ON TOUR
YETI FLW COLLEGE FISHING
DETAILS
College Fishing open
Kentucky Lake/Lake Barkley
April 7–8, 2017
Hosted by Kentucky Lake CVB and Moors Resort & Marina
UT MARTIN HANGS TOUGH TO WIN
KENTUCKY LAKE OPEN
Winning Team
University of Tennessee at Martin
Matthew Lamastus and Dylan True
Winning Weight: 44-04 (10 fish)
Stat Line: In only their second College Fishing event as teammates, True and
Lamastus earned their first career win on Kentucky Lake.
A monster 25-15 day-one limit set the pace for UT Martin’s victory at the Open.
CONDITIONS
Weather | post-frontal with bluebird skies and gusting wind on day one;
cold in the morning but warming, with sunny skies on day two
Air Temperature | highs in the 70s in practice, followed by a cold front and
highs in the lower 60s and lows in the upper 40s on day one; highs in the
mid-70s and lows in the upper 30s on day two
Water Temperature | 63 to 68 degrees
Water Clarity | 2 to 3 feet in backs of coves; 2 feet in the main lake and
cove mouths
Wind | NNW at 8 to 15 mph on day one; SSE at 6 to 10 mph on day two
Moon Phase | nearly full
Predominant Lake Features | rocky banks, docks, ledges and bars, laydowns
Fishery Type | The last Tennessee River impoundment in the chain of
lakes. Current is regulated by hydroelectric generating cycles at the dam.
Large coves and feeder creeks on both sides of the lake are typical fishing
hot spots in prespawn and postspawn.
92
M
By Colin Moore
pHoToS By CURTIS NIEDERMIER
att Lamastus and Dylan True
of the University of Tennessee
at Martin got while the getting
was good April 7-8 in the YETI FLW
College Fishing Open on Kentucky Lake.
Buoyed by a 25-pound, 15-ounce limit
in the first round, the two fashioned a
two-day stringer of 44 pounds, 4
ounces to win the event ahead of 193
other teams. Their closest competitors
were Koby Littrell and Martin McCravy
of the University of North Alabama, who
finished with 40 pounds, 8 ounces.
A cold front that swept across west-
ern Kentucky as the tournament began
had a delayed negative reaction on the
fishing that actually benefitted True and
Lamastus. Several anglers boated their
heaviest bass on day one, including the
collegians from UT Martin. True caught
his biggest, 7-14, on a Strike King Series
5 crankbait (sexy shad) that morning,
and he and Lamastus also boated a
couple of 6-pounders cranking the
shoreline in massive Jonathan Creek.
Then the effects of a chill-down set
in, and for the most part the bigger fish
were nowhere to be found on day two.
Seven 20-pounds-plus limits were
weighed at Moors Resort & Marina –
the tournament headquarters – on day
one, but only two were seen in the
championship round. Consequently,
with a couple of exceptions, the teams
at the top in the opening round tended
to stay there on day two. UT Martin had
18-5, which was more than enough to
stave off the hard-charging Littrell and
McCravy, who returned with a 20-
pound stringer – the day’s second best.
A Murray State University team –
Nick Montilino and Brock Spencer –
looked to be in the best position to
replace UT Martin on the leaderboard
in the second round, but the bigger fish
they flipped for with jigs on Friday in
Lake Barkley’s Little River had moved off
the banks. They returned to the dock
with a 15-12 sack, and, on the strength
FLWFISHING.COM I MAY-JUNE 2017