Top 10 Baits from Lake Cumberland
Swimbaits for smallmouths, spinnerbaits for largemouths
Though there were a few variations on the trends, the two best baits to use on Lake Cumberland during the FLW Tour event, which was presented by General Tire, were a swimbait for targeting smallmouths and a spinnerbait for targeting largemouths.
1. Bryan Thrift caught his fish on the sunnier first two days using a Damiki Armor Shad swimbait, relying on its subtle swim in the brighter conditions. He switched to a Keitech Swing Impact FAT 3.8 on the cloudier days two and three. Both were fished on 1/8- and 3/8-ounce jigheads.
2. Coming up just shy was Allen Boyd, who cast a 3/8-ounce Dirty Jigs Swim Jig with a Strike King Rage Craw trailer (with its pincers dyed chartreuse) around any shallow cover that he couldn’t reach with a spinnerbait. His spinnerbaits were both 1/2-ouncers by BOOYAH and War Eagle. Each had a white and chartreuse skirt and a chartreuse back blade with a white front blade.
3. Clent Davis did all his work with a 5-inch hollow, paddle-tail swimbait rigged on a 1/2-ounce homemade jighead.
4. Ozark baits got the call for Arkansas pro Greg Bohannan. He started with a Skirmish Baits AIM-9 jerkbait the first morning to try and catch smallmouths, but wound up spending most of the tournament targeting largemouths with a 3/4-ounce War Eagle spinnerbait with a chartreuse skirt and painted white and chartreuse willow blades. He also tinkered with a floating worm and a buzzbait on the weekend.
5. While he caught a few fish on a jig this week, Andy Morgan did most of his work with a 3/4-ounce War Eagle spinnerbait with two white willow blades and a chartreuse and white skirt.
6. Chris Johnston caught all but one of his keepers on a spinnerbait with a Jackall Rhythm Wave 3.8 trailer.
7. Texan Chris McCall caught largemouths and smallmouths with a 3/4-ounce Santone spinnerbait with a white and chartreuse skirt and painted blades.
8. James Watson fished a double-willow Luck-E-Strike Jimmy Houston Legends spinnerbait to catch about half his bass the first two days. He followed up with a War Eagle double-Colorado model with a Luck-E-Strike Luck-E-Swim trailer.
9. Darrel Robertson’s spinnerbait was a 1/2-ounce BOOYAH model with a chartreuse and white skirt, but he swapped out the blades, opting for a turtle shell blade on top and a Colorado on bottom.
10. Kerry Milner dragged a Carolina-rigged Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw for a couple keepers the first day but caught the rest on a custom 3/4-ounce white or white and chartreuse spinnerbait with a gold willow top blade and a nickel willow bottom blade.