That famous message on a sign at Wingate’s Lunker Lodge on Lake Seminole sums up what many of the collegiate anglers in the FLW College Fishing Kentucky Lake Open must have collectively felt Friday morning when they were generally snubbed by Kentucky Lake’s bass.

The fishing ranged from good to great for many of the teams that practiced for the event prior to the tournament’s start, with reports of bass up to 9 pounds reportedly caught. Fish weren’t so easy to come by when the competition actually began, however. Camera boats recording the action for FLW reported they came across only three teams with limits – squads from Kansas State, Bellarmine University and the University of North Alabama.

Still, given the improving conditions, that’s likely to change by the time the first flights start arriving at Moors Resort & Marina at 2:30 p.m. CT for the start of the weigh-in.

A passing cold front replete with thunderstorms and high winds came through Thursday and put a temporary kibosh to what had been good fishing on the big TVA impoundment. Once the fish get out of their prespawn funk, it’s probable that weights will start nudging up toward the 20-pound range. Considering that there are 200 college teams entered in the tournament, that’s almost a foregone conclusion.

Weather forecasts for Friday morning where on the mark. The air temperature was in the mid 40s and a northwest breeze had replaced the gusting south wind of the previous day. As Friday morning wore on, the wind shifted to the west at about 10 mph, but boating conditions were still accommodating. When FLW College Fishing Tournament Director Kevin Hunt starting letting flights leave the marina area, boats were tearing out north and south, but by midday the majority seemed to have wound up in the lake’s midsection, beating the banks between Pisgah Bay and Blood River.

Time, and the opening weigh-in, will tell whether they made the right decisions.

College Open Day 1 Midday Update

Kentucky Lake Not So Generous Friday Morning

Day 1 OTW Gallery