Nordbye sacks 22-12 for the early lead on Kentucky
CALVERT CITY, Ky. – As expected, it’s a smallmouth smashfest on Kentucky Lake. Starting strong, Andrew Nordbye wrangled 22 pounds, 12 ounces on Day 1 of Stop 3 Presented by Phoenix Boats. Behind him, Dakota Ebare put 21-4 on the scale, and Alec Morrison slipped into third with 20-7, narrowly ahead of five other pros who caught 20 pounds or better on Day 1.
Overall, Friday was a banner day of fishing to start the Tackle Warehouse Invitationals event despite less than ideal weather. Though some pros ran south a long way on both Kentucky and Barkley, a strong north wind kept most from traveling too far and complicated matters when it came to fishing.
Near 6-pounder puts Nordbye on top
Weighing four smallmouth and one largemouth, it was a 5-15 smallie that really put Nordbye in the driver’s seat. Fishing offshore for smallmouth that he believes are spawning and postspawn, the day went great.
“It was excellent. I did lose a couple that would have helped me by a quarter pound here and there, but it’s as good as I hoped it might go,” Nordbye said. “God blessed me big time.”
While some pros rationed their fish pretty carefully on Day 1, Nordbye seems to have caught more keepers than many of his competitors. It remains to be seen how that plays out the rest of the way.
“I hope to get 18 to 20 (pounds) the next day or two,” he said. “If God blesses me with another 6-pounder, I might bump it back up again. But, when you’re fishing for smallmouth, especially ones on bed, they don’t replenish when you take them off. So, the weights will go down. But I did leave some stuff alone. I tried to be a little strategic. I probably caught 10 3- to 3 1/2-pounders that I had to let go. So, we’ll see; there’s a lot of fish out there eating.”
Fishing offshore in pretty windy conditions, Nordbye thinks having a turret for his LiveScope was a difference-maker today.
“Everybody dogs me for having the turret, and I always dog ‘em for not having it,” he said. “My Cornfield Fishing Gear Live Sweep turret was crucial today. It was blowing, my front end kept coming out of the water, and I was able to Spot-Lock and cast directly where I wanted to and watch it all go down. If you’re not twitching your bait or moving it at the exact time you need to, the smallmouth aren’t gonna bite it. Being able to do that in the extreme conditions we had was key to catching what I had.”
Saturday and Sunday are not expected to be much calmer, so Nordbye may have the upper hand again. But he certainly doesn’t have much room to slack off – the whole field is bringing the heat this week.
Ebare strategizes for second
These days, you really don’t want to be in the same tournament as Ebare, much less have him in the Top 10 with 20 pounds. After Day 1, it looks like the Texas pro is primed to make his mark on the event – as usual.
“It went as good as it could have,” Ebare said. “The weather has made it pretty tough to fish a lot of the stuff I want to fish. I planned for that in practice — I knew we were going to have a big north wind coming. So, I looked for areas that might be a little protected where I could catch a couple big ones early on, and the plan came together. It doesn’t always work out like that but I’m very thankful that it did today.”
Weighing all smallmouth, Ebare appears to be on the dominant pattern and thinks the fishing should stay good.
“I don’t think it’s going to tail off much,” he said. “There are plenty of fish out there. But, the pressure is going to get to them. The college tournament took a toll on them, I’m sure, and we’re taking a toll on them. So, it could get tough, but, it’s happening, fishing is pretty good, and I think it’s going to continue to be pretty good.”
Morrison stays on a roll
Basically unstoppable anywhere north of the Panama Canal, Morrison yet again has made a new lake look easy. Fishing for spawning smallmouth about 1,000 miles from home on Champlain, he’s right in the mix.
“Today, I got off to a good start — I was done around 11:30 or so, and I just went looking the rest of the day,” he said. “I probably found another 20 or 22 fish, new ones. I don’t know how big they are, because I shook them off, but hopefully they bite tomorrow.”
Though he’s using some different tools than he might up north, Morrison is very at home with smallmouth on beds. That, combined with his mastery of all things electronic have helped him become an expert quickly.
“They’re 100% on bed, all of them are spawning fish,” he said of his smallmouth. “That’s all I’ve been targeting all week here. It’s very similar; the structure and bottom is different than what we’re dealing with up north, but they like to get on the same things – isolated pieces of structure, anything like that. And there’s a lot of sand out on those bars, so, even if there is no structure, they can still find a spot to make a bed.”
Top 10 pros
1. Andrew Nordbye – 22 – 12 (5)
2. Dakota Ebare – 21 – 4 (5)
3. Alec Morrison – 20 – 7 (5)
4. Brad Leuthner – 20 – 5 (5)
5. Colby Miller – 20 – 3 (5)
5. Ken Thompson – 20 – 3 (5)
5. Nick Hatfield – 20 – 3 (5)
8. Robby Lefere – 20 – 1 (5)
9. Cole Floyd – 19 – 14 (5)
10. Brody Campbell – 19 – 12 (5)
Fishing Clash AOY
Tackle Warehouse Invitationals anglers are competing for the Fishing Clash Angler of the Year award and its $50,000 payday. Fishing Clash – an interactive 3D fishing simulation game that’s been downloaded by more than 80 million people worldwide – is the official AOY sponsor of the Bass Pro Tour, Tackle Warehouse Invitationals, Toyota Series and Phoenix Bass Fishing League.
Download Fishing Clash for free in the App Store and on Google Play or log on to www.fishingclash.game for more information.