The bass in Kentucky Lake seemed to have shrunk overnight as contestants in the FLW College Fishing Kentucky Lake Open reported lots of “shorts,” but not many good fish. Of all the boats checked, only the University of Alabama reported a limit by midmorning. The long and the short of it is that the fishing slowed considerably overnight from Friday as a cold front moved through and brought gusting west winds with it.

Among the leaders, Cole and Tanner Atkinson of St. Ambrose had three keepers, but weren’t even close to repeating their tournament-leading stringer of 21 pounds, 8 ounces caught Friday. The Atkinson brothers are fishing midrange crankbaits in the Blood River area south of the Highway 68 bridge. Of the top five, Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville are likely move up in the standings as Zach Hartnagel and Dalton Wesley had four solid keepers by 10 o’clock. Currently in third place and about 2 pounds behind St. Ambrose after Friday’s weigh-in, Hartnagel and Wesley were fishing finger coves in Lake Barkley’s Old Kuttawa Harbor.

McKendree University’s Brock Wilke and Trent Robinson, in fifth place, were also fishing the north end of Barkley Lake near the Mineral Mounds golf course, but with meager their results; they had only only small keeper. The McKendree duo is fishing crankbaits along rocky banks with washouts, while Hartnagel and Wesley are targeting riprapped banks with Reaction Innovations Sweet Beavers (black and blue).

In fourth place, the University of Tennessee’s Jay Emmert and Anthony Johnson had two keepers in the livewell by 10:30 a.m., and caught them on Carolina rigs with lizards fishing along secondary points on the north end of Kentucky Lake.

Saturday’s championship weigh-in commences at 2:30 p.m. at Moors Resort & Marina.