Sain Sought Barkley Fish

Photo: Bassmaster.com Jason Sain worked for 5 heated hours on day 3 to replace a fish he'd released.

So he decided to spend his practice and tournament time on Barkley in search of less pressured fish, and less boat traffic.

The choice proved pivotal, as he boated consistent limits the first 2 days to put himself in 2nd place going into the third day, after the Top 50 cut.

Though he struggled mightily that final Saturday, so did everyone else. He caught a clutch fish in the final minutes of the tournament that put him over the top, but he didn't know for sure he'd won until the final bag was weighed.

His margin of victory was 2 pounds even – the weight of that last bass he boated.

Here's how his tournament unfolded.

Days 1 & 2

> Day 1: 5, 18-06
> Day 2: 5, 18-02 (10, 36-08)

Sain fished ledges on south Lake Barkley, and discovered during practice the techniques that would work best for him. "On Tuesday, I had a decent practice the first half of the day," he said. "Then it got really good between 1:00 and 3:00. I caught so many fish I didn't think anybody could beat me.

"Unfortunately, they didn't bite as well after that. I tried stroking, or hopping, a jig, but it wasn't effective. What worked best was a slow drag, and I don't like fishing a jig that way. I'm more confident fishing soft plastics anyway." So that's what he used most, along with a Strike King Series 5 crankbait.

On day 1, his first few spots were duds, but then he hit a school of fish and both he and his partner caught a limit and culled some. Then he went in search of bigger fish in some major creeks. He was able to cull two or three times to get his final limit of 18-06, which put him in 4th place. Local expert Sam Lashlee was in the lead.

The second day he weighed a consistent limit of 18-02, but it was much harder to do. By mid-morning he had a limit, and caught a 2 1/2-pounder. That culled a 2-pounder, but the fish that replaced it soon looked like it would die.

BASS rules now prohibit the culling of a dead fish, so he elected to release the fish while alive, assuming he'd catch another fairly quickly to replace it.

He sweated it out for the next 5 hours before he caught a 5-02 on his next-to-last cast to fill out his limit. He lost a 3 1/2-pounder after that and the school quit. That was the end of his day.

Day 3

> Day 3: 4, 13-01 (14, 49-09)

Saturday was brutal, with several large tournaments on the water along with the Top 50. "I was pretty lucky that the tournament on Barkley started at 6:00 and we started out of Kentucky at 5:30," he said. "I was able to get on my first spot as they were just coming out. I definitely got a break there.

"I caught three good fish there before I left. Two hours into the tournament people were crowding in on me, but nobody was catching anything by then. But I had three and my co-angler had two already.

"The next spot I went to, I missed one and then my partner caught a 4-pounder. I was helping him land that one and when I picked up my rod again, there was one on it. I set the hook and broke off. That was in the back of my mind the rest of the day.

"I didn't get a bite for hours, until I made a last-minute stop on the way back," he added. "I caught that 2-pounder, and had time for three more casts before we had to leave."

He caught that fish on a 10-inch Berkley Power Worm in plum color. It was the only time all day that he'd thrown that bait.

"Back at the weigh-in I talked with Sam, and he said he only had four fish. So I got to thinking, maybe I had a chance after all. Some other guys said they struggled too. We were the last two to weigh in, and I didn't know I'd won until the very end."

His four fish for the day weighed 13-01, which put him exactly 2 pounds ahead of 2nd-place finisher Donald Cordle, who finished 1 ounce ahead of Lashlee.

Winning Gear Notes

> Plastics gear: 7'1" heavy-action G. Loomis rod, Shimano Chronarch reel, 15-pound P-Line fluorocarbon, 1/2-ounce Excalibur tungsten weight, 5/0 Gamakatsu EWG hook, Strike King Wild Thang and Zoom Brush Hog (both in junebug color).

> Crankbait gear: 7'0" medium-heavy G. Loomis rod, same reel, 10-pound P-Line monofilament (green), Strike King Series 5 crankbait (blue/chartreuse)

Notable

> Main factor in his success – "Deciding to go fish on Lake Barkley. I had to run away from where everybody else was fishing."

> Lake Barkley is on average half the depth of Kentucky Lake.

> A 1/2-ounce weight is pretty heavy for a Texas-rigged plastic creature bait – unless you're flipping mats. But Sain was making long casts on the river ledges. "I needed a long cast to keep from spooking the fish, and I needed the lure to stay on the bottom," he said. "The heavy weight did that for me."