2018 FLW Tour Kentucky Lake Day 3: Lambert Controls with 74-06lbs!

Gustafson 5th, Haynes Leaves in protest 
by Curtis Niedermier
FLW PRESS RELEASE

His 30lb limit vaults Lambert 19lbs ahead of field.
(Photo: FLW)

Most folks assumed the FLW Tour event presented by Costa Sunglasses on Kentucky Lake would feature a final-day, down-to-the-wire duel between the two best ledge fishermen in the country, Randy Haynes and Jason Lambert. The two Tennessee Valley hammers were far in front of the rest of the top 30 coming into today’s third day of competition.

However, an unusual situation played out on Kentucky Lake this morning that, if you watched the FLW Live broadcast or followed the FLW coverage blog, you’re already aware of.

Shortly after takeoff, Lambert and Haynes both arrived on the same spot – a well-known community hole at the north end of the lake. It’s a spot that both anglers fished on days one and two. Lambert arrived first, and the two anglers ended up fishing side-by-side for several minutes. Lambert caught several keepers quickly. Frustrated by the situation, Haynes chose to give Lambert the spot and return to the ramp and finish his day early. Haynes officially finished with zero keepers today.

It was previously reported that Haynes had committed a rule infraction by failing to compete on a day in which he was qualified to fish. However, the tournament directors later clarified that, because Haynes did compete, there was no infraction. He voluntarily finished early.

Again, if you watched FLW Live or followed the blog, you know what happened next. Jason Lambert put an absolute beatdown on Kentucky Lake. By lunchtime, it was clear he had a mega-bag. By weigh-in time, it was clear he would be miles ahead of everyone else by the time the day was done. The only uncertainties were how big Lambert’s limit was, and exactly how far he’d be ahead of second place.

We got our answer back at Kentucky Dam State Park this afternoon, when Lambert weighed in a 30-pound, 8-ounce limit of bass, which was anchored by a 9-pound, 2-ounce giant. His three-day total stands at 74 pounds, 6 ounces. Scott Martin, now in second place, has 55-3. He’s 19 pounds, 3 ounces behind Lambert with one day left to fish.

2018 FLW Tour Kentucky Lake Day 2: Haynes 1st Lambert 2nd in Ledge Shootout!

Gustafson 12th, Cory Johnston 70th, Chris Johnston 72th & Richardson 85th

by Curtis Niedermier

FLW PRESS RELEASE

Haynes, Lambert way out in front of the field.
(Photo: FLW)

With two more days to fish, it might be a hair early to declare the FLW Tour event presented by Costa Sunglasses a two-horse race. But then again, when Randy Haynes has the lead going into the weekend, Jason Lambert is only 2 pounds, 4 ounces behind him, and the next closest competitor is another 6 pounds back, you might as well start preparing for a ledge-master showdown.

No one in the world is better at plying Tennessee River ledges than Haynes and Lambert. They’ve done more to prove it this week than ever, with impressive back-to-back limits in what has been a very challenging opening round of fishing.

Haynes set the pace with limits of 26-3 on day one and 19-15 today, for a two-day total of 46-2. Lambert trails with 43-14. His limits went 24-6 and 19-8

Today was the first day each reported experiencing those classic Kentucky Lake flurries that loads the boat quickly. But their weights did drop, and they really had to earn every bite.

“It was a struggle today,” says Haynes. “I had to relocate my fish today. I had to catch them a totally different way.”

The Mississippi pro put a pair of 2 1/2-pounders in the livewell real early to start off the FLW coverage blog. Then he hit a lull. Eventually, Haynes spent about 45 minutes running some secondary areas. With nothing happening on those spots, he returned to his starting area – the same place he caught his weight on day one – and everything turned around.

“I hit a pretty good window after I relocated,” says Haynes. “I finally got a little Tennessee River flurry, where I caught five or six pretty quick.”

Haynes filled his limit at about 11:30 and upgraded a couple times after that. He says he caught eight keepers on the day using a Zoom Swimmer and a couple of other swimbaits. Part of the reason he changed from the deep-diving crankbait that he fished on day one to the swimbait on day two was to slow down his presentation and get more bites, but he also needed a break from cranking to rest an aching shoulder. Yesterday, he wound that crankbait hard and fast all day long.

