~~The Kentucky West Division wrapped up the 2017 season at Southern Kentucky’s Barren River Lake.  With plenty of rain over the last month, Barren River Lake has been an unpredictable challenge as the water level has fluctuated and the amount of water being moved through the dam has been inconsistent. Practice results were mixed with some anglers reporting great catches and others struggling to get a bite.  But first we would all gather for one last time for a pre-tournament meeting.

One of our faithful local sponsors, Barren Outdoors, working in conjunction with Crossland Community Church, welcomed 61 anglers, family, and friends into the church for the meeting.  Todd Logsdon, the owner and operator of Barren Outdoors provided delicious grilled cheeseburgers served with Texas beans and chips with a variety of cookies for dessert.  Following the meal, director Joel Franks addressed the anglers for the last time with a challenging message designed to push each listener to walk daily with the Lord. He shared that he was going to work for the Free Will Baptist North American Ministries and would be moving to plant a new church in Athens, Alabama. As a parting gift, he gave each attendee a copy of his new devotional book, “Lessons from the Lake.” Four anglers recommitted their lives to the Lord at the close of the meeting!

Everybody expected Barren’s bass to be schooled up on ledges and drops, but the bass didn’t get the memo for the most part. Anglers reported spotty action with very few finding good concentrations of fish. Making matters worse, the Corps of Engineers shut off the flow of water and the lack of current seemed to keep the fish scattered. Most anglers found the fishing to be pretty tough in practice, but as usual, our capable anglers were able to figure out the conditions and bring many limits of bass to the scales.

Besting the field for the first time this season was the team of Andy Spencer and Trey Rigsby with 17.80 pounds of bass.  Spencer and Rigsby reported catching a limit using a Strike King Frog and Coon Creek Custom 2.5’s in Mountain Doo Blue. Around mid-morning, they moved out to a deep bluff on the lower end of the lake and culled twice using Coon Creek Custom Brush Jigs. For their 1st place finish  they earned $1,295.00 and stylish plaques from Awards Inc. in Glasgow.

Coming in second was the team of Jeff Boone and Eddie Goode. Boone and Goode never found a consistent pattern, never catching more than one fish at a spot. But they too used Coon Creek Custom Football Jigs and a Strike King Rage Craw to catch 16.92 pounds of bass. They also landed the big bass of the day – a 5.06 pound lunker. Along with their first place in the Bonus Bucks, they earned $975.00 on the day.

Dustin Bishop and Kyle Lear brought in 15.97 pounds of bass to take home third place and second in the Bonus Bucks. Bishop and Lear used oversized spoons and swimbaits offshore to target schooling fish out deep. They were able to take home $562.00 at the end of the day.

Plaicing fourth was the father/son duo of Kelly Poynter and Weston Poynter. They stayed within sight of the dam and tossed a 10” plum worm to catch 15.06 pounds of bass. Finishing third in the Bonus Bucks,  they earned $370.00.

Rounding out the top five was the team of Steve Curtsinger and Alfred Goldsberry who threw jigs and shaky head worms on the lower end of the lake for 14.36 pounds of bass and $198.00.

Ken Freeman and Steve Haysley only managed to finish tenth in the tournament, but they still managed to take home the 2017 points championship, $860.00, two $100 gift certificates for L&M Custom Bass Snacks, and most importantly, a berth into the 2018 National Championship! Congratulations to them on a fine year!

The following teams are qualified for the District 8 Tournament from the Kentucky West Division on Kentucky Lake:

Freeman/Haysley
Bowling/Simpson
Curtsinger/Goldsberry
Bishop/Lear
Childress/Gaddie
Hardin/Hardin
Jerriel/Hatfield
Holman/Singleton
Jones/Walker
Gibson/Myers
Nichols/Plaster
Finlay/Pike
Denton/Easterly
Lowe/Rediess
Clark/Ring
Pike/Pike
King/King
Newcomb/Newcomb
Baker/Shearer
Boone/Goode
Floro/Floro
Clements/Clements
Rigsby/Spencer
Brammer/Oliver
Bowen/Adwell
Bradshaw/Bradshaw
Jones/Stomberger
Carpenter/Carpenter
Bishop/Miller
Elmore/Elmore
Peckler/Peckler
Shelton/Shelton
Morgan/Rice
Hogue/Prewitt

Remember that all teams who have fished all five tournaments are qualified to fish any district championship of their choice. Also, any team that has fished five tournaments in any division and attended at least 3 meetings are qualified to fish any district championship of their choice.

