused on what he was doing until he started to realize the weight he had.

“I was concentrating on me until I had a good bag,” he said. “Then you start wondering, ‘If I have 25, can he catch 26 1/2?’ When I caught another 6, I thought it gave me around 28ish and at that point I knew it would take a miracle day to beat me.”

He estimates that he caught close to 30 keepers and all were stout fish.

“I figure I threw back at least 20 pounds today,” he said.

Full details of his winning pattern, as well as those of the other top finishers, will be published this week.

2nd: No Regrets For Hunter

> Day 4: 5, 22-12 (20, 89-06)

Hunter did everything he could today to close the gap on Lambert, but it turns out there was nothing he could’ve done. He tipped his cap to Lambert and graciously accepted a career-best runner-up finish.

“When you catch 29 pounds, it’s your time to win,” he said. “Days like that don’t come around very often.”

Prior to this week, his best finish was a 73rd at Pickwick Lake so this represents his first check of the season.

“Just to make the Top 10 at home, it feels good to have the support of everybody there,” he said. “I have no complaints. It was a fun day of fishing, but it was grind at times. I got on a flurry around mid-day. Every time I’d get a bite, it’d be a 4-pounder.”

Prior to that, he was stuck on one fish for several hours. That triggered him to revisit other areas with little to no success.

“I wasted a lot of time and started running around,” he added. “I ran water where there hadn’t been fish on and checked new places. I kind of got in panic mode. Then I pulled up on an area that looked right and I went from one 5-pounder to 20 pounds in about 10 minutes.”

A combination of Lucky Craft deep-diving crankbaits had been Hunter’s best producers until today, when the Nichols Lures Ben Parker Spoon and a 6-inch paddletail swimbait were his go-to weapons.

3rd: Shallower Was Better For Rose

> Day 4: 5, 21-12 (20, 80-04)

Rose was satisfied with his final-day improvement that earned him a seventh career Top-3 finish at Kentucky Lake in either a Tour or FLW Series event.

“There was no beating Lambert this week,” he said. “He was just on better quality fish. He had the deal figured out. And Brandon was just staying too consistent. I had an off day Friday and any time you get in the teens at Kentucky Lake, chances are you’re not going to win, especially early in the year like this.”

He endured a significant lull late in the morning today that had him worried he was going to tumble down the leaderboard. He made a move to an area that had been producing some crankbait fish and he worked them over pretty well with a Strike King 6XD.

“It was lights out for a while,” he said. “The day ended strong, thanks to a few schools that I had found shallower that I had to myself. I credit that to my Garmin units. I’m seeing fish shallower now than ever before with the DownVü. I can see them in the 7- to 8-foot range whereas before I felt like I needed to be in 12 feet or deeper to get a clear look at them. I can just see them better now. Everything is clearer to me.”

Known for his prowess as a structure fisherman, Rose said the majority of his fish this week were caught out of 12 to 15 feet.

4th: Rampey Bounces Back

> Day 4: 5, 24-08 (20, 79-05)

For Rampey, this week was all about bouncing back. He was among the anglers whose Pickwick Lake tournament was impacted (139th) by the lengthy lock delay on day 1, so notching his career-best finish was a great way to get over that disappointment.

“It was a good tournament,” the South Carolina native said. “After Pickwick, it felt good to get back in the groove.”

He spent the majority of his tournament down south toward New Johnsonville and caught his fish on a combination of a dropshot and a magnum shaky-head presentation.

“It pretty much went the best way I thought it could (today),” he said. “I knew Lambert and Hunter would be hard to beat. On day 2, I probably could’ve stayed longer and caught 18 or so, but I didn’t lose any fish. It was a good all around tournament.”

He caught a 4-pounder today on his first cast with Zoom Z-3 worm rigged on a dropshot. He then made the lengthy run south where it took him another hour to get some fish fired up. Before long, he had a limit for 17 pounds and he slowly upgraded from there. His biggest of the day wound up being a 6 1/2-pounder.

