Top Patterns from Kentucky Lake
More details from the top teams in the College Open
GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. – Thanks to nearly identical bags from days one and two, the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville netted the title in the FLW College Fishing Open held on Kentucky Lake. While the top prize of a Ranger Z117 with a 90-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard was at stake, teams were also battling to make the top 10 in order to punch their ticket for the 2016 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
To read more about the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville team of Zachary Pickle and Drew Porto and their winning pattern, click here.
Below is a look at the rest of the top five and the patterns that carried them on Kentucky Lake.
2. The University of Alabama – Ethan Flack and Konnor Kennedy – 43-5
Saturday, Flack and Kennedy caught three keepers on umbrella rigs at the mouth of Johnathan Creek where a long point tapers out into deeper water, and a similar bank near Paris Landing.
“We caught every fish that bit, and that was five,” notes Flack. “If we could have culled a fish or two, who knows, but we fished hard and executed well. That’s all you can do and the rest is up to the fish.”
3. University of Illinois – Qiurun Chen and Luke Stoner – 43-0
Chen and Luke Stoner jumped five places Saturday to finish third. They fished areas in the main lake where chunk rock banks transitioned to clay or bluff banks. Theiir most productive lures were Flash Mob and Flash Mob Junior umbrella rigs with Trigger X swimbaits.
4. Northwest Missouri State – Andrew Nordbye and Adam Almohtadi – 41-14
Nordbye and Almohtadi caught their fish on a Fish Hog Tackle Mo Rig with Tightlines UV 5-inch swimbaits. Though they boated their limit Friday within two hours after they started fishing, they didn’t have their first keeper Saturday until about 9 o’clock. They fished the rock jetty at Kentucky Dam Village Marina, the rock jetty here at Moor’s Resort & Marina where the tournament was headquartered, and a bluff bank between the Egner’s Ferry Bridge and Paris.
5. Bethel University – Ty Dyer and Joseph Huggins – 38-1
Bethel University placed three teams in the top 10 (5th, 7th and 8th) with Dyer and Huggins leading the pack. They fished Gambler EZ Swimmers and Keitech 4- and 6-inch swimbaits on umbrella rigs below the Highway 68 Bridge (Egner’s Ferry), where the river channel swung in close to the bank.
“The spot was where the channel made a bend out again,” says Dyer. “The bottom there was scoured and harder and the fish just seemed to want to be there.”
A 7-pounder boated Saturday boosted Bethel’s final tally.
In fairness to umbrella rig aficianados, the multi-baits – mainly with shad-colored or white swimbaits – produced a lot of fish in this tournament, especially on Friday when 38 limits were weighed (as compared to 22 on Saturday). And though it seemed as if everyone was heading for Paris Landing and points south when the tournament began, many of the boats headed for the bays such as Johnathan Creek, Sugar Bay, Pisgah Bay and other big coves in the 160,000-acre lake’s great northern basin.
For complete results click here.