Newton leads in Kentucky
Alabama native leads locals at Central Division EverStart day three
BENTON, Ky. – All of the strategizing and posturing came to a screeching halt at the Kentucky Lake EverStart Friday.
Pros who claimed to be saving their ace-in-the-hole spots for the finals had to show their hands today and it should come as no surprise that seven of the top 10 finalists are from Kentucky.
What is surprising, however, is that a non-native is holding all of the winning cards after day three.
Jonathan Newton of Rogersville, Ala., brought in 22 pounds, 10 ounces Friday to take a 3-pound, 3-ounce lead in the final Central Division EverStart on Kentucky Lake.
Long practice pays off for Newton
Newton spent five days surveying ledges on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes during practice, and his efforts have now come to fruition.
“Both of these lakes have miles and miles of river ledges and I knew that a couple days practice wasn’t going to cut it,” Newton said. “So I planned in some extra time here just to fish ledges.”
Over the last two days, Newton has caught most of his bass off one primary spot that seems to have an inexhaustible supply of big bass. The sweet spot is about 50 yards long, and he is catching his bass from 10- to 14-foot depths.
“I’m using a deep-diving crankbait and I’ve discovered that a real key to catching these fish is the casting angle,” he said. “They seemed to want it one way and one way only. If I change my casting angle, I don’t get a bite.”
Newton also suspects that he has tapped into an unpressured honey hole.
“I think the area I’m fishing doesn’t get as much pressure as some of the other areas,” he added. “So far it seems that the locals don’t fish it that much.”
Young bounces into second
Someone left too many cards on the table and David Young of Mayfield, Ky., is looking to take advantage of it.
In the beginning, it looked as if the well-known local had not been dealt the right cards to play in the final rounds.
He brought just 13 pounds per day to the scales during the qualification rounds – not the kind of stringers Young is known for catching at Kentucky Lake.
While Young barely qualified for the finals in 20th place, now he is bringing in the big ones.
He toted 19 pounds, 7 ounces to the scale today and is now poised to win his second Kentucky Lake EverStart.
“Fortune finally went my way today,” Young said. “I lost them the first day and really struggled yesterday, but today went much better.”
Cone in third
Another well-known local, Britt Cone of Benton, Ky., is in third place with 18 pounds, 4 ounces.
Each day of the tournament Cone has checked several of his best river-channel ledges and no bass have been home; however, today a whole block party moved in.
“Some good fish finally started showing up on the deeper river ledges today,” he said. “I’ve located one good school of fish in 24 feet of water and another good school in about 12 feet of water.”
Cone is sticking with worms and jigs instead of crankbaits to catch his fish.
Schroeder finds glory hole for fourth
Yet another well-known local, Billy Schroeder of Paducah, Ky., has fished many tournaments on Kentucky Lake through the years, but today he experienced something that has never happened to him before.
“My co-angler and I caught fish on every cast for a solid hour,” Schroeder said in disbelief. “I’ve found them like that in practice before, but never during a tournament. It was unreal.”
The non-stop action provided Schroeder with 16 pounds, 4 ounces, good enough for fourth place.
Like several other competitors, Schroeder had been saving several of his best spots for the finals.
He was fruitlessly fishing one of those spots today when he decided to make a wild cast out the other side of the boat into the main channel.
“The boat was in 20 feet, so I know I must have cast out into about 30 feet – in the main river,” he said. “I got a bite and from that point on we just kept catching them one after another. I was catching them on a jig and my co-angler was catching them on a Carolina rig.”
Lashlee in fifth
Sam Lashlee of Camden, Tenn., successfully made his long run to Tennessee and reeled 16 pounds, 3 ounces to hold down fifth place.
Morehead falters
Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky., was one of the pre-tournament favorites at the Kentucky Lake EverStart.
On day one, he demonstrated his knowledge of Kentucky Lake by bringing in 21 pounds, 6 ounces to take the early lead and claimed he was actually saving his best places for the finals.
Morehead went to those places today, over on Barkley Lake, and this time things did not go as planned: He brought in just 10 pounds, 12 ounces and finished in 14th place.
“It just didn’t happen,” he said. “I caught them at will but I just couldn’t get a big bite. I think maybe the bigger fish suspended way up off the bottom. I was having to high-hop a jig to get the bites, and the big ones just weren’t there. I don’t know. This is truly a humbling sport.”
Rest of the best
The other five anglers who made the top 10 are Steve Kennedy of Auburn, Ala., in sixth place with 15 pounds, 5 ounces; Terry Bolton of Paducah, Ky., in seventh place with 15 pounds; Drew Lynch of Paducah, Ky., in eighth place with 14 pounds, 10 ounces; Shawn Penn of Eddyville, Ky., in ninth place with 14 pounds, 6 ounces; and Rodney Brown of Eddyville, Ky., in 10th place with 13 pounds, 12 ounces.
Pro stats
On day three, the pros caught 17 limits. There were no zeros and the cut weight for the top 10 was 13 pounds, 12 ounces.
Fields leads co-anglers
David Fields of Sikeston, Mo., is having the fishing trip of a lifetime. This is his first EverStart tournament and he is leading it with 17 pounds, 15 ounces.
“Fishing this tournament has been everything I have ever dreamed of and more,” he said. “I’ve had three unbelievable pro partners. They have all gone out of their way to help me. I fished with Britt Cone today and we had a blast.”
Ron Bricker of Indianapolis, Ind., is in second place with 15 pounds, 8 ounces.
Frank Divis of Fayetteville, Ark., makes yet another top-10 cut with 13 pounds, 13 ounces, good enough for third place.
Jon Lessard of Tullahoma, Tenn., is in fourth place with 13 pounds, 10 ounces.
Woody Clark of Bandera, Texas, is in fifth place with 12 pounds, 4 ounces.
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers who will fish tomorrow are Bryan Harmon of Batesville, Ark., in sixth place with 10 pounds, 4 ounces; Tim Webb of Olpe, Kan., in seventh place with 9 pounds, 6 ounces; Doug Fraser of Ashland City, Tenn., in eighth place with 8 pounds, 14 ounces; Keith Newsom of Memphis, Tenn., in ninth place with 8 pounds, 5 ounces; Aaron McManaway of Altamont, Ill., in tenth place with 6 pounds, 2 ounces.
Co-angler stats
In the Co-angler Division there were six limits caught, two zeroes and the top-10 cut ended up at 6 pounds, 2 ounces.
The final-day action for the top 10 pros and co-anglers begins Saturday at 6 a.m. at Moors Resort and Marina.