Kentucky Lake is an awesome fishery! I had a great time during this event fishing off-shore structure with crankbaits and football jigs. The lake seems to fit my style, and I have consistently done well here. Practice started out somewhat slow trying some new areas in the New Johnsonville section of the lake. While practicing here I was unable to get on the quality three to five pound fish needed to do well in the event. The second day of practice I decided to go back toward the KenLake Bridge. This is an area where I had had success in the past, and it produced a lot of nice three to five pound fish.
So during the tournament this is the area that I concentrated on. I caught my largest fish using an XPS Professional Series Deep Crankbait in bone XXX or AYU shad. I threw the crankbait on a St. Croix Legend Tournament Magnum Crankbait Rod with a Johnnny Morris Signature Series Reel spooled with 12 lb. XPS Fluorocarbon Line. The crankbait worked well in the morning, but then I would have to switch to a ¾ oz. football jig in green pumpkin with a Zoom green pumpkin/purple flake Fat Albert Twintail. I worked the jig in 10-20 feet of water along the ledge breaks with scattered rocks and shells. I threw the jig on a 7 ft. MH St. Croix Legend Elite Rod with a Johnny Morris Elite Series Reel spooled with either 14 or 17 lb. XPS Fluorocarbon Line. The first day I did lose a couple of 4 ½ pound fish but made up for it the next two days with over 20 pounds. I ended up making the top 12 and finished the event in 9th place.
