Stage Set For Lambert-Hunter Showdown

By BassFan Staff

In the first four FLW Tour events this season, Jason Lambert had caught a total of 66 pounds of bass across 8 days of competition. The 8-plus pound per-day average sums up how tough of a year it’s been on the Tennessee native. His fortunes have turned around in a big way this week.

Thanks to his tournament-best 25-05 stringer today, he’s amassed 68-02 through 3 days at Kentucky Lake and he’s now one day away from sewing up his first career Tour victory on a lake he has a lot of history on.

It won’t be easy, though, as Brandon Hunter, a resident of nearby Benton, Ky., who guides on the lake, cracked a 24-12 bag (second only to Lambert’s this week) and moved up two spots to 2nd with 66-10.

“I can win, for sure,” Lambert said. “There’s no doubt in my mind. I have to catch 22 or 23 (pounds) to win because I know Brandon is going to catch ‘em.”

Bryan Thrift, the lone finalist to break 20 pounds each day, is 5 pounds behind Lambert in 3rd after catching 20-12 to push his total to 63-02. It’s Thrift’s first Top-10 cut at Kentucky Lake in five tries.

Day-2 leader Terry Bolton slipped to 4th after a 16-14 effort that gives him 61-11. Mark Rose had 20-06 and moved up three spots to 5th with 58-08.

Here's a look at the Top 10 entering the final day of competition, with deficit margin from Lambert indicated by red numbers in parentheses:

1. Jason Lambert: 68-02
2. Brandon Hunter: 66-10 (1-08)
3. Bryan Thrift: 63-02 (5-00)
4. Terry Bolton: 61-11 (6-07)
5. Mark Rose: 58-08 (9-10)
6. Andy Morgan: 55-04 (12-14)
7. Jayme Rampey: 54-13 (13-05)
8. Jacob Wheeler: 54-00 (14-02)
9. Scott Canterbury: 53-14 (14-04)
10. Brad Knight: 53-10 (14-08)

Todd Hollowell, who came into the weekend in 6th place, struggled today and fell to 18th after bagging just three fish for 7-08. That opened the door for Jayme Rampey, who went from 15th to 7th with a 19-14 bag, his best of the week, to secure his second career Top-10 finish.

The mid-lake and northern sections have proven to be the best options this week and only one competitor opted to make the lengthy run south today to New Johnsonville, which hasn’t produced this week like in the past. Lambert and Hunter both fished north of the Blood River today and both expect to do the same Sunday.

The race for the Angler of the Year (AOY) crown heading into the season finale at Lake Champlain in two weeks will depend on how two-time AOY Andy Morgan finishes up Sunday. He slipped one spot today to 6th, but still holds a 7-point lead over Jeff Sprague for the top spot.

The forecast for the Gilbertsville, Ky., area on Sunday is a high of 97 with light winds out of the west-northwest.

Lambert Confident He Can Close

> Day 3: 5, 25-05 (15, 68-02)

While many of his competitors have remarked how difficult it’s become to trigger the bigger fish to bite this week, Lambert called the last two days, “real easy,” a sign that he’s dialed into what the better quality fish are doing.

“I have not caught a ton of fish, but I’m catching good ones,” he said. “I caught to 20 to 25 keepers today, but the lake had cleared out and it opened up a lot of water that I hadn’t been able to get on.”

He figures three of his weigh-in fish today came off areas he hadn’t been able to fish until today. Tomorrow, he’ll go back to those spots and then some.

“I’m going to run every hole I’ve ever caught one on tomorrow,” he quipped.

Lambert caught everything north of the Blood River today and had 22 pounds by 9:30.

“I laid off them,” he said. “I caught 18 or 19 on my first spot and still had a 2-pounder. I caught a 5-plus on my next spot.”

He added a 5.87-pounder and then a 4 later on to get over 25. He culled two 4-pounders.

The key sequence for him this week occurred Thursday afternoon. That’s when he realized he needed to target smaller groups of fish rather than the much larger schools. He declined to elaborate, adding he’s triggering reaction bites.

“That was the biggest deal,” he said. “In practice anymore, we spend so much time looking and you don’t get a good enough feel of how to catch them. It took me until Thursday afternoon to dial that in. I think I have it nailed down tight now and hopefully we don’t get any changes.”

If nothing changes, he still thinks it’ll take another hefty stringer to clinch the win.

“I have to have 23 or more to feel confident,” he said. “I fish this lake the same way every time I’m here. It’s just a matter of getting the right two, three or four bites. I’m going to fish off of feel tomorrow.”

2nd: Hunter Likes Where He’s At

> Day 3: 5, 24-12 (15, 66-10)

There’s no place else Hunter would rather be with a shot at winning a big tournament than Kentucky Lake. And there’s no other spot in the standings he’d rather be entering the final day than where he is currently.

