By Chris Erwin
The Friends of Cave Run Memorial Bass Tournament has become an annual event.It draws fisherman from all over the state. It’s $10,000 to $15,000 purse is a big draw and most years this tournament is held during one of the most productive times of the year. However, this year contestants found the lake to be very much behind the normal spring progression.
The lake was muddy except for some small areas in the headwaters of Beaver Creek and extreme areas of North Fork. The tournament had 74 teams, and 33 of the teams didn’t catch a keeper the first day.
Most tournaments add the first days catch to the second days catch for a total weight. However, this tournament is different. The top 20 positions qualify to fish the second day. The remaining teams are disqualified from fishing the second day and all weights are zeroed out making the second day a new start if you made the cut the first day.
At the end of the first day the team of Gorrrel/Karrick led the tournament with 13.65 pounds of fish while the team of Fredrick/Gevdon had 12.75 pounds, finishing second.
The second day proved to be just as tough as the first day, in fact, the team of Fredrick/Gevdon didn’t land a keeper fish the second day and the firstday leaders of Gorrrel/Karrick only managed to land 3.29 pounds of bass.
Results were reported by our longtime friend and Kentucky Angling supporter Scott Doan, who also fished the tournament and was less than one pound from qualifying the first day.
The fish were only beginning to move out of the winter patterns and most anglers spent a lot of time fishing typical early spring patterns and the fish just weren’t there.
It’s also noteworthy that one smallmouth was caught that tipped the scales at 6 pounds.That’s a good smallmouth on any lake any time of the year!
At the end of day two the team of Brown and Ingram caught three fish totaling 11.66 pounds, winning the tournament. The team of Caskey and Lane came in second with two fish totaling 7.76 pounds.
The second day proved to be a tough day. Of the 20 team field, seven teams, drew a blankand no five fish limits were caught.
The Friends of Cave Run Lake hosts the annual Memorial Bass Tournament each year. The event was started in August 2009 and has been getting bigger and better ever since. With the help of local sponsors, it funds gap scholarships for Rowan Technical Collage and Morehead State University.
While these are good enough reasons to have this event on their own, it’s worth pointing out the memorial part of the event is to honor the legacy of some of the good friends who helped put this lake on the map.Some were sportsmen, some were conservationist but all were good friends. I want to thank Scott Doan for his help in covering this event and Morehead Tourism for their continued support of our sport.
As the water continues to warm the fishing on Cave Run Lake is going to keep improving. It’s time for these fish to start their spring migration to shallow water.At that time, fishing success will drastically improve.
If you have the chance, take a kid fishing.
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