Kentucky Lake Top 5 Patterns Day 2
Flipping and cranking dominate the top spots
Hopes were high yesterday that the ledges would turn on by the weekend in the Costa FLW Series Central Division event presented by Lowrance on Kentucky Lake. Alas, it appears that a true postspawn ledge bite is not meant to be.
The most consistent patterns have been flipping main-lake islands and bushes on spawning flats or cranking gravel bars and shallow channel drops – mini ledges, you might call them.
Travis Fox took the lead with a somewhat unique spawning pattern that’s producing both largemouths and smallmouths. He has a healthy 5-pounds, 12-ounce cushion over Mark Rose in second place, but Rose is pretty lethal on Kentucky Lake, so 5-12 doesn’t make Fox safe.
Here’s how the rest of the top five pros have gotten it done for two days.
2. Mark Rose – West Memphis, Ark. – 35-00 (10)
Walmart pro Mark Rose spilled the beans regarding the pattern that produced his big day-one bag of 18 pounds, 2 ounces. He was using a swimbait to target smallmouths and largemouths feeding on spawning shad on a shallow main-lake drop.
He let the secret out because that pattern is drying up, and he’s not even sure he can make it work tomorrow. Today Rose caught 16-14 for a two-day total of 35 pounds.
“I caught two or three on a swing-head and one on a swimbait,” Rose says of his shad spawn spot. “The rest of the day I went flipping.”
Rose did flip some on day one and has a decent bite going with that pattern. He wouldn’t say exactly what he’s targeting, however. He only revealed that he’s using a Strike King Rage Bug.
As for the true ledge bite he was hoping to find with his electronics: Not happening.
“The water’s just not warming up enough,” he says. “I may just flip a lot more tomorrow.”
3. Ramie Colson Jr. – Cadiz, Ky. – 33-11 (10)
When Ramie Colson Jr. can flip flooded bushes on the Kentucky/Barkley system, there aren’t many anglers who can keep up. Unfortunately for Colson, the water is just a few inches too low to really flood the bushes and make it right. He’s much more limited in where he can catch them as a result.
Colson has a two-day total of 33 pounds, 11 ounces for third place and has a big margin to close if he wants to catch Fox. Today the Cadiz, Ky., pro weighed in 17-09.
“I caught my big one at 2 p.m.,” he says, “but I lost one about 4 pounds and broke another good one off. That’s just what happens when you’re flipping those bushes.
“I’m just moving around a lot, fishing slow in areas that are known for producing good weights.”
The key for Colson is getting a big bite each day. He had a 4-15 on day one and a 6-06 on day two. He’s able to re-fish some of his areas with success but spent some time today looking at new water. Sunshine would certainly help his pattern by positioning the fish in more predictable areas in the shade of the bushes. Today’s overcast skies spread them out some.
“I’m fishing a mix of isolated bushes and bigger areas,” adds Colson, who had to rush home from weigh-in to attend his son’s senior prom. “Yesterday it was best if they [the bushes] were more isolated. Today it was better in bigger areas.”
4. Jeff Ritter – Prairie du Chien, Wis. – 32-06 (10)
Wisconsinite Jeff Ritter burned some gas today. He had just one fish by 12:30 fishing the same place that produced his 14-pound, 10-ounce limit on Thursday. Scrambling, he ran way up north to the Blood River, only to find four boats on his spot. Ritter did a 180 and scooted back down south.
“I went back down to a flat that looked OK in practice, but I just had a feeling that there should be some sows in there somewhere,” he says.
Ritter was right. Targeting isolated patches of grass – sometimes just three or four stalks – he hammered out a limit that weighed 17-12. He feels good that the grass pattern could work again tomorrow but isn’t ruling out going back to the place where he started the tournament.
“I don’t know what will happen tomorrow if it’s sunny,” says Ritter. “The sun never showed itself today. My starting spot has been pressured. The fish weren’t positioned right with this cloud cover. They’re out roaming around. If we get sun, it’ll be on.”
5. Kelly Readhimer – Beech Bluff, Tenn. – 31-15 (10)
You can’t catch them all in fishing, but for Kelly Readhimer, the ones that got away on Thursday might haunt him.
“I lost nine fish yesterday,” he says. “I dumped a 6 and a 4 at the boat.
“I fished clean today. I just didn’t get a big bite.”
Readhimer’s day-one co-angler was Gary Brookshear, who led the co-angler side on Thursday and is currently in second place. Brookshear hinted that Readhimer was around the kind of fish to really do well. Obviously he was right.
Today was overall a much slower day for Readhimer, of Beech Bluff, Tenn. He caught two fish early but didn’t land another keeper until noon. Then he was able to fill his limit and eventually cull.
Readhimer says he’s using a crankbait to catch his fish in areas that should replenish.
“I’ve caught postspawn and prespawn fish,” he says. “I’ve got fish coming and going.”
The rest of the top 10
6. Steve Floyd – Leesburg, Ohio – 31-10 (10)
7. Daniel Kweekul – Bryant, Ark. – 31-08 (10)
8. Chris Miranda – Russellville, Ark. – 31-03 (10)
9. Todd Schmitz – Goshen, Ind. – 30-04 (10)
10. Christopher Jones – Bokoshe, Okla. – 30-00 (10)
Details
The top 10 pros and co-anglers continue competition Saturday at 6:30 a.m. CT from Paris Landing State Park. Watch the day-two weigh-in via FLW Live at 3:30 p.m. CT.