KerryKruep.com - Fantastic Year Dennis Forbes

Just when you thought it could not get better, Dennis finished 3rd, in a tough as nails event! 11 Fish for 25.13 pounds!

Monday morning was first time i got to see degray lake .. wow !! Pretty lake with lots of islands , very clear water down by the dam and mid lake with pretty much rock banks. It is a very deep lake with no grass left because of high water, over the last few years, has killed out the grass.

The river had a nice stain and the lake has been up about 3 feet prior to tournament. The water was up in the buck brush, willows, small trees and miscellaneous bank weeds. As fishing goes, the Corps. of Engineers, were lowering the lake about 4 inches a day, thus fishing was tough as nails and all the contestants from every State was singing the blues around the lake, ramps and motels about the very tough fishing conditions.

Also adding to the tough fishing is degray's funky black bass slot limit, you can take in black bass that are 12-13 inches: Then 16 inches and up!, must release bass 13-16. A limit of only two 12 inch and up smallmouth per day and all the 12 inch and up kentucky/spots you want to bring in!

The 3rd practice day was sunny with the last day having some clouds. After spending almost two days on main lake beating my head against the side of my "sweet" Ranger Boat! (LOL) I decide to check out the river Tuesday evening. Once there managed to catch a couple decent bass, so I decided I would spend the final day of practice fishing the river. The choice was a great one! that day was a very good day of fishing for me.

I quickly established a pattern of catching bass on pocket points, off the river bends. I found the sweet spot on one flat that was loaded with fish and one small feeder creek that had fish in the back third of it. Most of the fish were in 3-6 foot of water, on the flat they were in about 2-3 feet of water, near the old bank line.

My most productive lure was an Xcaliber lipless bait and a texas rigged 4 inch Ugly Otter rigged with a 5/16 weight.

So the first day of the tournament brought rain, rain, and more rain, all day. I got up the river, about 20+ miles and had a limit within 2 hours! (off that flat) then left it for the next day, ran to the feeder creek and caught a 4lb fish! I ended up leading the tournament with 15 lb 5oz the first day. The excitement was as real as it gets, thinking about going back up to that flat the next morning!

Day 2: I was quickly deflated when I arrived and the lake is up 1.5 feet and water is fairly stained but not totally mud. Tje weatjer was cloudy and windy and it had a profound negative effect on the fish I was catching.

I ended up catching two keepers off that flat and one keeper off a point on river bend pocket. I only had 5lb 15oz the second day, but surprisingly the fishing was bad enough for everyone that I held onto the lead!

Day 3: So now the field of 141 is cut to 12 and I finally got a good boat draw number! 1 of 12 (hard to get a bad one!) I was boat # 1. My Co-Angler and I discussed the weather and impact it had the day before and we decided to try a deep mid lake point that had some fish on it in 25-40 ft, first thing, since I figured my area would need to warm up a little.

Turned out to have fish, within 30 minutes I caught 5 blacks on a carolina rig that were 15 1/2 - 15 7/8 inches! grrrrrrrrr.... (All Slot Fish !!! ). However, my non-boater had 2 bites and both were 12 inch Kentucky's and in his live well. Staying confident, after about 2 hours we head up the river to fish the flat. but the water was up another 6 inches, some current was visiable, but the sun had been out big time with very little wind. Around 12:30 I finally caught a 16 1/8 inch black! "Praise our Lord !

I hit every pocket point without a keeper and im running out of time so i go to back of the feeder creek and managed to catch a 12 in spot and a 13 in spot, Praise our Lord again!

With only about 45 min left we headed back weigh in and stopped to fish, where we started the day. I didn't catch any more fish, however my Co Angler finally caught his third keeper Kentucky of the day! Good thing because he won the Co Angler Title by 8oz! How lucky was that last stop?

(The 12" fish in the last 10 minutes of fishing put him over the top!).

I ended up with only 3 fish that weighed 4 lb and 9 oz and finished a strong 3rd place. While the local guy that was in second place caught 14lbs. off his 100 brush piles to win the BFL Regional.

In summary, What an experience! the BFL/FLW Regional was fantastic. I am very pumped about going back to Degray Lake next May for the BFL All American! All expense paid fishing tournament and have a 1 in 48 chance to win up to $140,000 is going to be an experience of a Lifetime!

Have a great Winter and God Bless America

Dennis Forbes!

Dennis is much more than just an angler, he donates his time and money to Youth Programs, Adult Programs and Sponsor Trophies, etc.