Day 1 Patterns from the College Open
Logjam of 20-pound-plus bags at the top
The Northwest Missouri State University team of Andrew Nordbye and Adam Almontadi took the day-one lead in the FLW College Fishing Open on Kentucky Lake. While their pattern seems to be effectively refined – they were using only one lure and had no others out on the deck – Nordbye and Almontadi don’t have this one sewed up yet. The rest of the top five is just a few pounds behind the leaders.
Here’s how they made it into contention going into the final day.
2. University of Kentucky – Ryan Collins and Hunter Fulcher – 22-14
The Kentucky duo of Ryan Collins and Hunter Fulcher “bounced around several bays,” notes Collins, but the pair didn’t have a 15-inch keeper before noon. Collins says their fish were caught on three different baits.
“The fishing was definitely better for us in the afternoon,” adds Fulcher. “We were targeting areas where a creek channel would swing in close and away from a secondary point. We had our boat in about 20 feet of water and were fishing in about 15 feet. We culled once, at about 2:30, and caught some smaller fish in shallow. But, definitely, the better fish were out deeper.”
3. University of Alabama – Ethan Flack and Konnor Kennedy – 22-9
Fishing within 20 minutes of takeoff at Moor’s, the Alabama team of Ethan Flack and Konnor Kennedy “fished random stuff that looked good” and had no particular lure pattern going for it.
“This lake kind of sets up like Guntersville, except without the grass,” says Kennedy of Kentucky Lake. “So we sort of fished the way we would back home. We culled two fish, but I don’t know if we can duplicate what we did today.”
4. Clemson University – Jacob Reome and Matthew Garvin – 22-5
Clemson anglers Jacob Reome and Matthew Garvin don’t plan to change anything on Saturday. They’re dialed in on a pattern that they think can hold up for a second day.
“We’re going back and running the same stuff,” Reome says. “We’ve got two or three spots with one really good one that we caught a limit from. We fished it until about 11 o’clock when we got up to about 20 pounds. With us, it’s all about the bait we’re using.”
Garvin adds that the key for Reome and him has been concentrating on secondary points in coves and bays. They haven’t been wasting a lot of time fishing the shoreline in between, but rotating among the points where they caught fish in practice and today.
5. University of Arkansas System-Fayetteville – Zachary Pickle and Drew Porto – 21-13
Arkansas anglers Zachary Pickle and Drew Porto are fishing shallow on a specific type of structure that, according to Porto, “is very hard to find.”
Pickle and Porto caught eight keepers off a 30-yard stretch of bank far down the lake, fishing two lures of a particular color. Porto says nothing else worked for them.
“We’re on a gizzard shad pattern,” adds Porto. “The bigger fish we caught had gizzard shad sticking out of their gullets. The bass are sitting off a ledge and rolling up to eat shad once in a while. It’s like a 20-minute window when it happens, and it’s been starting at about 10:30. If the water heats some, which it should do Saturday, it’s only going to get better.”
Others of Note
The two “local” schools here, Bethel University of McKenzie, Tenn., and Murray State University, put teams within striking distance of the top. Bethel’s Kristopher Queen and Grant Rutter staked out sixth place with 21-13, and Ty Dyer and Joseph Huggins are currently 10th with 20-11. Ryan Kirkpatrick and Logan Thomas managed an 11th-place showing for Murray State with a 20-pound, 3-ounce stringer.