Kentucky Lake Day 4 Coverage
Lambert goes for No. 3 on Kentucky
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2:15 Weigh-in time
The pros have another hour and 15 minutes until check-in, but we’re going to take a hands-off approach on the blog the rest of the way. The fishing is slow (Josh Douglas just missed one, but that’s it), and most of the pros are starting to roll back to beat the coming storm.
Weigh-in is going to be a good one. The battle for second is tight and we’re going to see something special when Lambert takes the stage. For that, come on down to Kentucky Dam or tune in at 4 p.m. CT to see it live.
2:10 The margin
Barring a huge charge or some disaster at the dock, Jason Lambert is going to set a new record for margin of victory. He's unofficially got about a 30-pound margin now, and he's probably going to win by at least 25 pounds.
Largest Margin of Victory
Rank Name Weight Fishery Date
1 Randall Tharp 23-9 Lake Okeechobee 2/9 – 2/12/12
2 Casey Martin 22-11 Lake Chickamauga 6/27 – 6/30/13
3 Paul Elias 17-3 Lake Guntersville 10/20 – 10/23/11
4 Phil Marks 16-5 Sam Rayburn Reservoir 10/11 – 10/14/12
5 Bradley Hallman 14-14 Lake Okeechobee 2/4 – 2/7/16
6 Casey Ashley 14-8 Lake Hartwell 3/6 – 3/9/14
7 Brett Hite 14-0 Lake Toho 2/28 – 3/2/08
8 Brent Ehrler 13-2 Table Rock Lake 3/3 – 3/6/10
9 Mark Rose 12-10 Wheeler Lake 9/20 – 9/23/12
10 Randy Haynes 11-0 Lake Eufaula 5/16 – 5/19/13
2:00 Rose and Meyer
Mark Rose just made a 3-pound cull to get his bag up over 16 pounds. He’s a couple away from another day near 20 pounds at this point. Cody Meyer finally filled his limit as well, rounding things out with a nice 3+.
1:38 Return concerns
It’s getting hot out now and the National Weather Service just issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Marshall County. The weather is nice enough now, but we’ll have to see how things develop. Pros ran through a storm to get to weigh-in on day two, and all things considered, it’d be nice to have good weather for the final weigh-in.
1:28 Douglas dumps one
Just a minute ago Josh Douglas dumped a 6-pounder at the boat. That fish might have locked up second place for him had it made the net.
1:20 Martin culls
Scott Martin just got gas and then made a move back to his starting spot. Once there, he popped a 4-pounder to cull up and get to about 18 pounds. Now he’s unofficially back in second.
1:15 Not much is happening
Josh Douglas hasn’t been catching for a while now, and nobody else really is either. Even Michael Neal hasn’t done anything since his flurry. Basically, the fishing is tough right now.
12:48 Meyer, Davis, Rose
Cody Meyer has four now, having boxed up another 2-pounder. He’s just got the one good one. Alex Davis just filled his limit with a small one – he’s got over 17 pounds now. Mark Rose has now filled his limit as well, but they seem to be getting smaller for him.
12:43 We brought pizza for Lambert
Supreme and pepperoni/sausage.
12:21 Three for Meyer
Cody Meyer just boxed his third fish of the day – a two pounder.
12:08 Douglas Culls
Douglas just caught a 4+, which will help him in the race for second place. Douglas currently has the edge, though Scott Martin's weight may be about a pound low. Either way, there would be a lot of drama right now without Jason Lambert.
11:50 Rose with another, Lambert calls it
Mark Rose just caught a third keeper. Meanwhile, Jason Lambert is calling it a W and heading back to the ramp to chill.
11:38 Douglas and Rose
Josh Douglas has culled again – he’s got over 20 pounds now. Behind him, Mark Rose just caught a 4-pounder for his second keeper.
11:33 Cox catches two
John Cox just caught a pair of keepers to get up to three fish. He’s got about 7 pounds.
11:24 Gussy limits
Jeff Gustafson filled things out with a 2-pounder. He’s got 13 pounds or so now.
11:20 Rose with a good one, others
Mark Rose just caught a 3+ to get his day started. He seems kinda flustered. It’s late, but flurries are known to happen on Kentucky Lake.
Alex Davis fourth fish is 3+, so he’s got all solid ones. Also, Cody Meyer’s second is a 5-pounder. Finally, Matt Arey has three small ones.
