Barren River Lake BFL Regional...Patterns and baits

Here is a quick recap of the baits and pattern I used for the Barren River Lake BFL regional last week.  I started the week of practice fishing shallow in the backs of the creeks, and had a pretty decent day doing that, a rough estimate on weight would have been around 12 lbs. 
I started day two of practice looking for some deeper fish, as they were dropping the lake approx 6-8 inches per day (the winter drawdown had begun).  I spent 6 or 7 hours fishing deep and managed only a few bites, no decent keepers, so with a few hours of daylight left I went shallow and caught 3 nice keepers on a trap. 
Day 3 began still trying to force the deep bite, after a few hours of fishing and only two bites, I began to fish shallow again and immediately caught two keepers.  It was at this point I ran into my travel partner and we discussed the shallow bite and agreed that everytime we went up shallow we caught better fish.  We then decided to work together and we ran the upper half of the lake looking for specific areas that matched the type of areas we were catching them in shallow.  In the next few hours we had approximately ten keeper bites between us, which only solidified our decision to stay shallow during the tournament.
I fished the entire tournament running flat shallow pockets on the main lake, upriver and in Skaggs creek.  I abandoned fishing in the backs of the pockets, there was too much fishing pressure in these areas.  You could run the lake and identify the areas by sight that matched the pattern I was running, which in turn allowed me to run and gun all day, never fishing anything twice, trying to cover as much water as possible each day.  My day one weight was four fish for 8lbs 5oz, I lost a three pounder on a buzzbait that would've given me my limit.  My co-angler had a limit weighing 13lbs 2 oz.  I was in 30th, he was in 2nd. 
Day two of the tournament switched from cloudy skies and wind to high blue skies, little to no wind.  I believe that fishing pressure and weather conditions combined to change the fish I was catching.  It seemed that the fish pulled up tighter to cover on day 2.  I switched from topwater baits to a squarebill crankbait, a lipless crankbait and a tube to catch a limit weighing 9lbs 8oz, which moved me up eighteen places into 12th, the last man in the cut.
Day three started with a two hour fog delay, I was about two pounds out of 6th place (the top 6 anglers qualify for the All-American), so I knew I needed to have a decent day.  I again caught my fish early on a squarebill and a tube, but late in the day I began to run shady pockets throwing my spook, with 25 minutes to go I caught a 2.75lb fish on my spook.  I ended the day with 5lbs 13oz and moved up 7 spots to 5th place, qualifying for the BFL All-American next May on the Potomac River. 
Despite the falling water levels this week, I caught all of my fish this week in water that was less than 3 feet deep, and often in less than a foot of water.  I found the majority of my good fish, and I identified the pattern I ran by throwing a Zara Super Spook jr and a Lunker Lure buzzbait.  When weather conditions changed I had to adjust, the topwater baits found them, on day two the squarebill caught them, but ultimately it was one last bight on the Spook that put me in the All-American.  Below are some pictures of the rod/bait combos I threw this week.
I'd like to take the opportunity to praise my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for providing exactly what it took to to qualify, despite what seemed like not enough weight to make the All-American.


God Bless,
Duke

Powell 704CB rod - Super Spook jr  on 30lb Power Pro Braid

Powell 705cex rod - 1/2 oz Lunker Lure Original Buzzbait on 20lb Fluorocarbon

Powell 703CB glass rod - 1/4oz Lucky Craft LVR mini on 10lb Maxima Monofilament

Powell 766 Flipping Stick - 3/16oz weight, Gamakatsu Heavy cover Flipping hook - 20lb Fluorocarbon



Powell 703CB Glass - Lucky Craft 1.5 - Maxima 15lb monofilament



My 2011 BFL Regional is in the books...

It's done, it's over, and miraculously enough, I did well.  At what? The Barren River Lake BFL Regional last week.  I managed to finish in 5th place and qualify for the 2012 BFL All-American, and I'm absolutely stoked!   I had a decent practice and an ok tournament.  I never really whacked them any of the three days, but I just managed to stay somewhat consistent and on a tough fishery that'll do ya real well.  I owe a thanks to my roommate Aaron McManaway, who I worked together with to figure out what these fish were doing.  He also made the final day cut, but fell just two pounds short of making the All-American.  It would have been pretty awesome if both of us would have made it!  I'll post more info about the baits and patterns shortly, right now I'm a little tired and a nap sounds like a good idea.
God Bless,
Duke

BFL Regional is right around the corner

Other than a few local events, my last out of town tournament will take place next week at Barren River Lake in Glasgow, KY.  I spent two days there late last week, prior to the off-limits period, and it seems to be a pretty decent little lake.  It's not a real big lake, you can travel from one end to the other in less than 30 minutes, but I think it will fish fairly big, I'm hoping anyway.  Regardless, I feel like a couple of days there riding around and fishing a little have been a big help.  I did manage to catch a few fish, even a couple nice ones, we'll see if I can expand on what I learned when I get there later this week, Lord willing I will be able to that. Here's a pic of one of the nicer ones I caught.
God Bless,
Duke




Five of these a day would be SWEET!!!