Fishers of Men would like to thank all of our fine sponsors; BassCat Boats, Mercury, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Strike King Lure Company, Kings Home, Power-Pole, Raymarine, Duckett Fishing, ORCA Coolers, Buckeye Lures, T&H Marine, Gator Guards, Solar Bat, Kistler Rods, HydroWave, Enigma, KidCasters, Fishouflage, Costa, Jacobs Glass, Rayjus Sportswear, Rod ArmorZ, and Rejuvenade.

We would like to thank our local sponsors Pittsburg Marine, A.F. Crow and Sons Funeral Home, Mark Miller Marine, Barren Outdoors, Grayson County Baptist Association, LHI Lighting Sales Incorporated, Awards Inc., Fishidy, L&M Custom Bass Snacks, Piccola Manufacturing, Barren County Business Supplies, and Coon Creek Custom Baits.

Place	Team	Members	# Fish	Big Fish	Gross	Penalty	Net Wt	Points
1	21481	Trey Rigsby Andy Spencer	5	4.55	17.8	0	17.8	150
2	21176	Jeff Boone Eddie Goode	5	5.06	17.42	0.5	16.92	199
3	21480	Kyle Lear	5	0	15.97	0	15.97	198
4	18121	Ted Grigsby Kelly Poynter	5	0	15.06	0.25	14.81	147
5	21485		5	0	14.36	0	14.36	196
6	21982	Lee Bishop Marty Mullins	5	4.58	14.65	0.5	14.15	195
7	21474	David Lowe John Rediess	5	0	13.92	0	13.92	194
8	21178	Dacelle Peckler Darren Peckler	5	3.59	13.19	0	13.19	193
9	21181	Cory Holman	5	0	11.87	0	11.87	192
10	21486	Ken Freeman Steve Haysley	5	0	11.28	0	11.28	191
11	21180	Jack Jones	5	0	11.25	0	11.25	190
12	21870		5	0	10.95	0	10.95	189
13	21487	Bob Floro Mike Floro	5	0	10.08	0	10.08	188
14	21491	Kenny Hardin Josh Hardin	5	0	10.07	0	10.07	187
15	21477	Timmy Gaddie Clint Childress	5	0	10.25	0.25	10	186
16	21478	Richard Bowling Jarrod Simpson	5	0	10.22	0.25	9.97	185
17	21431	Chris Ring	5	0	8.25	0	8.25	184
18	21490		4	0	7.31	0	7.31	183
19	21175	Greg Gibson Ted Myers	4	0	6.47	0	6.47	182
20	21479		3	0	6.2	0	6.2	181
21	21488		3	0	6.17	0.25	5.92	180
22	21182		3	0	5.74	0	5.74	179
23	21430	Edwin Jerriel Jim Hatfield	3	0	5.57	0	5.57	178
24	21484	Eldon Newcomb	3	0	4.49	0	4.49	177
25	21727		2	0	3.88	0	3.88	126
26	21429	Steve Denton Lloyd Easterly	1	0	2.88	0	2.88	175
27	21475		0	0	0	0	0	174
28	21434	David King Brian King	0	0	0	0	0	173
29	21489		0	0	0	0	0	172
30	21435		0	0	0	0	0	121
1st Place: Andy Spencer and Trey Rigsby 17.80 lbs 3rd Place: Kyle Lear and Dustin Bishop 15.97 lbs 4th Place: Weston Poynter and Kelly Poynter 14.81 lbs 5th Place: Steve Curtsinger and Alfred Goldsberry 14.36 lbs Point Champions: Ken Freemon and Steve Haysley 1st Place: Andy Spencer and Trey Rigsby with plaques by Awards Inc