11:14 Lambert is close
Jason Lambert is basically idling in front of takeoff now. We’ll see if he decides to pull the trigger on pizza or not. It could be close…
11:10 Douglas culls again
Josh Douglas culled up again and has 19+ for sure now. He caught his latest on a Carolina rig and has one 2-pounder he still needs to cull.
Meanwhile, Jeff Gustafson just caught his fourth keeper.
11:00 Davis and Meyer
Alex Davis just busted a 5-pounder for No. 3. He’s got nearly 14 pounds and plenty of room left in the livewell.
Cody Meyer has struck out all morning and just caught his first keeper.
Lambert has moved again and is now idling a place near the dam. It’s been slow going lately for him.
10:45 Neal drops the hammer
Michael Neal just boated three back-to-back-to-back to cull up to about 22 pounds. One of them was a 7-pounder. He’s catching his fish on a crankbait, a drop-shot and a swimbait, so he's got the whole ledge mix going today.
10:30 Douglas with another good one
Josh Douglas just caught another good one on his swimmy and he’s pretty excited. He thinks he’s got like 19 pounds, which is a little more than we have him at. We’ll find out for sure at weigh-in and perhaps get a better estimate in the meantime. If he does have 19 pounds, he's basically tied for second with Scott Martin.
10:23 Gussy update
Jeff Gustafson has three in the boat. One keeper, a 3-pounder and a quality smallmouth. His marshal is MIA today, but we’ve got a photographer on him now, so hopefully we can watch him fill out his limit.
10:00 Douglas culls
Josh Douglas made his first cull, swapping a dink for a 2+. He’s caught his last two on a swimbait now that the wind around Paris had died down a bit.
9:56 Still nothing for Rose, Lambert culls
Mark Rose has fished way offshore and shallow ledges today and thrown about everything in the box. So far he’s fishless, which is pretty incredible considering who we’re talking about.
Also, Jason Lambert has culled again with a 5- or 6-pounder and he for sure has 27+ now.
9:54 Douglas catches a kicker
Josh Douglas put a 4-pounder in the boat to fill his limit. He’s a few culls away from making a run at second place.
9:40 Lambert catches a 4-pounder
Jason Lambert just caught a 4-pounder on a Jerky J and tossed it right back. Good golly.
9:38 Lambert has a lull
Jason Lambert has moved from where he started to his other primary spot on the main river. He’s longlining a crankbait right now and hasn’t caught anything recently. He says his favorite pizza is anything with meat on it. There are about 15 boats following him now.
9:25 Three for Neal
Michael Neal put another 3-pounder in the boat to get up around 9 pounds. This is his first top 10 of the year, which is somewhat unusual for an angler of his stature.
9:12 Martin culls
Scott Martin is going to have the most anticlimactic second-place finish ever at this rate. He just culled a 2-pounder with a 2+ and has about 15 pounds in the ‘well now.
9:02 Douglas again
Josh Douglas is sitting on a fired-up school as he just landed another 2-pounder. That’s three fish in a short period of time. It will be interesting to see what an early limit will do for Douglas’ game plan.
9:00 Neal
Michael Neal landed a long and skinny smallmouth for his second keeper.
8:57 Douglas
Josh Douglas just landed his third keeper – a 2 1/2-pounder on a drop-shot. He’s still grinding away with his spinning rod on ledges around the Paris bridge.
8:45 Martin limits
Scott Martin just wrapped up a limit in the low-teens with a 2-pounder. He’s the first in the non-Lambert division to catch five. He’s caught his last few on a Carolina rig, but he’s missed a few as well.
8:30 Two more for Martin, Davis
Scott Martin has gotten off to pretty good start – he just popped two good keepers and has about 12 or 13 pounds in the livewell now. Martin is dragging stuff (including a hair jig) on a shallow bar/flat below New Johnsonville.
Alex Davis just caught his second fish, which is a nice 4-pounder. He’s got a good shot to keep moving up the leaderboard today.
8:21 Martin scores
Scott Martin just repositioned himself on his shallow bar and caught a 3+. He’s got two now.
8:14 Lambert on Live?
Jason Lambert says he’s thinking about quitting around 9 a.m. to get in some A/C and go do FLW Live in the studio. We’re not sure if that’s allowed, but what he’s doing is pretty unprecedented already, so you never know…
8:07 Lambert
Jason Lambert kinda quit fishing for a bit. He’s probably going to start up again soon. He says he’s “fixing to pound on ‘em,” as though he hasn't already.