TOP 10 BELOW

2018 FLW Tour Kentucky Lake Day 1: Randy Haynes Smashed 26-03lbs!

Chris Johnston 26th, Gustafson 51st, Cory Johnston 89th & Richardson 98th
by Curtis Niedermier
FLW PRESS RELEASE

Ledge fishing is not dead at Kentucky!
(Photo: FLW)

Normally, when Randy Haynes catches them big on the Tennessee River, then reports a tough day and a lack of confidence that he can repeat a big limit for a second day, he’s sandbagging like crazy. This time around on Kentucky Lake, in the FLW Tour event presented by Costa, the Ripley, Miss., pro’s “tough day” statements might be more accurate … but he’s probably still sandbagging a little.

Haynes pounded out 26 pounds, 3 ounces to take the day-one lead, but instead of walloping fish all day long and targeting dozens of schools, he got it done from one key area, and he had to really lean hard on them to get there

“I kind of burned the hole down today, so I might have nothing tomorrow,” Haynes says. “I was very fortunate to have what I had. I grinded it out. The bites I had were just the right ones.”

His uncertainty stems from the fact that the fish just haven’t made it out in big numbers to Haynes’ favorite ledges. He checked spots deep and shallow, and areas traditionally good early in the season and late. They’re essentially behind schedule. If they continue to show up over the next few days, however, watch out, because he’s one of the best at the offshore game.

Haynes struck out on his first five or so spots this morning. He ended up catching a couple of keepers on his key area mid-morning. For the next couple hours, he bounced around and checked a number of spots without much luck. A return trip in the afternoon produced most of his weight. All totaled, he says he landed only six keepers.

“There were 10 fish on that spot. I caught six of them. My co-angler caught a couple. It’s burned to the ground now.”

The good thing for Haynes is he’s not encountering a lot of fishing pressure from the rest of the field. He says the area is “wide open,” meaning he can check just about anything he wants without having to dodge other boats. That’s the way he likes it.
TOP 10 BELOW

Bryan Thrift Wins the 2015 FLW Tour Event on Lake Eufaula with 69-14lbs.

Thrift Wins by 3; Gustafson Finishes 4th!

by Rob Newell

FLW PRESS RELEASE

The “numbers game.”

It’s a term that Bryan Thrift used to describe his fishing on Lake Eufaula back in 2013 when he finished runner-up to Randy Haynes in a Walmart FLW Tour event.

The method to his numbers madness was to hit as many solitary objects – stumps, brush piles, rocks, logs – on the bottom of Lake Eufaula as humanly possible in an eight-hour tournament day.

When Thrift saw that Lake Eufaula was back on the 2015 Walmart FLW Tour schedule for May of this year, he grinned that patented Bryan Thrift grin because he already knew how to crunch the numbers at Eufaula.

And Thrift is still grinning. After sacking up a final-day catch of 15 pounds, 5 ounces to top off 69-14 for the week, Thrift made the numbers work for his fourth FLW Tour win. He added another $125,000 to his bank account.

“This is my favorite lake in the country. I absolutely love it,” Thrift says. “I’ve wanted to win here so bad for so long. I’ve finished second here in two other FLW events [the 2013 Tour Major and 2010 FLW Series], so to finally get over the hump feels pretty good.”

2015 Walmart FLW Tour Lake Eufaula Day 2: Morrow Takes Lead with 39-09!

Weather Changes and No Current Kills Bite
FLW PRESS RELEASE

The “numbers game” continued at the Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Quaker State on Lake Eufaula today, and weights fell off a bit as anglers began to realize that some of their “numbers” were also the numbers of other anglers. In essence, anglers can only run so many brush piles before the brush piles being hit start to overlap, and that pressure took its toll today.

In addition to the fishing pressure, cloudy skies and windy conditions made for far less efficient fishing of the brush when compared to day one’s hot, sunny, slick conditions.

One angler who was able to avoid the pressure to some extent was Troy Morrow, who took over the lead today. Morrow backed his day-one catch of 21 pounds, 8 ounces with 18-01 today for a two-day total of 39-09.

