Top 10 baits from Kentucky Lake
CALVERT CITY, Ky. – As expected, the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Plains Division event on Kentucky Lake was a good one, with plenty of bass caught on all sides and a strong prespawn smallmouth and largemouth bite. As is always the case in 2024, a jighead minnow did a lot of work, but it wasn’t the only thing going. Pros caught fish on big swimbaits, umbrella rigs and even some Tennessee River classics like lipless baits and jigs.
Notably, the overwhelming majority of the Top 10 spent all their time in Kentucky Lake, not Barkley, and smallmouth were the dominant species by a longshot. Still, some kicker largemouth showed up, especially later in the event, as it seemed like the smallmouth were smartening up and scattering out by the hour.
Here’s how the best got it done.
1. Lawrence ‘Scopes for the win
Winning his third Series event on Kentucky and Barkley, Jake Lawrence did what he does best, LiveScoping fish with a jig and a minnow.
Mostly targeting current breaks, he fished south of Paris Landing on Day 1, and then spent the rest of the event up North and mid-lake.
Using a prototype 3/16-ounce jighead and matching minnow from Jenko, Lawrence also used a prototype Jenko High Roller spinning rod. He used a 15-pound fluoro leader and 17-pound braid mainline.
Lawrence’s prototype minnow has some visual similarities to others, but he believes that it’ll be a worthy offering from Jenko when actually available.
“It’s been probably two years in the making. I was really fortunate that I got on this strolling deal really early, really when Taku [Ito] was the only one doing it over here,” he said. “I’ve had fun the last couple years learning it.”
Once he got into the technique, Lawrence quickly got to work to build a perfect bait for himself.
“It’s the most fickle technique that I’ve ever messed with,” he said. “It’s not like a deep diving crankbait, which is kind of simple once you figure it out. It’s really fickle to get the bait to act right. We’ve got to be on 15 or 20 prototypes, different shapes and things like that. The bait itself is what it’s going to be, but we’re going to clean it up and add texture. I wanted to make it as original as I could, but it is a large struggle to get outside the norm – there are only so many shapes you can do with a minnow-style bait. On top of that, to get the bait to roll right is such a feat.”
Whenever it is available, it’ll surely fly off the shelves, and considering Lawrence’s affinity for the technique and success on the water, this won’t be the last time it shows up in a Top 10 Baits gallery.
2. Years of knowledge play for Robertson
Finishing second, Matt Robertson was the only other pro to cross the 60-pound mark, and he dug deep into his repertoire of Kentucky Lake tricks to get it done.
“The first day they stopped pulling current, and I tried running current breaks, didn’t catch anything, so I had to go fish a few offshore places with shell bars,” he said. “I went and fished that stuff the second day and didn’t catch nothing, and I saw that morning, when I drove across the dam, that they opened up two more gates. So, I knew they were pulling water again, and I opted to run current breaks.
“The third day, I tried my offshore stuff for the smallmouth again, hoping it would replenish. I didn’t catch nothing there. I tried some of the current breaks again, and I didn’t catch nothing there. I didn’t have a fish at 11 o’clock,” he said. “Then, I got on a little secondary point deal, saw what was going on, and I know where they get on those secondary points. So, I just started running the best secondary points on the lake and cracked them on a big swimbait the last day.”
Using Ugly Stik Carbon rods, Abu Garcia reels and Berkely Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon, Robertson used a variety of swimbaits on the week. On a spinning rod, he went with a 4.3-inch Berkley PowerBait Power Swimmer on a 3/16-ounce head. For a bigger approach, he used a Berkley PowerBait CullShad, in the 6- and 8-inch sizes – on the final day, the 8-inch size in particular did his damage.
3. No ‘Scope needed for Hartman
Earning his first Toyota Series Top 10 since he won on Chickamauga in 2021, Jordan Hartman fished shallow with power techniques.
