on Kentucky Lake
    |
| Reese just misses cut but keeps AOY lead. |
 |
|
Kelly Jordon threw out his old knowledge of Kentucky Lake and practiced differently by heading south to the mid-lake portion of the famed fishery, which helped him produce another Top 10 finish.
“I abandoned everything I know and went to new stuff, which may or may not have been part of how well I did,” he said. “I could have stroked ‘em on a Lucky Craft D-20, but I don’t know how big they would have been.
“I made the decision to go south where the big ones live and that’s what I did. I practiced one day down there last year and it was such a madhouse, I couldn’t even check what I wanted to fish. I punted and never went back, and fished where I know, and finished in the Top 10 last year, too.
“This year there weren’t as many boats down there and that should have been a clue for me, because fishing’s been tougher than snot down there. The big ones live there, though, and even though it was a grind I stuck with it.”
 |
Jordon threw a 10-inch Lake Fork Tackle worm and also caught several keepers on a Lucky Craft RC 2.5 DD in Chartreuse/Blue Back. “The D-20 is always my bread-and-butter and I throw it in the new Crack color, but the crankbait bite wasn’t working as well for me this year,” he said. “The big worm was the better deal for me.” |
Gerald mixed up some deep cranking and shallow fishing on Day 1, opting for the Lucky Craft Flat D-20 in Table Rock Shad along with a topwater frog on the bank to catch five keepers. “I struggled because one school of good fish I had located was just gone and I couldn’t find it,” he said. “They just flat-out disappeared on me.” On the second day he switched to a 10-inch Zoom Ol’ Monster worm and a big spoon. Swindle caught none on a crankbait because they had moved to deeper water, about 22-24 feet, and the worm and spoon were critical to get to that depth. |
 |
“The third day I caught a bunch in that 22- to 24-foot range on the worm and spoon, but I did find one place where they were suspended,” he said. “I burned the Flat 20, again in Table Rock Shad, down through them on 10-pound Vicious fluorocarbon. I had it going through there about as fast as I could reel on the 5:1 Quantum reel without wearing myself out.
“You go up and down those ledges and catch them, but sometimes they’re so deep you can only get to them with a worm, jig or spoon. When they move up or are suspended, then if they’re in the right area you can go after them with a crankbait. I shouldn’t say I’m satisfied with 20th place but that’s about as good as it gets when you’re not on much.”
Takahiho wasn’t terribly disappointed at his finish due to the bass being in transition.
“I finished 31st, which was OK,” he said. “Most of my fish came in shallower areas on points on the RC 2.5 DD in Bull Bream. I caught 20 pounds the first day and another 20 the second day, but it wasn’t enough.
“Kentucky Lake this time of year is one of my weak links so I’ll take that finish. I tried a D-20 but in the area I was in, most of the fish were about 12 feet deep. I was in some water that was a little more off-color and they were shallower.”
Takahiro threw his crankbaits on a new 7-foot Daiwa cranking stick teamed with a Daiwa baitcaster and 12-pound fluorocarbon line.
Casey got caught in the transition as well and picked up on a solid topwater frog bite the second day. “I caught fish cranking the first day on a D-12 in Chartreuse Shad and some deeper ones on a different crankbait,” he said. “I had an area where I could catch them on an RC 2.5 DD but they wouldn’t help any. There were a pile of ‘em in there but they all were small.” The second day was cloudy and Casey struggled before going to the bank, where a topwater frog resulted in a 5-pounder for his first fish of the day. |
 |
“I commenced to catching ‘em shallow on that frog and had about 18 pounds,” he said. “The third day I mixed it up between the bank and cranking but I never caught any big ones. Every time I go there I catch a few decent ones shallow but never anything big.”
|
Another tough tournament resulted in Skeet missing the cut for the second straight time this season, uncharacteristic after his blazing start that included two wins and a second in the first five events. Skeet was the first angler out of the cut, by ounces, and saw his Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year lead fall to 62 points over Edwin Evers of Oklahoma. “It was a tournament where I was completely lost,” he said. “With what I’ve learned about TVA lakes I thought I’d have a better understanding and I concentrated in the 5-10 and 5-15 foot zones. That’s where they’ll move up to feed and move back. “But I missed it. The biggest concentrations of fish were in the 15-30 foot zone and I wasn’t prepared to fish that deep.” |
Skeet threw an RC 3.5 DD in Blue-Chartreuse but never could get around any quality fish because, he said, they were deeper.
“I cranked and cranked and cranked trying to make stuff happen and just never got anything big,” he said. “I caught some on the crankbait and on a football jig.”
