TW_Staff
05-15-2009, 05:02 PM
Mike Ward has cashed a lot of hefty checks from tournaments at Kentucky Lake over the years, but he earned most of that money by catching fish off the deep-water ledges. Last week he proved that he can be just as dangerous in the shallow water.
The Paris, Tenn. resident flipped his way to his second straight victory in the event. He made a long run each day despite some rough weather, and it paid off.
His 57-08 total over 4 days put him in a tie with Kentucky Lake guru David "Scotty" Young, but Ward prevailed in a tie-breaker based on a higher total weight over the first 2 days. Here's how he did it.
Ward went into practice for the event hoping he could find some quality fish offshore, since the vast majority of the field was focusing on the shallows. He finally had to give up and move toward the bank.
"I spent 3 days on the ledges and I caught some fish, but I never put a big concentration of fish together, so I eventually abandoned that," he said. "This is a transition time and there were a lot of fish in the bushes and some on the bars (the stopping points the fish use on the way to their summer haunts), but not enough out on the ledges yet."
Winning Pattern:
He caught his best fish by pushing the nose of his boat into the brush and flipping to the backside of the vegetation.
"The water was high and I knew that by doing that, I was going to have complications getting fish out of there," he said. "I lost a couple, but all in all it wasn't a bad day. I'm not sure any of them I lost actually hurt me."
He'd left his fish fairly early and figured he could threaten the 20-pound mark again on day 2. He got the bites he needed to do just that, but those complications he'd feared hindered him.
"I just about had a meltdown that day, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I lost three 4-pounders in a 10-yard stretch. I broke two of them off, and it was all due to the cover I was fishing.
"They'd wrap themselves around the stems of the trees (willows & buckbrush). I tried to horse them out, but I couldn't do it."
Despite his troubles, he climbed from 9th place to 2nd as overall weights were down considerably compared to day 1. He'd enter the final day just 15 ounces behind leader and fellow Paris resident Tommy Ellis.
He was a bit nervous about day 3 because a 280-boat local tournament launched from the same general area he was fishing. He said that he was forced to fish behind other anglers throughout the day, and that his patience was the key to his solid bag.
"I was fishing slower than they were. A lot of those guys were chunking spinnerbaits, and even the ones who were flipping were flipping fast. I was going so slow that my co-anglers were complaining that they were running out of stuff to flip at and they were wanting me to move on."
"I thought I had a really good chance and I felt like I'd given it a good run. I wasn't near as confident as I was last summer (when he'd won the previous edition of this event), but I felt okay."
Winning Gear:
Flipping gear: 7'5" medium-heavy G. Loomis BCFR (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GLMBF) 893 rod, Shimano Chronarch (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SCHD) 101 casting reel (6.3:1 gear ratio), 20-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SAFL) line, 1/2-ounce Tru-Tungsten flipping weight (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=TTFW), 3/0 Strike King Hook, Strike King Rodent (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SKPR) ('Bama bug or black/blue).
TW Staff
The Paris, Tenn. resident flipped his way to his second straight victory in the event. He made a long run each day despite some rough weather, and it paid off.
His 57-08 total over 4 days put him in a tie with Kentucky Lake guru David "Scotty" Young, but Ward prevailed in a tie-breaker based on a higher total weight over the first 2 days. Here's how he did it.
Ward went into practice for the event hoping he could find some quality fish offshore, since the vast majority of the field was focusing on the shallows. He finally had to give up and move toward the bank.
"I spent 3 days on the ledges and I caught some fish, but I never put a big concentration of fish together, so I eventually abandoned that," he said. "This is a transition time and there were a lot of fish in the bushes and some on the bars (the stopping points the fish use on the way to their summer haunts), but not enough out on the ledges yet."
Winning Pattern:
He caught his best fish by pushing the nose of his boat into the brush and flipping to the backside of the vegetation.
"The water was high and I knew that by doing that, I was going to have complications getting fish out of there," he said. "I lost a couple, but all in all it wasn't a bad day. I'm not sure any of them I lost actually hurt me."
He'd left his fish fairly early and figured he could threaten the 20-pound mark again on day 2. He got the bites he needed to do just that, but those complications he'd feared hindered him.
"I just about had a meltdown that day, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I lost three 4-pounders in a 10-yard stretch. I broke two of them off, and it was all due to the cover I was fishing.
"They'd wrap themselves around the stems of the trees (willows & buckbrush). I tried to horse them out, but I couldn't do it."
Despite his troubles, he climbed from 9th place to 2nd as overall weights were down considerably compared to day 1. He'd enter the final day just 15 ounces behind leader and fellow Paris resident Tommy Ellis.
He was a bit nervous about day 3 because a 280-boat local tournament launched from the same general area he was fishing. He said that he was forced to fish behind other anglers throughout the day, and that his patience was the key to his solid bag.
"I was fishing slower than they were. A lot of those guys were chunking spinnerbaits, and even the ones who were flipping were flipping fast. I was going so slow that my co-anglers were complaining that they were running out of stuff to flip at and they were wanting me to move on."
"I thought I had a really good chance and I felt like I'd given it a good run. I wasn't near as confident as I was last summer (when he'd won the previous edition of this event), but I felt okay."
Winning Gear:
Flipping gear: 7'5" medium-heavy G. Loomis BCFR (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=GLMBF) 893 rod, Shimano Chronarch (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SCHD) 101 casting reel (6.3:1 gear ratio), 20-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SAFL) line, 1/2-ounce Tru-Tungsten flipping weight (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=TTFW), 3/0 Strike King Hook, Strike King Rodent (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=SKPR) ('Bama bug or black/blue).
TW Staff