Bass Fishing Jul 2018 | Page 105

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