and by the end of the tour-
nament the water temp
was crowding 80 degrees.
While many of his com-
petitors concentrated on a
few spots or series of ledges
in small areas and never
really left, Lambert spent
time each day scouting way-
points and checking their
status because he was
hopeful more fish would
come to him. The biggest
bass usually make it out first,
and being prepared for their
arrival led to his mammoth
catches on the weekend.
Most of Lambert’s bass
came from some of
Kentucky Lake’s best-known
community holes. Other
anglers, locked into specific
areas, missed these fish.
Because he was always
searching, Lambert found
them and experienced the
kind of classic ledge flurries
that Kentucky Lake is
known for in the early part
of the postspawn season.
Here’s a daily rundown
of Lambert’s performance.
day 1 – Lambert caught
a quick 20-plus limit on a
key spot at the lake’s north
end, then hopped around
to a few other holes to cull
up to 24-6. The spot he
fished up north is a cur-
rent-facing point on the end
of a main-lake ridge. It’s a
well-known spot among
locals, and it also produced
26-3 for Randy Haynes on
day one.
day 2 – When he
couldn’t get on the commu-
nity hole in the morning,
Lambert ran south to a shal-
low roadbed. He made a few
other stops, including at the
community hole up north,
and wound up with 19-8.
day 3 – Lambert and
Haynes raced for the com-
munity hole first thing in the
morning, with Lambert arriv-
ing just ahead of the latter.
The two ledge aces fished
side by side for several min-
utes. Lambert was able to
line up right for effective
casts and caught several fish
early. In an unprecedented
turn of events, Haynes, frus-
trated by the situation, let
Lambert have the spot and
voluntarily ended his day
early with no fish.
Eventually, Lambert
sacked up another 20-plus
stringer before running to
another well-known com-
munity hole in the mouth of
SCROUNGERS BACK TO NORMAL
According to Bobby Dennis, President of TNO Fishing,
which owns Luck-E-Strike and several other brands, the
plastic material in the bill of the original Scrounger
changed some years ago when production was moved
overseas. Recently, TNO bought an existing lure manu-
facturing facility in Arkansas in order to bring more of its
juLy 2018 I fLWfIshIng.com
Pisgah Bay. He caught a
pair of 5-pounders on his
first two casts and then
boated a 9-pound, 2-ounce
beast that effectively sealed
up the win a day early. His
limit weighed 30-8.
“I actually found those
fish in the afternoon yes-
terday,” Lambert said at
weigh-in that day. “It’s a
place I’d fished a lot before,
but I hadn’t seen them
there yet. The only reason I
stayed [after catching the
two 5-pounders] was
because I wanted to see
how committed they were
because yesterday [Friday] I
couldn’t get them to bite.
When I found them there
yesterday, I wasn’t sure
what was there. I found
out. Today was a pretty
special day.”
His closest competitor
was Scott Martin, who
trailed him in second place
by more than 19 pounds
heading into the champi-
onship round.
day 4 – Lambert
returned to Pisgah first
thing in the morning and
once again put on a show.
“I had, like, two 3s and a 5.
That was the very first three
casts of the day,” Lambert
says. “I had a lull after that for
about 20 minutes, and then
it got ridiculous again for 30
or 40 minutes. I caught prob-
ably eight or nine total. I
caught some little guys too,
though, and I stayed there
until about 9:30.”
production back to the U.S. The Scrounger is among the
baits now being made in that factory, and Dennis says
the company is sourcing the same original plastic mate-
rial for the bill. He says anglers can expect to see new
heads with the original material available in stores some-
time in late summer.
103