Kentucky Lake Day 3 Coverage
Lambert has upgraded again, Bolton did too
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Storylines: Better late than never
2:10 p.m.: Closing time for the blog
Though there haven’t been any big catches to report from the leaders in a bit, we do know that the best hour has often been the last hour for the pros. Jason Lambert has a big sack and looks poised to take the lead, but the next 45 minutes or so will be critical for everyone. It might be a few extra ounces to make the top 10 and fish on Sunday, or it might be an extra kicker for someone else to make a charge at the lead. Point is, you’re gonna want to see weigh-in.
Weigh-in Details
Watch the day-three weigh-in live at FLWFishing.com starting at 4 p.m. CT or come down and watch in-person at Kentucky Dam State Park at 7792 U.S. Highway 641 N., Gilbertsville, Ky., 42044.
1:30 p.m.: Lambert has upgraded again, Bolton did too
As Jason Lambert has continued to catch ‘em, he’s set the bar for an upgrade higher and higher. After throwing a few more 3-pounders back, he just cleared it with a 4¾-pounder that has culled him up to or perhaps past 25 pounds. No doubt about it, Lambert is sacking them up today.
Terry Bolton started the day with the lead, and he’s making a valiant effort to hang on to it. After running some more stuff in the bays, he just pulled back to a ledge on the main river and caught a 4-pounder on his first cast. That’ll get him up to about 18 pounds in all likelihood.
Final update from Hunter
12:45 p.m.: Lots of pros are getting up there
Jason Lambert hasn’t upgraded in a bit, but there are plenty of guys around him who are picking away at their limits and gaining ground on their peers by a little bit.
Matt Arey just caught a 3+ to get himself over 15 pounds. Scott “Hammerbury” Canterbury recently landed a 5-pounder. Even Shinichi Fukae, who has struggled today, just caught a solid bass for his fourth. Michael Neal has also started to do pretty well, having culled up to around 15 pounds in the last half hour.
11:55 a.m.: A game changer for Lambert
Almost as if he was answering back to Terry Bolton’s 4-pounder, Jason Lambert just caught about a 6-pounder. Obviously, he’s pretty jacked up, and he’s now got about 24 pounds. He says that isn’t enough, and that he wants to get to 30 pounds and set the bar for tomorrow.
So far, almost 90% of his fish have come on one bait and his presentation is very meticulous. Each cast is almost exactly the same, from the location to the distance to how long he lets his bait fall.
He’s been casting up-current all day, and says that some of the schools he’s on have over 100 fish in them.
11:40 a.m.: Bolton is staying strong
Bolton’s last few stops have mostly been places in bays and creeks, be it a point or hump or something like that. Just a bit ago, he fired up and headed out onto the main channel and caught a 4-pounder that culled him up to about 16 pounds. As for baits, he’s mostly tossing a swimbait or a hair jig for his starting bait on each new spot.
Bolton doesn’t have the same weight that Brandon Hunter and Jason Lambert have, but there’s plenty of time left in the day.
Breaking down Bolton's strategy
11:25 a.m.: Waiting out the midday lull
Though Jason Lambert has been catching fish just about all day (more slowly recently), the fishing has slowed down since the crazy morning. It probably isn’t the fault of the current, as it has been running at about 25,000 CFS all morning and should keep it up. It might just be that the morning was so good some regular fishing feels like a lull.
For pros like Brandon Hunter and Matt Arey, this is the best morning fishing they’ve seen all week, and Andy Morgan is catching a whole bunch from down south (lots of cookies). Just a minute ago Alex Davis got himself up to about 15 pounds with a 5-pounder and Mark rose missed a big one. Almost right now, Bryan Thrift put his second and third in the boat (3-pounders), so who knows, we may not have to wait long for things to flash up again.
10:50 a.m.: Midday weight estimates are up!
These are obviously pretty tentative, but we’ve got a rough idea of how things are shaping up. These are the top pros are listed by starting place on day three.
1. Terry Bolton – 14 pounds (5)
2. Jason Lambert – 20 pounds (5)
3. Bryan Thrift – 5 pounds (1)
4. Brandon Hunter – 22 pounds (5)
5. Andy Morgan – 12 pounds (5)
6. Todd Hollowell – 0 pounds (0)
7. Brad Knight – 15 pounds (5)
8. Mark Rose – 16 pounds (5)
9. Jacob Wheeler – 14 pounds (5)
10. Scott Canterbury – 7 pounds (5)
10:15 a.m.: Lambert has crossed 20
After another couple upgrades, Jason Lambert definitely has over 20 pounds. He says “tell ‘em 20,” but there’s a pretty good chance that he and Brandon Hunter are both at something closer to about 22.
As for the others, Hunter has stopped fishing and is now idling and looking for something special or potentially useful for tomorrow. Randy Haynes has three now, one is just a keeper, but the others are both over 3 pounds. Matt Arey has a limit that's about 13 pounds (his earliest limit of the week). Jacob Wheeler is sitting one shy of a limit with two good ones. Surprisingly, Michael Neal only has one – a chunky 3-pounder.
