17 JtKENNEY
18 biLLCHAPMAN by Colin Moore
Photo by Jody WhitE
17 JtKENNEY
29LbS , 5oZ by Colin Moore
Tactics
It took Kenney all of a day to admit to himself that he was wrong about where the Cup would be won .
“ Most people expected that the fish would be deep – myself included ,” admits the Florida pro . “ The up and down of my tournament was not being as open-minded as I should have been .”
Kenney spent practice and pre-practice searching for the deep bite and started the tournament out deep , but he was disabused of that notion on day one , when he weighed in a single fish that totaled 1-11 . That evening , he stowed all his offshore gear and got out his shallow-water “ confidence ” baits and tackle . He returned to a creek near Guntersville Dam and caught the biggest limit of the tournament – 19-2 – fishing shady banks for bass gorging on shad . It boosted him from 48th to 18th place .
Hoping to repeat the following day , Kenney returned to the creek , but most of the fish he caught were small keepers .
Baits
Kenney alternated among a Nichols Pulsator Spinnerbait ( JT ’ s chartreuse shad ), a 6th Sense Movement 80X crankbait , and a 4-inch Gambler Flipp ’ n Tube with a 5 / 16-ounce Reins tungsten weight and 4 / 0 Trokar hook . Kenney ’ s line for all baits was 18-pound-test Sunline Sniper fluorocarbon .
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18 biLLCHAPMAN by Colin Moore
29LbS , 3oZ
Tactics
The West Virginia pro originally intended to fish up the Elk River about 65 miles from the launch site at Ditto Landing , but on the third day of practice , he located fish not far from the ramp .
“ My game plan was to hit those closer fish first and then – depending on how I did – make the long run to the Elk River ,” says Chapman .
Turns out that he didn ’ t have to burn much gas after all . By 10 o ’ clock on the first morning of the tournament , he had a limit and decided to stay in the area .
“ I was up in the [ Tennessee ] river in water that was about 6 feet deep or less ,” recalls Chapman . “ Mainly it was very rocky , with some grass . There was also a stump where , at different times , I caught seven keepers .”
Baits
Chapman mainly fished a 3 1 / 2-inch green pumpkin Cabin Creek Baits tube rigged with a 1 / 4-ounce jighead inside the bait . The head was equipped with a weedguard , and Chapman fished the tube on 8-pound-test Seaguar fluorocarbon . Otherwise , he used a bone-colored Heddon Zara Spook fished on 15-pound-test monofilament .
“ I needed the weedguard with the tube because of all the junk where I was fishing . I would have to break off every cast otherwise ,” he says . “ I ’ d just cast upriver into the current and let it wash the tube down across the rocks .”
Photo by FLW MarShaL
FLWFISHING . COM I OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2016