Can't shake the bait buying bug...

I have to admit, I think I'm an addict.  Yes, it's true, I'm sure I have an addiction.  To what? You might ask, buying fishing tackle.  I'm an absolute sucker for a good looking shallow crankbait or topwater plug.  You throw the words "custom painted" or "handmade" into the description and it's as good as bought.  I'm not sure if there is a 12 step program for this or not, if there is, I may have to go twice.  lol, all kidding aside, I just picked up some sweet 3/8 oz Aruka Shad lipless crankbaits.  I almost drooled when I saw them.  I'm thinking they'll get put to use at my BFL regional, I hope anyway.  For now, though, I am going to have to get off of the internet, I fell the urge to go to Bass Tackle Depot and look around.  That's definitely not a good idea.
God Bless,
Duke

Shelbyville does it again...

When it comes to writing about a tournament recap for Lake Shelbyville, I beleive I could just save one in Microsoft word and then keep re-using it every time I go there.  Minus two good finishes, I hve had my brains beaten out on this waterhole too many times to count.  I used to go there, have terrible practices, and even worse tournaments.  But now, the lake has decided to start messing with me.  By that I mean I have a good practice, establish what I believe is a decent pattern, you guessed it, in a performance that resembles Lucy jerking the ball out from in front of Charlie Brown when he goes to kick it, my pattern disappears and I struggle during the event to get enough bites to build another pattern on the fly.  I'm going to have to remedy this, I think a fair portion of what takes place is in my head, I get a little too dialed in and try to force a two day old pattern that may have changed with existing conditions and I don't adjust with them.  We'll get it fixed though.  With that being said, all was not lost, I finished in 38th place and qualified for the regional.  I ended the year in 20th place in the points, and only fished four of the five events in the division, so that's not too bad.  Regardless of last Saturday's finish, I accomplished my goal of making the regional and now my focus turns towards Barren River Lake in Kentucky.  From the looks of the lake, I'm looking forward to this one.  Thanks for stopping by, I may get a chance to go the Barren River prior to the off-limits, if I do, I'll be sure to post a few pics.  Also, if you're on Twitter, look me up @Duke_Jenkel follow along, if you'd like.
God Bless,
Duke

Got my last BFL in the crosshairs...

Lord willing I'll be leaving for Shelbyville Lake in the morning.  It's the site of the last Illini Division BFL.  I'm pretty excited about hitting the lake, I have a fairly well chronicled love/hate relationship with this lake.  I'll admit, it's mostly hate...well, a strong dislike anyway.  I've got a couple of days to beat around the pond, so come Saturday afternoon, we'll know what I was able to muster up.  Lord willing it'll be a good report.  I believe the recent turn of the weather should have 'em biting.  We will see, Check back Monday.
God Bless,
Duke

Neely Henry Baits and Patterns

Neely henry is a lake that I'm beginning to really like.  It just seems to be one of those bodies of water that you feel comfortable with, despite the fact that I have spent a grand total of eleven days fishing there.  My last trip as you know was the final stop on the 2011 Bass Pro Shops PAA Tour.  I was fortunate to make the final day cut, a blessing indeed.  So let's dig in to the patterns and baits I used in route to a 17th place finish.

Practice:

I actually discovered the main pattern that I fished on the first day of practice at 5pm.  I had been on the water since daylight and had concentrated on areas near the main river, mostly on wood and grass and had failed miserably in figuring anything out.  What I initially thought was act of desperation turned out to be one of the best moves I could make all week.  I was in a major creek arm and noticed a long stretch of rip-rap at the back-end of the creek.  Out of frustration I ran to the back of the creek to make a pass down the rip-rap.  I hadn't been to the backs of any of the creeks, and I hadn't fished any rocks as of yet, but when I arrived I realized how many bait fish had migrated to the back of this creek.  In my intitial pass, I caught 3 keepers, two were what I would call "good ole big-uns" a 19"er and a 20"er.  I truly believe the 20 inch fish was pushing 5lbs.  With only an hour or so of daylight left I got out my map and looked for similar situations, found several and the first one I fished, within three casts I caught a nice 2.5lber.  I immediately stopped and felt confident this was a pattern I could run all over the lake.  Day two of practive I spent up the river above Gadsden, AL I managed a pretty decent limit, but no big fish, but I also was able to establish a pretty decent pattern for those fish upriver.  Day three I spent back down lake looking for more stretches of rip-rap that had all the right ingredients.  I found several more areas.  I quit at noon to work on tackle and get ready for the tournament.

