Lake Cumberland Day 4 Coverage
Will Wendlandt give it away?
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Top five patterns from day three
2:30 Closing time
The pros have to be back at weigh-in at 3:30, and at this point there’s nothing more to report. A bunch of pros will start running soon, But Barry Wilson still has until at leads 3:10 or so to fish his spot closer to the ramp. One thing’s for sure, this is going to be a close weigh-in. Scott Martin and Barry Wilson aren’t separated by much, and there might be a chance at some late-inning magic from Clark Wendlandt. Weigh-in starts at 4 p.m. ET and you can watch online or head on over to General Burnside Island State Park to enjoy some lovely weather and bass.
1:55 Martin is covering some ground
After working up toward the State Dock, Scott Martin has now run down a few miles into Beaver Creek. There’s a chance he’ll dip in the marina to get gas, but he’s likely to fish someplace too.
Also, McCall just culled up another little bit with a spotted bass caught on his pink spinnerbait.
1:45 A slight cull for McCall
Chris McCall just made a small cull. He’s got more than 11 pounds now.
1:30 Bolton adds ounces
Terry "Blade" Bolton just hopped across the creek to a fresh pocket and quickly put a keeper in the boat. It culled him up a few ounces, and has him to about a 55-pound total. That said, his total might be higher – his estimate was high on day three, but thinks he may have more like 11 or 12 pounds.
1:20 Wilson upgrades
Barry Wilson just made an upgrade with a crankbait. It’s another decent largemouth and he’s got almost 13 pounds now. That gives him the lead, nearly for sure, and the afternoon might just keep getting better.
Also, Chris McCall just filled his limit quickly with two spotted bass on a jerkbait. He’s got about 10 pounds.
1:07 Martin is on the move
Scott Martin is beginning to work back toward takeoff. Along the way, he’s popping into pockets and slinging a jerkbait. Now he’s up around the State Dock area.
1:00 Nothing is happening
Though the weather seems to be getting better and better for fishing, the fish don’t seem to agree. Nobody has caught anything for a bit now, and it’s getting frustrating for some anglers. In particular, Anthony Gagliardi and Chris McCall have a bone to pick with the bass – they’ve probably each had 15 pounds or more come and look at their baits without committing.
12:38 Canterbury limits
Scott “Hammerbury” Canterbury just filled his limit in style with a 3-pound largemouth. He had a really good afternoon on Saturday, and that fish just rocketed him into the top five. It’s almost certainly too much to ask for him to actually catch Martin and Wilson, but his bite might be an indication of how the whole lake is leaning.
12:35 Martin strikes
Scott Martin made a short move to the back of another cut and culled with a 3+ largemouth caught on his jerkbait. That gives him about 12 pounds now and he and Barry Wilson are basically tied for the lead.
12:25 Welcome back!
Welcome back from FLW Live! It’s been an exciting morning, but the final couple hours might be the most interesting. Barry Wilson and Terry “Blade” Bolton both project their bites to improve, Scott Martin has had a good day, and Clark Wendlandt is poised to get back in the game.
12:15 Wendlandt just tossed one back
Clark Wendlandt just caught a small spotted bass on his best stuff with a crankbait, measured it on two different boards and then tossed it back. He’s determined to hunt down a few big brown ones here in the waning hours.
12:05 Will Wendlandt give it away?
Clark Wendlandt came into the day with a fairly commanding lead, but he’s not making the most of it so far. He’s got zero fish at noon and is now about 7 pounds out of the lead. Every fish he catches will go a long way, but so far most of what he’s put in the boat have been smallmouths that are less than that magical 18-inch number. He tried for some spots and largemouth a minute ago, but the increasing wind has him thinking brown again and he’s back on the juice now. Problem is, he’s got to be back to weigh-in by 3:30 and has at lead a 40-minute run to get there…
11:50 Barry Wilson limits, Scanlon adds
Barry Wilson just filled his limit out with a 2-pounder for more than 12 pounds. With that, he’s re-taken the unofficial lead from Martin. He’s fishing dirty water with a pile of bait way back in a creek, and his bite has been best in the afternoon. Maybe things are going to get even better for the Alabama pro.
Casey Scanlon has put his third keeper in the boat. It’s just a 2-pounder, but every fish counts. That said, it sure seems like the first two days where Scanlon’s time to shine.
11:45 Bolton culls
Terry “Blade” Bolton just picked up another quality keeper and culled up by more than half a pound. He’s got almost a 10-pound limit and might be headed for more after a long lull.
11:30 Jerkbait time, Martin moves
Chris McCall and Clark Wendlandt are both slinging jerkbaits on the main lake. There’s a little wind up now and McCall at least is getting steady action. He’s caught a few sorts and just had a big smallie swing and miss on a spinnerbait.
Scott Martin has made a short move, basically just running from one pocket to a similar one nearby.
