Kayak Bass Fishing National Championship and Open Events

Last weekend I fished the Kayak Bass Fishing National Championship and Open events on Kentucky Lake. With over $50,000 up for grabs, I prepared months in advance by cyber pre-fishing and was actually able to physically pre-fish the lake starting the Monday prior to the tournaments. Ledge fishing is synonymous with Kentucky Lake, so I spent a little time each day exploring ledges where FLW and BASS events have been won in the past. Despite grinding a 6XD through nice shell beds and hoping a jig and chatterbait off the bottom, all I managed to catch in four days pre-fishing popular ledges was a single 21.25” bass. Although that fish was a straight up stud muffin, I knew I couldn’t rely on ledge fishing to easily give me a limit. I spent the other half of my time focusing on shallow water trying to find small productive areas for pre-spawning bass. Catching bass 8-18” on small crankbaits like the Berkley Pit Bull was achievable on just about every bank within major spawning bays, however the time between bites was sometimes well over an hour. I wanted something more reliable than that, and at my final spot pre-fishing, I felt like I found it. A stretch of bank on a secondary point within of the bays yielded three bass for me up to 17” within five cast, and another nearby secondary point yielded two decent bass for my brother within minutes of each other. I felt that this bay was the one and that those secondary points could yield good bites early in the morning. By 7:30 on Day 1, I had a limit of at least 75”. I continued to grind all the “fishy” banks within the bay with a bluegill pattern Berkley Pit Bull and a white Z-man chatterbait using Abu Garcia Veracity and Revo SX combos to end Day 1 with 88.75”. Not having found any other spots this reliable pre-fishing, the only option was to go repeat this pattern on Day 2 and hope new fish moved in. There weren’t as many bites on Day 2, but I still had a small limit by 7:30 and grinded the same spots with the same lures to end the day with 89.75”. This gave me a two day aggregate of 178.5” which was good enough for 8th place in the Open and 12th place in the Championship. The total prize money I was able to take home was over $3,000 but just as important were the large amount of angler of the year points to conquer my goal of making back to the TEN and maybe even being the Angler of the Year. This was my best experience on Kentucky Lake so far and I am looking forward to getting back there this June for the Hobie Bass Open and for the 2018 KBF National Championship to go after that $100,000 first place prize!