“The consistent conditions helped,” he said. “We didn’t have to worry about wind and I could make that run any time of the day. The place I caught them on day 2, there was nothing there but 15-inch fish there. It’s a place I stopped just to get a limit, but they turned into big ones. The same thing happened today. Down south, I’d been catching 2- or 3-pounders. Today, they were 4s and 5s.”

5th: Quality Showed Up for Canterbury

> Day 4: 5, 24-03 (20, 78-01)

Canterbury didn’t make a lot of changes for today. He had little to lose coming into the day in 9th place so he stuck with moving baits today and it paid off with his best stringer of the week. He’s up to 14th in the AOY points and on pace for his best career finish with one event remaining.

“It was pretty awesome,” he said. “They bit for us today.”

He said having the pick of places to fish today was a nice change. There weren’t many local fishermen out and with just 10 competitors on the water, it opened up a lot of possibilities, but he opted to stick with areas that had been producing for him.

“I caught most of my weight off an area I’d been catching fish on, but the big ones showed up there,” he added.

He’d been productive with a dropshot or shaky head along with a swimbait, hair jig, crankbait, but he stuck with the crankbait and swimbait today.

“I didn’t catch a ton – maybe 12 fish, but every one was quality,” he said. “I caught the right ones.”

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 10 anglers, 10 limits.

> Both Lambert and Hunter eclipsed the 88-10 total that Skip Johnson posted during his win at Kentucky Lake in 2014. Lambert’s total is the highest for an FLW Tour winner since Greg Hackney caught 97-07 at Pickwick Lake two years ago.

> The previous best single-day weight in an FLW Tour event at Kentucky Lake was 28-07 by Joe Thomas in May 1997.

Final Standings

1. Jason Lambert -- Pickwick Dam, Tn -- 18-9 (5) -- 24-4 (5) -- 42-13 (10) -- 25-5 (5) -- 29-00 (5) -- 97-2 (20) -- $125,000

2. Brandon Hunter -- Benton, Ky -- 22-11 (5) -- 19-3 (5) -- 41-14 (10) -- 24-12 (5) -- 22-12 (5) -- 89-6 (20) -- $30,000

3. Mark Rose -- West Memphis, Ar -- 22-10 (5) -- 15-8 (5) -- 38-2 (10) -- 20-6 (5) -- 21-12 (5) -- 80-4 (20) -- $25,000

4. Jayme Rampey -- Liberty, SC -- 19-3 (5) -- 15-12 (5) -- 34-15 (10) -- 19-14 (5) -- 24-8 (5) -- 79-5 (20) -- $20,000

5. Scott Canterbury -- Springville, Al -- 19-15 (5) -- 16-10 (5) -- 36-9 (10) -- 17-5 (5) -- 24-3 (5) -- 78-1 (20) -- $19,000

6. Bryan Thrift -- Shelby, NC -- 22-5 (5) -- 20-1 (5) -- 42-6 (10) -- 20-12 (5) -- 14-4 (5) -- 77-6 (20) -- $18,000

7. Jacob Wheeler -- Indianapolis, In -- 21-2 (5) -- 16-0 (5) -- 37-2 (10) -- 16-14 (5) -- 22-13 (5) -- 76-13 (20) -- $17,000

8. Brad Knight -- Lancing, Tn -- 23-6 (5) -- 15-0 (5) -- 38-6 (10) -- 15-4 (5) -- 23-3 (5) -- 76-13 (20) -- $16,500

9. Terry Bolton -- Paducah, Ky -- 22-1 (5) -- 22-12 (5) -- 44-13 (10) -- 16-14 (5) -- 14-11 (5) -- 76-6 (20) -- $15,000

10. Andy Morgan -- Dayton, Tn -- 16-11 (5) -- 23-3 (5) -- 39-14 (10) -- 15-6 (5) -- 15-8 (5) -- 70-12 (20) -- $14,000