The Inside Line

I like Kentucky Lake, but my track record there is weak at best. It’s full of bass — nearly all species in fact — but it can be fickle at times. And it’s almost always due to fluctuations in water level.

After competing on Grand Lake O’ The Cherokees so many times before, I felt my chances were strong going into this event, especially since it was spring.

The lake offers plenty of prime spawning habitat; including pea gravel and chunk rock banks within protected pockets. Visual targets include laydowns, willows, docks, bridges and all forms of rock transitions.

Each year many of us make New Year’s resolutions. It could be to lose some weight or kick a habit, but I am going to do it a little differently and make some fishing resolutions for the New Year.

Well, my 2nd annual college and high school tournament on Norris Lake is in the books and now I can rest a little. This year’s event was a huge success and we had 163 anglers competing in the event, which was a big increase over last year. All of the anglers really enjoyed competing and I enjoyed seeing their enthusiasm for bass fishing.

There is a lot of talk about selecting the right jig.  Head design, weight, color, skirt material and more are all important things to consider to match your jig to the conditions. One thing that is just as important is picking the right soft plastic trailer.

Changing your trailer can greatly affect the action and also plays a big role in how fast (or slow) the jig will fall. All of these things make a difference at times and for me, the decision comes down to picking from three tried and true trailers.

Just when I thought it was done, Kevin Baxter forced me back in the game.

By now, most of you pro fishing nuts have probably heard about what happened at Kentucky Lake this past weekend during Day Three of an FLW Tour event.

I’ve been around this sport long enough to know which anglers are generally despised and which ones are known to “do things the right way.” No, I’m not going to divulge any names from the former group, but if you read between a few lines you can probably figure some of them out. In fact, if you read between the lines, there’s a lot you can learn about the levels of respect that various anglers are afforded.

We may not always recognize it, but we are living in a golden age of fishing. Part of that is because many of our fisheries are healthier than ever. Additionally, much of our equipment is light years ahead of where it was even a decade ago. The final foundation of that three-legged stool of excellence doesn’t involve fishing directly – rather, it’s because we are living in an era of convenience store exceptionalism.

Spinning gear is not a secret by any means, and you only need to look at the success of anglers like Brent Ehrler and Aaron Martens to know that it can be a recipe for tournament success.

Two years ago I wrote about how Huk wisely capitalized on Greg Hackney’s inner arms and armpits, branding their logo in places where it would likely only be seen as he raised his arms in victory. Apparently his other sponsors have caught on, because during the recently-concluded Kentucky Lake Elite event I saw several pics of Hack wearing gloves with a prominently displayed TH Marine emblem on the back.

In 25 years of riding around in bass boats, I’ve seen all sorts of meals brought on board. Of course, there have been thousands of packs of Nabs and hundreds of cans of properly-aged Vienna Sausages. There’s been at least three Herefords worth of beef jerky and a gross of Pop Tarts. I’ve seen a partner eat Chinese food (with a spork) out of one of those little folding takeout containers, and I’ve witnessed another place a half rack of ribs on his butt seat for easy access.

Maybe I’m a little bit too obsessed with form over function, but I’m continually surprised by people who will spend $60,000 or more on a new boat, pick the colors more carefully than they choose a spouse, and then skimp on vessel numbers.

If you’d told me two years ago that I’d be spending sixteen bucks on a chatterbait, I’d have called you crazy.