Looking to Knock Em Out at Knox

Looking to Knock Em Out at Knox

Shawn Skidmore

It was Friday night before the BKFT Knockout at Knox tournament and I was still working on a game plan, one that would probably change within minutes of being on the water.  After spending several evenings during the week eyeballing the lake map, and doing what my dad, buddy, and I refer to as "map study", it was finally the night before the event……. And I was pumped!  I was making final preparations, changing out some line, organizing tackle, and texting Sean and Neil trying to get their take on the lake clarity and conditions.  I needed to be up at 3:45am the next morning in order to get the boat on the car and make the 2.5 hr drive to Fredricktown, OH for the event check-in.

As I laid down that evening I couldn’t help but to think about the tournament the next day. The cold front during the second half of the week was going to make it interesting as it had taken the water temp from the mid 80's earlier in the week, down to around 70 by tournament time.  The weather was calling for a sprinkle, some clouds, and some strong winds.  I'd never been to Knox lake so based on "map study", water clarity report, and the weather I started imagining how I was going to catch fish the next day.  I tied on a few baits that I was going to try, but I knew what I really wanted to do if the conditions were as they were forecasted.

Saturday morning and I made it to Knox safe and ready to fish.  After the captains meeting was complete it was time to launch. It was time to see what this place was all about!  My decision the night before was to basically launch from the registration point and follow the creek channel banks as far down the lake as I had time to.  I could see that the lake had a lot of wooded shoreline with plenty of laydowns...my kinda fishing!  I paddled up to the first section of shoreline where the creek channel came close to the bank and against my better judgment pulled out my buzzbait rod.   I just couldn't help myself.  I wanted to see if I could coax a big one into coming up and busting it despite the cold front conditions.  After about ten minutes I pulled a Texas rigged craw and gave it few tosses at the laydowns and brush, but i knew deep down that really wasn’t what I wanted to do.  After about 5 minutes flipping and pitching it was time to break out my chartreuse black back crankbait. It was really looking good to me in that somewhat stained water, now it was time to see if was what the fish wanted.

I worked every piece of wood and brush I could find with that crankbait. I fished all the way down the bank until I had just about reached the point of the bank where the creek channel turned back toward the south shore. At this point I finally got my first strike but failed to hookup.  I knew there was a fish there so I threw a few more times and finally had another taker.  This time I boated the 14.25" bass and thought, "well I'm off to a better start than I was at Kiser lake". 

I looked to the south shore and could see that the wind was really slamming the banks over there, which was exactly what I wanted.  I paddled over and started chucking my crankbait at all the junk in the water that I could find.  It wasn't long before I had another one on, and this one was a little better.  It was a 16" or better bass, it made a few runs, and then it was off.  It was disappointing, but at least I was gaining confidence in what I was going to trick these cold front bass with.

The bites kept coming though and the wind continued blowing hard.  Within an hour of the start of the tournament I had 3 on the board, nothing of much size though. At that point I was looking to upgrade my bass for the rest of the tourney.  Twenty minutes later with a small fish here and there, I was finally able to connect with and land a fat 17.5"er.

Now I was really gaining confidence that I could get the bigger bites on this pattern.   After making my way up to a large midlake point I made a decision to cross over to the wind protected north shore and work some of the laydowns down on my way back toward where I started. 

 

After a few bites and no hookups, I was really feeling like paddling back to the start of that windblown south shoreline and cranking back up it in hopes that more takers would be there waiting.  After a few casts at a fallen tree, I had hooked the big one I was looking for!  I got a good look at a fish that I would say was comfortably over 18"….. but it wasn't meant to be.  She came off half way back to the boat and I was starting to think it might not be my day.

I blamed my crankbait for the lost fish, so I started throwing a chatterbait around for a while. However, I couldn’t stay mad at my crankbait forever.  Despite the nature of a crankbait (if they aren't flat eating that thing bass have a tendency of shaking off that crank) I couldn't stay away from what was getting me the bites. This time around I HAD to get those good ones in the yak.  The day wore on, the sun started to show itself a little, and the bite seemingly died off.   The word gets around fast out there and by this time I had found out that Jeff Bennett and Brad Driscoll had each boated 2 fish and each of them had a big bass.  My confidence was starting to fade a bit but I still knew how quick things could change with one big bite, so I kept at it.

Nearing the event's end, I had committed to a stretch of the south shoreline a little closer to the check-in and I didn't quit on that crankbait either.  After several casts up into the shade that some overhanging trees provided, I finally put one on a bass' head.  She couldn't resist, and I now had a slight upgrade with a 15.25"er.  At this point it was time to head in, I felt like with that upgrade I might have a shot at top 3 if the other anglers had as tough a time as I was hearing about.  I was sure Jeff Bennett and Brad Driscoll had picked up their third bass and they would be at the top.

Well, by the time the awards were handed out I was feeling good about having a chance as I found that most anglers had a tough day out there.  Those who had some big fish hadn't picked up there limit either, which really gave me hopes of placing well.  When the names were called and prizes given,  I found myself with a narrow .25 victory and my first bass tourney win!  Despite tough cold front conditions, I had found a way to boat 9 bass, and improve my top three to 47"...not a terribly impressive number but given the circumstances of the day, I was more than happy with the finish!