“I’d rather be in 2nd than 1st going into the final day,” he said. “It’s a little less pressure. That being said, in the back of my mind, I’m less than 2 pounds back and I’ve lost that in a dead-fish penalty and one I lost yesterday.”

He’s confident he’ll be a threat to catch 20-plus pounds tomorrow and he has multiple options as far as spots to target. Today, he never made a cast on the spot that produced his best fish Thursday and Friday.

“It’s a spot that doesn’t show up on a map,” he noted. “It doesn’t look good when you look at it. Today, I looked at it and nobody was on it.”

Instead, he focused on an area that produced a flurry of bites late Friday. He caught one on the first cast and had the bulk of his weight within the first hour.

“They’re in the 14- to 15-foot range,” he said. “If I hadn’t had caught them this morning, I wouldn’t have caught (much).”

His plan tomorrow is to start on the same area. He’ll fish with confidence and plenty of knowledge of how to adjust should his plan go awry.

“I’m at home and I’m comfortable here,” he said. “I’m fishing my strengths and fishing the way I love to fish. My confidence is there in the way I’m catching them.”

Hunter used to travel and practice with current Elite Series pro Brent Ehrler, but having a shot to win at home is a huge opportunity.

“I’ve lived here my whole and done nothing but the fishing industry, from working in a tackle store and selling boats at a Ranger dealer,” he said. “I know a lot of people in the industry and around here. All of family is here so it’d be pretty cool, for sure.”

3rd: Thrift Shooting to Stay Put

> Day 3: 5, 20-12 (15, 63-02)

For Thrift, this has been a week he’ll remember regardless of how Sunday shakes out. By clinching a Top-10 finish, he moved into the Top 30 in points, so he improved his chances of qualifying for the Forrest Wood Cup.

Also, he secured his best career outcome at Kentucky Lake, topping his previous best finish of 19th in 2012.

“It’s been a good tournament,” said Thrift, who was 2nd at the Toyota Texas Bass Classic a couple weeks ago. “This is my first Top-10 ever here so that’s always a good thing. It’s been going good. A lot of it has been about making good decisions and things going my way.”

As good as he feels, he wouldn’t bet on himself to pull out the win Sunday.

“I seriously doubt it,” he said. “I feel like it’s a two-man race and it’s a fight for 3rd for the rest of us.

“We’re on the wrong end of the lake to have a chance at those low 30-pound bags. I don’t think there are enough of those 7s and 8s on the north end to be able to catch a bag that could overcome a 5-pound deficit.”

He started today alongside Bolton and Lambert on a spot all three have started on each day. He stuck around for 2 hours and left after catching just one fish – a 5-pounder.

“I only caught them off two other places,” he said.

Most of his fish today came on a worm and his biggest, which was close to 6 pounds, fell for a swimbait.

“I think I learned Friday on a ledge lake you have to just keep calm and idle on,” he said. “It finally clicked when I wasn’t catching anything. I’d idled for 10 to 12 hours a day in practice and found two or three schools so I figured why not idle now if what I found is gone and that’s what I did.”

4th: Bolton’s Spots Petered Out

> Day 3: 5, 16-14 (15, 61-11)

Bolton sensed he was on areas that fish were just passing through, not staying, and it caught up to him today.

“I’m not really disappointed,” he said. “My goal today was to catch at least 17 and I missed that by a bit, but I wanted to be at least in contention. I have a lot of ground to make up, but I’m at least going into it with a chance. That’s the biggest thing.”

His catch rate fell off by half today with just 10 keepers. He caught a couple of 4-pound quality fish later in the day, but rather than expand on that area, he opted to make a move to something else.

“I think I stumbled on something later on and caught two good ones, but got dumb for a while and didn’t follow through,” he said. “I quit doing what I was doing and went somewhere and fished a different type of structure. I looked around too much instead of continuing with what I was doing.”

Still, he’s encouraged by his effort so far as he’s made amends for the 90th-place finish he posted at Kentucky Lake back in 2014.

“That was my worst finish ever in June here,” he said. “I had to refocus how I ledge fish and change my game. I worked on that big time around the time BASSFest was here. I got out and did some fishing before and after that event and retaught myself.”

5th: Rose Will Focus On Big-Fish Spots

> Day 3: 5, 20-06 (15, 58-08)

Rose plans to put himself in positions tomorrow where he’ll have opportunities to catch the sort of fish that can close the 9 1/2-pound deficit he’s facing. That means he’ll be heading south for a portion of the day.