11:18 Another good one for Reed
Matt Reed is putting together a pretty good limit. He just caught a 3-pound largemouth and is up to about 9 pounds now for his total. That’s strong any day, and with only four in the box, he’s in good position to move up.
11:10 Martin’s bait thing
Scott Martin has an interesting thing going right now. He’s popping around in pockets with bait with a jerkbait and a wake bait. It’s not what you’d expect for such a prespawn tournament, but he’s really catching fish that are feeding right now and not thinking about staging for the spawn.
11:00 A biggun for McCall
Chris McCall just caught a 5-pound smallmouth. It’s more than 20 inches long and super fat. As you’d expect, that fish rocketed him up the leaderboard.
10:55 It’s getting breezy
Scott Martin is fishing slick calm water, but the breeze is beginning to get up a little around Clark Wendlandt. If he can get right and fish loose again, Wendlandt might finally have the right conditions to get back in the game.
10:45 A big cull for Martin
Scott Martin just culled out one of his little spotted bass with a keeper smallmouth. That fish boosted his total to nearly 10 pounds and puts him unofficially in the lead ahead of Barry Wilson and Terry Bolton.
Cody Meyer also added one recently, and now has four small ones.
10:40 Another short
Clark Wendlandt just landed another short smallmouth. He’s really trying to ride smallies to the finish, but they aren’t loving him back today.
10:30 Still nothing for Wendlandt
Clark Wendlandt has caught a non-keeper and lost one in the last few minutes, but he’s still without a fish in the livewell. He’s really starting to run around now, and the wind is starting to blow just a little…
Meanwhile, Scott Canterbury has added two keepers and now has four small ones.
1:20 Scanlon has two
Casey Scanlon has two keepers now. His second isn’t big, but ounces is money in this game.
1:10 Martin limits
Scott Martin has keyed in on a little pocket with some bait in it to catch his last two keepers. One came jerking, and the other ate a wake bait. Now he has a limit, but it’s all little spotted bass.
10:07 Gagliardi update
Anthony Gagliardi has been in bad cell service much of the day. He caught a 2-pound spotted bass early, and has been sight-fishing all morning. He’s seen plenty, perhaps 15 pounds, but hasn’t been able to get them to commit.
10:00 Smallmouth time!
Matt Reed just popped a pair of smallmouths, but only one of them met the 18-inch mark. One out of two ain’t bad, especially when it’s a good smallie.
Scott Martin just converted one of his followers. He’s got four now, all small spotted bass.
9:58 Nothing for Martin, a cull for Bolton, McCall adds
Scott Martin has been striking out pretty hard since his third keeper, though he has had a few fish follow his stuff in. Meanwhile, Terry Bolton just culled for the second time today, adding a few ounces more to his weight. Chris McCall has also added a fish to his bag, and now has two small keepers.
9:53 Wendlandt has found one on a bed
Clark Wendlandt just found one on a bed and Casey Scanlon has seen a few largemouths up shallow now as well. It might start to get interesting soon, and Wendlandt seems to have a bead on a possible starter fish now.
9:45 Two for Reed
Matt Reed has his second of the day, a little spotted bass. Now he has two fish for less than three pounds, both caught on a jerkbait.
9:35 Bolton culls, Wilson adds
Terry Bolton just gained about a half pound after culling out a small spotted bass. Barry Wilson added more than 2 pounds with his fourth keeper of the day. Also, we think he’s throwing a vibrating jig, not a swim jig as mentioned earlier.
9:22 Three for Martin, Canterbury update
Scott Martin is up to three now, having just added another small spotted bass. Scott Canterbury is flipping wood and has also added another bass – now he’s got two for a total of about 3 pounds.
9:12 Another keeper for Martin
Scott Martin has switched up to a wake bait and boxed his second keeper. Like the first, it’s a dinky little spotted bass.
9:05 Reed, Wendlandt and beavers
Matt Reed just caught his first fish of the day, a decent 2-pounder. Clark Wendlandt is still fishless, but he has caught two short smallmouths now.
The real highlight here is FLW Live. If you were watching, you just saw some of the cutest dang beavers around doing their thing on the bank near Scott Martin.
8:47 Martin loses a good one
Scott Martin just lost about a 3-pounder that pulled off when he snagged the hook of his jerkbait on his net during the landing process. That could turn out to be a pretty critical error, but we’re going to leave the baseball references out for the time being.
8:40 Bolton limits
Terry “Blade” Bolton has just finished a small limit at light speed. He’s got a total of about 8 pounds now and they all ate a spinnerbait he’s winding around in dirty water on a stretch of bank that he says he hasn’t fished all tournament.
Scott Canterbury is also on the board now with a small spotted bass.
8:30 It’s on!
