Kentucky Lake bridge collapse causes temporary issues for anglers

FLW will continue to monitor the situation and provide relevant updates as they become available

FLW

January 31, 2012 • Colin Moore • Archives

With a number of Walmart Bass Fishing League (BFL) and EverStart Series tournaments scheduled for Kentucky Lake this year, some anglers are anxious that a collapsed bridge might put the kibosh to their fishing plans.

On the foggy night of Jan. 26, the northbound freighter Delta Mariner rammed into the Eggners Ferry US Highway 68/KY80 Bridge between Aurora, Ky., and Land Between the Lakes and sent a 312-foot section of the span into the lake. Since then, the U.S. Coast Guard has ordered recreational boating traffic to maintain a safe distance from the scene and forbidden boaters to travel under the damaged bridge in either direction.

“We’ve got salvage teams looking at the site, and then will come up with a plan, but we’re not letting any recreational traffic go under the bridge until further notice,” says Chad Doty, a spokesman for the Coast Guard Marine Safety Unit in Paducah, Ky. “A lot depends on the weather and how sound the (bridge) structure is, so I can’t say how long the order will stand.”

Bill Taylor, director of FLW’s tournament operations, said he was confident that the bridge collapse would not impede fishermen for long.

“We’re going to monitor the bridge situation closely through the spring,” says Taylor, “but I feel pretty certain that the Coast Guard will allow boat traffic to come and go under the bridge fairly soon. They just want to make sure that it’s completely safe. I doubt that it’s going to keep anybody from practicing for a tournament or fishing in one.”

The BFL’s Land Between the Lakes Division has a tournament scheduled for March 17 out of Moors Resort north of the bridge. The Music City Division will stage a tournament out of Paris Landing, south of the bridge, on March 24. Other tournaments are scheduled for later in the spring and summer, including an EverStart Central Division tournament out of Moors Resort May 10-12, and a Walmart FLW Major set for June 7-10. In that event, contestants will take off from Kentucky Lake Dam, which is approximately 25 miles from the 80-year-old Eggners Ferry Bridge.