His best bait was a 6-inch Berkley PowerBait CullShad, and he also caught some keepers on a ½-ounce Z-Man Evergreen ChatterBait JackHammer in clearwater shad with a Yamamoto Zako in chartreuse electric blue. For both techniques, he used Lew’s rods and reels, and he used 15-pound Strike King Contra Fluorocarbon for the swimbait and 17-pound Contra for the vibrating jig.
“They had the current cranked up, so I was fishing shallow shell beds the current hit,” said Hartman. “They were up there feeding; I think they were getting their last meal before they went to bed. Everything I caught was in less than 2 foot of water, just way up on top of them.”
4. Lovin milks one area
Harbor Lovin earned a Top 10 with a 5-inch Jenko Tremor Shad on a 3/16-ounce head. He used a 7-foot, 2-inch Jenko High Roller spinning rod, 20-pound K9 braid and a 14-pound K9 fluoro leader.
“I pretty much milked one little area on the north end that had a quick 2- to 20-foot transition and had quite a bit of rock around,” said Lovin. “I was pitching that to anything that varied from normal – a rock, schools of skipjack, a drum. If I could get anything interested and get it anywhere near a bass it would come eat it.”
On the week, Lovin only weighed one largemouth.
5. Knight mixes and matches for a Top 10
After knocking out a Top 10 a few weeks ago on Guntersville, Clint Knight went ahead and earned another this week, this time on the home pond.
His primary baits were a Rapala CrushCity Freeloader on either a 3/16- or 5/16-ounce head, a 4.4-inch 6th Sense Divine Swimbait on a 3/8-ounce head and a Megabass Vision 110+2.
He started on an offshore smallmouth school in about 8 feet of water, and perhaps fished it a little too much.
“Day 1, I burned it down to the ground — I caught between 30 and 40 keepers, and if I’d known the wind wasn’t going to blow on Day 2 I wouldn’t have done that,” he said. “Day 2, I had some largemouth saved, thinking the wind was going to blow. I fished some shallow rockpiles; everything was 4 feet or less on Day 2. Then, Day 3, I just ran out of stuff.”
The Freeloader was his key smallmouth bait, and on Day 2 he mostly used the swimbait. Notably, Knight thinks the fish in Kentucky Lake are a lot farther along the spawn cycle than they were last year.
“We’re so far ahead this year compared to last year because of the water temperature,” he said. “I could tell, each day as it went by, that they were getting closer to spawning. I could see them pull up, and they were on stumps and rocks and hard places, making their beds. I could see them on ‘Scope doing it.”
6. “Catch big fish” pattern key for Gill
Falling out of bed with another Top 10, Drew Gill started a little slow but put the screws to them on the final two days to roll up the leaderboard.
His primary bait was an umbrella rig with 1/8-ounce heads and 2.8-inch Big Bite Baits Pro Swimmers. For tackle, Gill used a 7-foot, 6-inch, heavy Ark Essence Series rod, an Ark Gravity 7 reel and 20-pound fluoro.
“Basically, my pattern was ‘catch big fish,’ so that’s what I did,” said Gill. “The first day, I thought I was going to be largemouth fishing, so I started off, ran all my stuff, and it ended up being garbage. I was expecting to catch them with a jerkbait on brush – that didn’t really pan out.”
On Day 2, Gill discovered a new pattern, and then another.
“The second day, I tried to catch brown fish, and I started running little flat gravel spots on the main lake and started catching them. If you had a steep channel out front, and a place where the gravel was flat, in 3 to 4 feet of water, they’d be there,” he said. “The final day, my smallmouth wouldn’t bite, so I ditched them. I ended up fishing for largemouth on secondary points with brush and stumps.”
7. Classic tactics put Jelinek in the Top 10
Coming on strong on Days 2 and 3, Brad Jelinek knocked out a Top 10 to get his Plains Division season started on the right foot.
A jerkbait and umbrella rig were the main players for the Missouri pro. For the rig, a 6th Sense Divine Umbrella Rig with 1/8-ounce 6th Sense Divine Swimbait Jig Heads and 3.2-inch 6th Sense Divine Swimbaits did the work. His jerkbait of choice was a 6th Sense Provoke 106DD in violet panda.