They just started to bite for some reason. In quick succession, Barry Wilson has landed a 3-pounder, Casey Scanlon a 2-pounder, three decent keepers came into the boat for Terry Bolton and Scott Martin popped a little spotted bass. With that 3-pounder, Wilson has taken the lead, but we’re still waiting on Clark Wendlandt to catch something.
8:20 Wilson switches up
Barry Wilson switched from his customary crankbait to a white swim jig and quickly boxed up two small keepers. His action has been best later in the day, but the water and the weather is definitely warmer earlier today.
Clark Wendlandt is fishless still. He’s cranking steep banks and bluffs, which is how he caught the big smallmouths late in the day on Saturday that vaulted him back into the lead. Now, he is getting frustrated with how often his crank is getting hung in trees. Ironically, he is in Difficulty Creek…
8:04 One for McCall
Chris McCall has his first keeper, a 16-inch largemouth he picked up on a jerkbait. Barry Wilson has also caught one, but it was a little bitty largemouth that didn’t keep.
7:57 Three for Meyer, Martin has a crowd
Cody Meyer has added another spotted bass to his creel now. He’s off to a decent start, but he’ll need some actual kickers to really make a dent in things.
Scott Martin has started fishing now in his customary pockets and is slinging a jerkbait like usual. He’s got a pretty good crowd following him today as well.
7:45 Meyer has another, they’re fishing now
Cody Meyer just boxed a 2-pounder on a small swimbait. His decision to stick around upriver has worked well so far.
Down the lake, the rest of the pros have just started fishing.
7:30 Trash talk
Down lake around Beaver Creek there is apparently quite a bit of floating trash and wood today. Considering it hasn’t rained, that’s a little surprising. Regardless, more trash in the lake means that the long run from takeoff to the productive waters near the dam will take a little longer and might be more treacherous than usual.
7:25 Meyer is the first to a fish
Fishing near takeoff, Cody Meyer has caught the first fish of day four. It’s a plump little spotted bass estimated at about a pound and a half.
7:00 The final day might be the best yet on Cumberland
Days one through three of the FLW Tour presented by T-H Marine on Lake Cumberland offered myriad challenges for the pros trying to find consistency and success on the massive reservoir. The chief problem was the weather – it was either terrible for living or bad for fishing. That should all be taken care of today – though takeoff was brisk, it should warm up quickly and the wind is forecasted to be a little stronger than it was on Saturday. Warm weather with a decent wind ought to be a perfect combination for the pros to show Cumberland off.
Leading the way into the final day is Texas pro Clark Wendlandt, who has stayed remarkably steady and has an even 50 pounds to his credit. That’s good for the lead, but also a formidable 3-11 cushion over second-place Scott Martin. Wendlandt’s current lead is the biggest a pro has enjoyed all week. Though the fishing on Cumberland has been good, actually running down a leader with that much gap figures to be difficult. Cumberland simply isn’t a lake that offers up huge comebacks on a regular basis.
With that in mind, look for both largemouths and smallmouths to be key today. A lot of pros have banked plenty of brown weight throughout the tournament, but all signs say that more big prespawn largemouths are coming to the bank every minute. James Watson put it all together for half a morning on day three and showed the comeback potential that’s still out there. All week, Clark Wendlandt has primarily pursued smallmouths which have to be 18-inches to keep. If Wendlandt can wrangle five more 18-inchers then he’ll likely put the tournament to bed.
So buckle up, we’ve got smallmouths, a beauty of a day and one of the all-time greats looking to nail down a win. Odds are that one of the other hammers in the top 10 will have something to say about it.
Top 10 pros
1. Clark Wendlandt – Leander, Texas – 50-0 (15)
2. Scott Martin – Clewiston, Fla. – 46-5 (15)
3. Barry Wilson – Birmingham, Ala. – 45-4 (15)
4. Terry Bolton – Paducah, Ky. – 44-15 (15)
5. Casey Scanlon – Lenexa, Kan. – 44-11 (15)
6. Scott Canterbury – Springville, Ala. – 43-7 (15)
7. Cody Meyer – Auburn, Calif. – 43-6 (15)
8. Chris McCall – Palmer, Texas – 43-4 (15)
9. Matt Reed – Madisonville, Texas – 42-14 (15)
10. Anthony Gagliardi – Prosperity, S.C. – 42-6 (15)
Conditions
Temperature at takeoff: 40 degrees
Forecast high: 75 degrees
Sky: clear
Precipitation: none
Wind: S at 9 mph
Tournament Details
Folgers Morning Takeoff: 7 a.m. ET at General Burnside Island State Park, 8801 S. Highway 27, Burnside, Ky.
Weigh-in: Thursday and Friday at 3 p.m. ET at General Burnside Island State Park and 4 p.m. ET Saturday and Sunday at General Burnside Island State Park
FLW Expo: 12 to 4 p.m. ET Saturday and Sunday at General Burnside Island State Park
FLW Live: Saturday and Sunday from 8:30 a.m. ET to 12:30 p.m. ET