Morrow says that being in the last flight was a huge help because it allowed him to run some of his better brush piles after many other anglers had left for weigh-in.

“I only had 7 or 8 pounds for the longest time today,” he says. “I figured I needed at least 10 pounds to fish on Saturday, so I ‘dinked around’ with a drop-shot to get to about 10 or 11 pounds.”

Once he hit that weight, Morrow began running his best brush piles with bigger baits. He caught his fish on a crankbait yesterday but had to switch to another big lure today.

“Right at the end of the day I got into an area where I had three brush piles in a row,” he says. “I got the fish to fire up, and I culled from 11 pounds to 18 pounds pretty quickly. I’m really not sure if it was the bait change or the time of day or what. But the fishing suddenly got really good for a few minutes, and I took advantage of it. Being in the last flight worked to my favor big time.”

Morrow mounts attack as most stumble. (Photo: FLW)

Morrow admits that he had to burn more of his premium brush piles over the last two days than he wanted to.

“I was trying to save some of the ace piles for the finals, but I had to tap them today,” he says. “I still have a lot of marginal piles left that I haven’t fished, but I don’t feel they’re as good as the ones I relied on today.”

2014 Walmart FLW Tour Kentucky Lake Day 2: Redington Rocks 24-09

Huge weights mix leader board.  

FLW Press Release

When the bass go into attack mode, so does Tom Redington. The Royse City, Texas, pro hammered a 24-pound, 9-ounce limit today at the Walmart FLW Tour event on Kentucky Lake presented by Evinrude and hosted by Henry County Alliance.

                                                          Texas pro Tom Redington sacked up 24-9 on day two and 

rose from fourth place into the lead. (Photo: Colin Moore FLW)

According to Redington, a midday front that swept across the area with high winds, rain and rumblings of thunder motivated bass to line up just how he likes them on the Tennessee River’s famous ledges. The result is Redington taking the tournament lead into the weekend with a two-day total of 46 pounds, 15 ounces.

“This ledge fishing is awesome,” Redington says. “There are fish all over the place. I ran a lot of new water today. Yesterday I had to work for them. I went to my best schools and caught one or two. When the storms rolled in, it was hammer-down time. The schools were in attack position, and they bit like they were supposed to.”

So what does “attack position” look like? For starters, it’s something that pros see on their depth finders. And it’s difficult for most of them to explain, but the best in the business – like Redington, Randy Haynes and Scott Martin – can recognize it when they see it. If they don’t see it, they don’t take time to fish.

2014 Walmart FLW Tour Kentucky Lake Day 1: Brett Hite Leads

Countless Limits are Caught on Day 1 

by Curtis Niedermier
FLW Press Release

What goes around comes around. And for Brett Hite, an all-star Walmart FLW Tour season that began with a statement win in the season-opener on Lake Okeechobee has wound its way throughout the country to Kentucky Lake for the season-finale, where he once again jumped out in front today.

Hite holds up one of his bass as the crowd
is awash in big bass. Kentucky Lake looks
like a slug fest. (Photo: FLW)

Hite’s 24-pound, 14-ounce limit leads a star-studded top 20 that includes ledge-fishing experts, three former Forrest Wood Cup champions, three past AOY winners and a pack of FLW millionaires, all of them hoping to end Hite’s chances of bookend 2014 Tour victories.

This tournament, which is presented by Evinrude and hosted Henry County Alliance, is a ledge-fishing shootout. Everyone knows it. But for Hite, the keys to besting everyone else today were timing and precision.

“Luckily I had an early boat draw,” he says. “I ran to a spot I found late in the day on the third day of practice. One other guy came in there right after me, but I got lined up in the right position. It was literally cast after cast, and it was all big ones. First thing this morning, it was obvious the fish were active. As the day progressed, it was one or two here and there.

“It [the school] is spread out a little,” adds Hite, whose limit today included the Bridgford Big Bass, a 7-pound, 5-ouncer. “It’s a pretty good stretch, but there are a couple of key spots where the shells are, and there are some stumps and gizzard shad.”

The front deck of Hite’s Ranger is littered with rods, and he rolled through his options each time he needed to re-trigger the school.