ASWEGAN WINS TOPWATER DUEL AT KENTUCKY LAKE
CO-ANGLER CHAMP
ON TOUR
BFL REGIONALS
DEtAILS oct. 13-15, 2016 presented by mercury hosted by kentucky Lake Convention & Visitors bureau Divisions: buckeye, Great Lakes, Illini, michigan
ASWEGAN WINS TOPWATER DUEL AT KENTUCKY LAKE
SON’ S LUCKY ZARA SPOOK KEYED THE VICTORY
By Curtis Niedermier
the mid-October showdown on Kentucky Lake that was the 2016 T-H Marine Bass Fishing League Regional presented anglers with a mix of old and new. Old, in the sense that, as usual in fall, weights were lower than what Kentucky Lake is known for in the summer. New, because Kentucky Lake’ s southern waters were mostly void of the grass that usually attracts about half of the Regional field each year.
With the grass pattern out of play, nearly all of the top 10 finishers relied on the other“ usual” fall pattern at Kentucky Lake: fishing topwater on shallow flats in creeks or on shallow bars on or near the main lake. Finding key areas with bait and schools of foraging bass became the winning program, and tournament champ Chris Aswegan uncovered the most productive spot.
Utilizing a“ lucky” Heddon Zara Spook that was given to him by his 5-year-old son, John, for Father’ s Day, the Tiffin, Iowa, boater tallied 47 pounds, 4 ounces in three days.
“ Normally, I always throw a bone-colored Zara Spook,” says Aswegan.“ He [ his son ] knows I like to fish a Spook and a frog, but he bought me a shad-colored Zara Spook.”
For sentimental reasons, perhaps, Aswegan tied on the Spook,“ wrong color” that it was, for some summer derbies on the Mississippi River back home, and then he never cut it off, including at Kentucky Lake. The fish didn’ t seem to mind.
With a buzzbait mixed in, Aswegan fished a shallow flat all three days. He keyed on a subtle drop-off – from about 8 inches deep down to 18 inches deep – that stretched about 100 yards long where schools of shad were visible along the breakline. Aswegan’ s only real adjustment was to dial in the sweet spot each day.
CO-ANGLER CHAMP
Name: Jim Budde hometown: Waterloo, Ill. total Weight: 30-04( 11 fish) Winning program: Just like most of the top pros, coangler champ Jim Budde caught most of his fish on a Zara Spook topwater around shallow bars. Budde also used a spinnerbait and a buzzbait.
“ The majority of that 100 yards I didn’ t catch a fish off of,” says Aswegan, who fished about 50 miles south of the Moors Resort takeoff site.“ It was a different stretch each day. Most of my bites each day came from a spot about triple the size of a boat.”
Aswegan says that fishing the spot reminded him of fishing shallow sandbars on the Mississippi back home. The biggest difference was that there’ s a lot less current on Kentucky Lake.
In either case, Aswegan suspects that bass don’ t hang out in deeper water and rush up to ambush bait. Rather, he believes they hang tight along those shallow depressions and feed when the opportunity presents itself.
“ I didn’ t see them working a lot of bait,” Aswegan adds.“ Most of the good bites I got were not when they were busting.”
2017 All-American Qualifiers
boaters: cHris aswegan Tiffin, Iowa mike Brueggen La Crosse, Wis. Bradley leiFermann Andover, Minn. ronald nutter Newark, Ohio lloyd Pickett jr. Bartlett, Tenn. clayton reitZ Morton, Ill.
Co-anglers: jim Budde Waterloo, Ill. tim gilliland Wellston, Ohio jim stone Greenwood, Ind. carl lingle Dongola, Ill. mike raBer Wolcottville, Ind. randy westerField Constantine, Mich.
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FlwFisHing. com i january 2017