Morning update with Hunter
9:20 a.m.: Decision time for Hunter
Hunter has been culling steadily for a while, and he’s got at least 22 pounds in the box now, all off of one spot. Currently, his dilemma is the choice between staying and trying for more and perhaps totally burning up his spot or going and looking for some kickers. No matter what, he’s done more than enough to assure himself a spot in the top 5 come Sunday and a shot at the win.
The fishing seems to have cooled for the hot hands so far. Terry Bolton is still sitting on a small limit and Mark Rose and Jayme Rampey have left their starting spots.
Elsewhere, Pete Ponds has two keepers, Jim Jones has three for about 8 pounds, Andy Morgan has a 12-pound limit, Brad Knight has limited for about 14 pounds and Jacob Wheeler and Matt Arey have two each.
9:00 a.m.: It’s a community deal
All morning, Jason Lambert and Bryan Thrift have been fishing the same spot. For most of the time, Lambert had the right angle and though Thrift got on the board with a big one, he was watching Lambert do a lot of work with the net. A few minutes ago, Lambert got ready to go and idled off a bit and ran into another nearby school with “a hundred of them” in it. Per our OTW team, it’s a school both he and thrift already knew about – now, they’re fishing just about side by side on that one.
Jason Lambert has the angle
8:40 a.m.: Hunter has struck again, Bolton has his limit
While Terry Bolton has filled his limit and culled once to get up over 10 pounds, the rest of the pack is coming for him. Brandon Hunter in particular is the man to watch – in addition to his already good start, he just caught a 5-pounder to push his total past 20 pounds for sure.
Morning update from the leaders
8:10 a.m.: Lambert and Thrift are sharing
Jason Lambert and Bryan thrift started on the same spot, but they aren’t getting equal results. Though Thrift has one big one, he doesn’t have anything else with it. On the other hand, Lambert is steadily catching quality, not at the pace of others, but he’s got five and the last one he boated was a big one, enough to get him up around the 17-pound mark.
7:45 a.m.: The bite is on and the boys are boppin’
Though Terry Bolton is scuffling with two keepers and Jason Lambert has three for around 8 pounds, there are plenty of others who are lighting them up.
The big three are Mark Rose, Brandon Hunter and Jayme Rampey. Rampey just limited up for about 16 pounds, but he’s already got a 4-pounder and a 6-oounder in the mix. Meanwhile, Hunter is following the same plan. After busting a quick limit with a 4-pounder, he made a big cull up past 17 pounds with a 6-pounder. Right now, Rose is on the move off his starting spot, but it was very good to him. Rose may have caught more bass than anyone else so far, and he’s got a limit that’s into the teens already.
7:15 a.m.: Hunter and Rose are rocking, Bolton is on the board
Terry Bolton just boxed his first keeper of the day, but it’s not that big. Behind him, Mark Rose and Brandon hunter are both charging hard. Since our earlier update, Hunter has put three more keepers in the boat for a limit. Rose is the first to a limit, with a 4-pounder to go with, and he seems to be on a pretty good pace, having caught his fifth moments ago on a swimbait.
6:50 a.m.: Hunter is already catching
While Jason Lambert, Terry Bolton and Bryan Thrift all started near takeoff on roughly the same spot, though Lambert does have one keeper, they aren’t the ones doing damage to start. Right off the bat, Brandon Hunter fired a few with a crankbait – the result was a 2+ and a 4-pounder real quick before losing another 2-pounder. Elsewhere, Jim Jones is also off to a great start with a 4-pounder in the boat.
6:30 a.m.: Only the top 20 are fishing today
Day two of the Walmart FLW Tour event on Kentucky Lake by Mercury and hosted by the Kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors Bureau was a little tougher than day one, but it still produced the biggest bass of the tournament (an 8-14 for Jim Jones) and a lot of change on the leaderboard. Today, with only the top 20 pros fishing, there’s a lot to be interested in.
From finding out Luke Dunkin’s walkup song to seeing how a major tournament out of New Johnsonville impacts the pros fishing down south, there are plenty of storylines besides simply watching how the world’s best ledge fishermen attack Kentucky Lake. Of course, the main story is how exactly the top 10 will shake out and just how good everyone will catch 'em.
With nearly perfect weather today, the primary factor to watch will be the current. At the moment, the TVA is running about 25,000 CFS, but that may drop if the TVA holds true to its 18,000 CFS projected “daily average outflow.” Regardless, things are wicked tight throughout and it’s evident that game-changing bass and flurries can be found. Today should be a fun one.
Terry Bolton catching on day two
Conditions
Current temperature: 70 degrees
Forecast high: 96 degrees
Sky: sunny
Precipitation: no rain forecast
Wind: SW 7 mph
Weigh-in Details
Watch the day-three weigh-in live at FLWFishing.com starting at 4 p.m. CT or come down and watch in-person at Kentucky Dam State Park at 7792 U.S. Highway 641 N., Gilbertsville, Ky., 42044.
Click here for complete tournament details.