ON TOUR
T-H MARINE FLW BASS FISHING LEAGUE
BFL WILD CARD | KENTUCKY LAKE
GILBERTSVILLE , KY
By Jody White photoS by Jody WhIte
WINNING ANGLER
Kevin Powers unicoi , tenn .
Winning Weight : 32-09 ( 10 fish )
details : nov . 10-11 , 2017
hosted by Kentucky Lake Convention & visitors bureau
In the BFL Wild Card on Kentucky Lake , which was held just a week after the brutally tough Costa FLW Series Championship on the same fishery , Kevin Powers went a little off the beaten track and headed over to the north end of Lake Barkley to punch his ticket to the All-American . Barkley offered much dirtier water and less pressure than Kentucky Lake , and by focusing his efforts there Powers was able to be one of only two anglers to catch a limit both days . “ I looked for deeper banks on the main channel that had some laydowns on them ,” says Powers . “ With the water being down [ at winter pool ] and me not knowing the lake , I was just looking for the same things we ’ d fish back home in east Tennessee .”
Powers caught keepers on several banks , but one magic tree at the end of a bluff produced an amazing 12 keepers for him over the two days of fishing . The end of his magic tree was in about 13 feet of water , which was the typical maximum depth he fished . Powers kept his
ALL-AMERICAN qUALIFIERS
boaterS
1 . Kevin Powers Unicoi , Tenn .
2 . Steve Ruff St . Charles , Mo .
3 . Freddy Palmer Estill Springs , Tenn .
4 . Danny Holloway Corinth , Miss .
5 . Billy Schroeder Paducah , Ky .
6 . Justin Royal Vidor , Texas baits close to the bottom and fished slowly with a homemade 5 / 8-ounce spinnerbait ( chartreuse and white ) and a Lunker Lure Original Rattleback Jig ( green pumpkin ) matched with a Zoom Big Salty Chunk .
Co-angLerS
1 . Scott Stallings Glencoe , Okla .
2 . Dave Roverts Indianapolis , Ind .
3 . Robert Pillow Campbellsville , Ky .
4 . Cory Miller Blanchard , Okla .
5 . Andrew Nickeson Valdosta , Ga .
6 . Carl Lingle Dongola , Ill .
WINNING CO-ANGLER
scott stallings glencoe , okla .
Winning Weight : 11-12 ( 4 fish )
Winning Program :
Scott Stallings caught one keeper on day one with a Yamamoto Senko , but he jumped up the leaderboard on day two by catching a trio of keepers with a Carolina-rigged 8-inch Zoom Lizard ( watermelon with the tail dyed chartreuse ).
80 flWfIshIng . com I january 2018