CELEBRATION, Fla. – After enjoying record-breaking weights during the first three tournaments of the 2007 Mercury Marine Womens Bassmaster Tour presented by Triton Boats season, the top womens circuit should see the impressive weights continue during a visit to Kentucky Lake on June 14-16.
The WBT pros opened 2007 by breaking records in February at Texas Lake Amistad and followed that up with productive events at Arkansas Lake Dardanelle and Alabamas Lake Guntersville. And now they come to Kentucky Lake Village, home to two of the countrys finest fisheries, Kentucky and Barkley lakes.
The women and their co-anglers will participate during the height of the post-spawn season, when the resident largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass will be accessible as they flock to offshore ledges.
“Oh, yeah, it should be great,” said Secret York, a WBT pro from Benton, Ky. “The fish should be out there on the ledges, so youre going to see some big limits brought in.
“If everything goes right, there should be some 20-pound (five-bass) limits brought in.”
Recent history certainly supports Yorks contention. The Bassmaster Elite Series came to Kentucky Lake in June 2006 and the top seven pros caught more than 60 pounds over four days. Winner Morizo Shimizu of Japan weighed in 66 pounds, 9 ounces.
Straddling the Kentucky-Tennessee border, Kentucky Lake is massive – 185 miles in length, it has 160,000 surface acres and 2,380 miles of shoreline. Barkley, a navigable canal, adds another 80,000 surface acres.
Largemouth have been king at Barkely for decades, but Kentucky Lake is home to an outstanding smallmouth fishery. Despite this, York expects largemouth to dominate during the WBT event.
The event, the fourth of the season, will be pivotal toward positioning in the Toyota Womens Bassmaster Angler of the Year race. Through three events, Oklahomas Sheri Glasgow leads WBT Championship winner Pam Martin-Wells, Texan Juanita Robinson and Arkansas Tammy Richardson.
Although York expects a strong topwater bite in shallow water early each morning, she looks for the majority of the bass to be offshore and deep, where they will vulnerable to crankbaits, jigs, big worms and Carolina rigs.
“Ill live or die out on those ledges,” said York, who is 14th in the season standings after two 10th-place finishes. “They will make me a zero or a hero.”
York, who expects the fishing pressure to be evenly divided between Kentucky and Barkley, predicts that the winner could have 60 pounds for the three-day WBT event.
The daily launches at Kentucky Dam Village will begin at 5:30 a.m. ET. Daily weigh-ins will begin at 2:15 p.m.
The local sponsor of the event is the Kentucky Sports Authority.