“Winning is a pretty tall order,” he said. “If we were on Beaver or another lake, I’d say there’s not even a shot, but here there are 28- or 29-pound bags out there and we’ve seen guys can weigh in 12 to 15 pounds, so there’s hope. This is a lake you can do it. Realistically, I’m going to just try to make as much money as I can and get as many points as I can.”

A Strike King 6XD crankbait has been his most productive bait this week and it figures to get another workout tomorrow as he tries to get more in tune with a lake that’s well behind schedule in his estimation.

“I’m going to fish everything,” he said. “I have a graph full of waypoints and I’ve found some new stuff this week so I’m going to run every place where I feel I have an opportunity to catch a 5-pounder off it.

“I fished a lot of places where I thought 3-pounders were the best I can do this week because of the lack of current and high skies. I’m going to eliminate a lot of that junk tomorrow and only focus on big-fish potential.”

Notable

> Day 3 stats – 20 anglers, 19 limits, 1 three.

Weather Forecast

> Sun., June 12 – Sunny & Hot – 97°/72°
- Wind: From the WNW at 5 to 10 mph

Day 3 Standings

1. Jason Lambert -- Pickwick Dam, Tn -- 18-9 (5) -- 24-4 (5) -- 42-13 (10) -- 25-5 (5) -- 68-2 (15)

2. Brandon Hunter -- Benton, Ky -- 22-11 (5) -- 19-3 (5) -- 41-14 (10) -- 24-12 (5) -- 66-10 (15)

3. Bryan Thrift -- Shelby, NC -- 22-5 (5) -- 20-1 (5) -- 42-6 (10) -- 20-12 (5) -- 63-2 (15)

4. Terry Bolton -- Paducah, Ky -- 22-1 (5) -- 22-12 (5) -- 44-13 (10) -- 16-14 (5) -- 61-11 (15)

5. Mark Rose -- West Memphis, Ar -- 22-10 (5) -- 15-8 (5) -- 38-2 (10) -- 20-6 (5) -- 58-8 (15)

6. Andy Morgan -- Dayton, Tn -- 16-11 (5) -- 23-3 (5) -- 39-14 (10) -- 15-6 (5) -- 55-4 (15)

7. Jayme Rampey -- Liberty, SC -- 19-3 (5) -- 15-12 (5) -- 34-15 (10) -- 19-14 (5) -- 54-13 (15)

8. Jacob Wheeler -- Indianapolis, In -- 21-2 (5) -- 16-0 (5) -- 37-2 (10) -- 16-14 (5) -- 54-00 (15)

9. Scott Canterbury -- Springville, Al -- 19-15 (5) -- 16-10 (5) -- 36-9 (10) -- 17-5 (5) -- 53-14 (15)

10. Brad Knight -- Lancing, Tn -- 23-6 (5) -- 15-0 (5) -- 38-6 (10) -- 15-4 (5) -- 53-10 (15)

The following anglers did not make the cut and will not fish on day 4.

11. Ramie Colson Jr -- Cadiz, Ky -- 21-6 (5) -- 12-15 (5) -- 34-5 (10) -- 19-5 (5) -- 53-10 (15) -- $12,000

12. Matt Arey -- Shelby, NC -- 22-6 (5) -- 13-1 (5) -- 35-7 (10) -- 16-4 (5) -- 51-11 (15) -- $12,000

13. Alex Davis -- Albertville, Al -- 18-15 (5) -- 16-4 (5) -- 35-3 (10) -- 16-7 (5) -- 51-10 (15) -- $12,000

14. Randy Haynes -- Counce, Tn -- 22-15 (5) -- 11-9 (4) -- 34-8 (9) -- 16-9 (5) -- 51-1 (14) -- $12,000

15. Michael Neal -- Dayton, Tn -- 22-5 (5) -- 12-11 (5) -- 35-0 (10) -- 15-14 (5) -- 50-14 (15) -- $12,000

16. Jim Jones -- Big Bend, Wi -- 13-2 (5) -- 23-4 (5) -- 36-6 (10) -- 12-4 (5) -- 48-10 (15) -- $12,500

17. Shinichi Fukae -- Palestine, Tx -- 23-3 (5) -- 11-11 (5) -- 34-14 (10) -- 13-2 (5) -- 48-00 (15) -- $12,000

18. Todd Hollowell -- Fishers, In -- 20-5 (5) -- 18-5 (5) -- 38-10 (10) -- 7-8 (3) -- 46-2 (13) -- $12,000

19. Luke Dunkin -- Lawrenceburg, Tn -- 17-7 (5) -- 16-8 (5) -- 33-15 (10) -- 10-13 (5) -- 44-12 (15) -- $12,000

20. Pete Ponds -- Madison, Ms -- 15-5 (5) -- 18-4 (5) -- 33-9 (10) -- 10-2 (5) -- 43-11 (15) -- $12,000