Jelinek weighed mixed bags every day.
“I thought I knew how to target smallmouth, but I would catch largemouth in the same spots,” he said. “I think that was kind of the deal; as much as I wanted to target smallmouth, they were kind of together. If you threw over a ledge, there would be a largemouth or smallmouth. Stump, same deal. Brushpile, same deal.”
He also had a real circus catch on the second day.
“I went to my starting spot, I threw my jerkbait out there, and I had five fish over 4 pounds doing donuts around my jerkbait,” he said. “I was so frustrated, they were acting like they were fighting over it but never got it. I reeled it in and threw out there again, and my line wrapped around my rod tip. So, I’m sitting there trying to get it undone, and as I’m doing it, one of those great big ones eats it. So, I’m trying to reel it in, and I can’t reel, so I’m trying to walk to the back to get it in, and it came off. So, I’m undoing the line, and I feel it take off – I’m like ‘No way.’ So, I set my rod down and hand-line a 4-pounder in. I’ve done that before with little ones, but never one over 4.”
8. Offshore bars play for Fillmore
Hunter Fillmore locked down a Top 10 with a couple of schools he found offshore. For baits, he used a Duckett Fishing BD Subtle Tail swimbait on a 1/4-ounce head. and he used the same bait on an umbrella rig with 1/8-ounce heads. He also used a prototype Duckett Damiki bait on a 1/8-ounce head.
“The first two days I was throwing that swimbait,” he said. “Day 3 was real windy, so I switched over to the A-rig. I was able to catch my fish early all three days. I had two areas fishing current breaks out in the middle of the river on bars. I thought I could expand on it — I’ve lived down here for four years — and I just never got other quality bites.”
9. Fields socks it to ‘em on Day 1
Day 1 of the event saw Ethan Fields right behind Lawrence with the second-biggest bag of the tournament – 23 pounds. Though he couldn’t follow it up, Fields was able to stay in the Top 10, which marked his second at the Toyota Series level.
On the week, his primary bait was a Keitech Shad Impact on a 3/16-ounce ball head. He rigged it with a loop knot and used 10-pound Seaguar Tatsu for a leader and 15-pound braid for mainline. Obviously, Lowrance ActiveTarget was a key factor as well.
“I had like nine different schools found going into the tournament — I’m not sure what happened, maybe it was the warm up,” he said. “Day 1, I pulled up to the first one, and it was on. I had probably 19 pounds in 20 minutes. Then, I ran about 20 minutes south to my next one, and I caught a 5 1/2, and they were pretty much all gone. My other schools, they were pretty much all gone too. Day 2 rolled around, and my starting school was busted up, and the rest of the tournament I had to hunt for singles. I would get up on the top of the bars and look for a little drop or stump. My fish spread out, and I never could relocate them.”
10. Junking it up puts Anderson in the Top 10
Brent Anderson is a Kentucky Lake veteran with six BFL wins to his credit on the fishery. But he said this week, most of his hard-earned history there was useless.
Mixing shallow and deep, Anderson caught all his fish on either his GOBY 1 jig or a 1/2-ounce Strike King Red Eye Shad painted in a green tomato color by Yount Custom Lures.
Needing to break in his motor, Anderson ran from Paris to the north end when he started practice.
“I dabbled around up there and had probably a dozen keepers and about 16 pounds,” he said. “I kept working my way south, and it progressively got worse. I caught four keepers the next day, three keepers the next day, and I decided to just pray that school was there.”
On Day 1, he started on a school of largemouth on a shallow bar and sacked up 15 pounds pretty quickly. On Day 2, his three best fish came off a stick in 1.9 feet of water on a bar. Plus, during the event, he found some very finicky smallmouth near some boulders in about 15 feet.
“I probably maximized times 10 what I had found,” said Anderson. “Everything I weighed in came off one stick, one little gravel point, and three boulders.”