Kentucky Angler Doing Well on the B.A.S.S. Tour

Kevin Wirth, the local BASS Fishing Pro from Crestwood, Kentucky is having a good year on the pro circuit. So far this year Kevin has finished 9th at the Lake Erie Northern Open, starting the first day in 57th! place, and he finished 2nd in the Storm shortened Lake Oneida Northern Open.

Northern Open Lake Oneida
Stren 20 Lb. Fluorocarbon
Prowler 4" Green Pumpkin Tubes
TKO Spinnerbaits
Model Long A bomber

Kevin spend the first day of practice at Oneida mostly driving around and and getting acquainted with the lake. There was a little wind and the air temp was 63 degrees and sunny to cloudy. The weather forecast was for scattered showers over the next few day.

Kevin's pre tournament plan was to look for spots where he could catch numbers of smallmouth and find a pattern for Largemouth that would bring him some bigger fish. The water was cooling, and the bass were in their fall pattern, moving shallow to begin feeding. Kevin went in search of flats with scattered cover.

The plan was to find fish with spinner baits and jerk baits and once the agressive fish were done biting to start to use his Prowler 4" Tubes in Green Pumpkin to find the larger less agressive fish. The plan worked.

Kevin found most of the smallmouth on a break in 2 to 4 foot of water. His spinner bait of choice are the TKO spinner in 3/4 oz. with chartreuse and white spinner blades, with a chartreuse and white skirt. He used a 3/8 oz version of the same spinner bait when he worked the bait in less than 3 foot of water.

Kevins Largemouth pattern was to say the least, different. He spent a lot of time looking for a pattern to the location of the fish. It turned out that the fish were holding very close in to the docks on the lake, but not just any dock. This time of year the grass on the lake is breaking loose and on the windblown coves the grass catches on the boat hoists creating a large shady area. The fish were holding close to the grass in the shade, and the presentation had to be perfect. The window was about a 4 to 5 " area around the hoist. Outside the area meant no hit. The next part of the problem was getting close enough to cast to the spot without spooking the fish in the gin clear water, under somewhat windy conditions. Kevin used a 4" Prowler Green Pumpkin tube with a 3/8th oz. weight. In deeper water Kevin used a 5/16 oz. weight with a Saw Craw in Watermelon and also in the occasional colored water.

Day 1

Kevin found smallmouth in several areas and caught a limit of fish early. He then moved on to one of the 3 areas he had picked for Large Mouth. Success, all but 2 smallies were culled and at 12:45 Kevin had a full bag of fish. The weight put him in 8th place for the day.

Day 2

dawned with Ice on most of the boats and air temps in the 30's. Biggest problem was getting the lids on the Rod Lockers and the Tackle Lockers open. It was a pleasant day with mostly sunny skies, and turning cloudy later in the day. Kevin started out by fishing the spots that had produced the day before, and well not much luck at first. Kevin moved to 2 new spots on the lake and found more smallmouth schooled and filled the 5 fish limit and moved on to his Largemouth Pattern. He fished 2 or 3 docks and nothing. At this point Kevin says "I started to wonder if the fish had moved out altogether".

Kevin stopped to regroup and checked the temperature of the water. Overnite the water temp had dropped 11 degrees. Kevin decided to go back to fishing for smallmouth. He hit 3 spots and nothing, then on the 4th spot a nice smallie hit a bait at the boat just missing it. Next cast a nice 3 pound smallmouth hit the bait just as Kevin was ready to pick it up out of the water. With one motion he saw the fish hit and he pulled the fish right out of the water. "He didn't even get to wiggle once" Kevin said. At this point Kevin swung the boat around and the fishing was great. His partner had no fish to this point and Kevin having a limit quit fishing for a while, while his partner quickly limited out. They moved another 300 yards and another pod of fish was found and both finished culling fish. Kevin finished the second day with a 5 fish smallmouth limit never having gone back to his Largemouth Pattern.

Kevin finished the day with 15 pounds 8 ounces and this pulled him from 8th Place to 2nd.

Day 3

The anglers made it to the ramp only to find 30 mile an hour winds and the weatherman calling for Storms and more wind. Because of the number of Rock Shoals in the lake that are hard to see on slightly windy days the decision was made to end the tournament.

I asked Kevin if he had anything he would like to have tried, and he said "No. Everything went right for the most part. The weights were good and there was no reason to change a thing."

Q and A with Kevin

Q. Kevin what was your largest fish?
A. I think it was about a 5 pound smallie caught on a Prowler Green Pumpkin tube

Q. What line did you use?
A. I used Stren 20 pound Flourocarbon on all my rods.