The Derby...
I started the tournament downriver towards the dam, by 10:30 I had cobbled together a pretty small limit.  Fearing, I had made a bad decision, I ran 40 miles from where I was to the areas upriver where I had caught them on day two of practice.  I managed to cull four or five times, but never had a quality bite. My day one total was 8.17
On day two of the tournament I ran back downstream in hopes of catching those bigger spots I had found.  I decided that I would spend all of my time on the lower end, slowing down to see if I could locate and catch these fish.  I knew I needed a pretty decent limit to make the cut, I felt like the lower end had the ptoential to produce bigger bites for me.  Day two ended, I had a limit that went 10.09lbs, landing me as the last man in the cut...Halelujah!...Payday!
Day three was pretty uneventful.  The fishing got tough, I managed another limit, and moved up two more places to finsish 17th.  Overall it was a great tournament, I never did connect with any of the big fish I had found in practice. Undoubtedly, I was in the right areas to do well, I just never got a big bite. I'm thankful for what I did catch.  Below are some pictures of the baits I used during the tournament. Until the next tournament,
God Bless,
Duke




I initially found the fish on the rip-rap with this Original Little John crankbait in Citrus Shad color. 
I used a Powell 703cb glass rod and 10lb maxima monofilament with this bait.





This is a Lunker Lure Shakee Head in 1/8th ounce. I used a Zoom trick worm in Red Bug Color on 8lb Seaguar fluorocarbon and a Powell 733 mef spinning rod.



In the tournament, the fish seemed to shy away from my Lunker Lure Buzzbait, but it helped me locate several areas holding fish.  This is a 3/8 oz white on white buzzer, I fished it on a Powell 704 cef rod with 20lb Maxima monofilament line

Twitter....Do ya Tweet?

If you are a 'Tweeter" (is that a word?)  or should I say if you use twitter, look me up, I just set up an account.  I'm thinking it's a better way to be up to the minute, with your group of friends/followers.  I believe it will be pretty neat.  Who knows, maybe it won't, guess we'll find out.  At any rate it seems worth trying, so if you're on Twitter, look for Duke_Jenkel and click on the follow button.  It should be an interesting ride.
God Bless,
Duke

A switch of venues...just for a few days anyway

I just loaded my truck and I am headed for Paducah, KY for the Kentucky early waterfowl season.  A good friend of mine and Kentucky Lake fishing guide Dan Dolack invited me down to help guide some clients of his during the early waterfowl season.  I'm pretty stoked.  We'll hunt Honkers in the morning and evening, and squeeze in a dove hunt or two in the process, as well as doin' a little cooking on the Big Green Egg.  What's not to be excited about.  I still have some photos to upload from the Neely Henry PAA tournament, so check back, I'll have the patterns and baits report for ya soon.
God Bless,
D

Broken Hearts and shattered dreams revisited...

Well, sort of...I got home a few days ago from Neely Henry Lake in Gadsden, AL, what nice lake, in a super nice area of Alabama.  You may remeber I finished 2nd in the PAA tour event held there in 2009, and as I practiced for last week's event, I ran through a couple of areas where I caught them really well in '09.  As I rounded the corner of one particular slough, I saw the sight in the picture below, there it was, the old dock, make that all that remained of the old dock that reached out and swiped $25,000 out of my pocket!  How did that happen you say?  On the final day of the '09 PAA Tour tournament, I hooked a 5 or 6lb bass near these dock posts and when I set the hook, I could do nothing with her, she ran on the backside of the posts and I could do nothing but hang on.  As I worked the fish back around the posts, it wrapped around the very last post between her and the awiating dip net.  Before I could get the fish loose, she twisted off of the hook, gone for ever.  I got beat by 1lb in that tournament, had I caught that fish, I would have been able to cull a smaller one from my livewell and gain about four pounds of total weight.  More than enough to win the event, and that is how the old dock posts whacked me for $25k.  Ouch, that hurt.  I will go on to say that, I truly was blessed to finish 2nd in that tourney and I truly have no complaints, it was neat to see where some of the areas where I fished in '09 and relive a good tournament finish.
God Bless,
Duke


There it is...the dirty rotten thief!!