Down south, Josh Douglas just drop-shotted up a 3+ for his second keeper.
8:00 More Lambert, others
Jason Lambert just culled a 5-pounder. He’s working on another mega-bag.
Elsewhere, Scott Martin just caught a 2-pounder, Alex Davis started with a 3+ and Josh Douglas caught a small keeper.
7:55 Pepperoni or supreme?
Jason Lambert just culled and went through all fish and he thinks he has 25 pounds and we agree. He’s probably got 100 pounds total now. He's done it all off one spot this morning.
7:48 Lambert breaks 96
Jason Lambert just culled twice and got up to about 22 pounds. He’s got over 96 pounds unofficially now and is well on his way to 100 pounds.
Ok, now he’s got over 23 pounds. We’re a little foggy on the details, but we’ll get it figured out in a bit.
7:38 Neal and Gussy
Michael Neal and Jeff Gustafson just caught their first keepers – both are solid 3+ starters.
7:19 Lambert’s lead
Unofficially, before anyone else has really caught anything, Jason Lambert has about a 37-pound lead.
7:18 Everyone else is fishing
Everyone besides Scott Martin is fishing now, he’s still running. So far, Matt Arey has caught a small one and that’s it.
7:15 Lambert limits
Jason Lambert just caught his fifth keeper – it’s about a 4-pounder. He’s got around 17 pounds in the livewell now. He's feeling it now.
7:11 No risks for Lambert
Jason Lambert says he isn’t going to take any risks today. The farthest he plans to run is about 12 miles south of takeoff. He’d like to break 100, but he wants to win more.
7:04 No. 4
Jason Lambert just boxed up another 2+ for his fourth keeper. “We need to get that little guy gone.”
7:00 Nothing new
Jason Lambert has cooled off since his first 15 casts or so and nobody else has caught one. Lambert is on fish, but hasn't managed to trigger any more to bite yet. So, stay tuned.
6:47 A good one
Jason Lambert just caught a 5-pounder. That’ll help him in his quest to break 100 pounds.
Most of the other anglers aren’t fishing yet, as Lambert is fishing up north and a lot of the others are fishing down by Paris.
6:44 Another
They’re pulling about 60,000 CFS today, which is the most current the field has gotten to fish so far. Taking full advantage, Jason Lambert just caught another 3-pounder to get his estimated total over 80 pounds.
6:40 Lambert does Lambert things
Jason Lambert caught a 3-pounder on his first cast. He’s started at the spot where he caught his 9-pounder on day three.
6:30 Lambert goes for No. 3 on Kentucky
Jason Lambert has won twice on Kentucky Lake in the last two years – first in the FLW Tour event in June of 2016 and then again in the Costa FLW Series event in June of 2017. Now, Lambert has the chance to close out a dominating win and cement one of the greatest single-lake runs ever.
Day three of the FLW Tour presented by Costa on Kentucky Lake was pretty eventful outside of the fishing, but the highlight may have actually been the fishing. Weighing over 30 pounds and a 9-pound, 2-ounce behemoth, Lambert opened up a simply gigantic lead over the field. In all likelihood, he’s going to keep crushing on the ledges and might even widen the gap before he hoists the trophy.
Lambert aside, the battle for second is pretty hot. Really, Scott Martin, Mark Rose, Josh Douglas, Jeff Gustafson and John Cox are all in the running, and someone else could get in things with a mega-bag.
To this point, Martin has been fishing shallow ledges, Cox has been fishing the bank, and Arey has sampled shallow stuff, but everyone else is committed offshore. It’s not a surprise that offshore is the deal on Kentucky now, it usually is, but had Brandon Cobb not dumped a 3-pounder on day three we might actually have two legit bank-beaters in the top 10. As it is, John Cox is going to be interesting to watch – the ledges seem less productive than usual for the non-Lambert crew, and he’s been going pretty steady. On the other hand, Pennzoil Marine Angler of the Year leader Mark Rose is gaining steam and the top 10 is packed with offshore experts who’ll probably have their pick of the ledges today.
Conditions
Temperature at takeoff: 66 degrees
Forecast high: 89 degrees
Sky: clear
Precipitation: mid-afternoon thunderstorms possible
Wind: south at 5 mph
Current: 62,100 CFS (updates)
Tournament Details
Folgers Morning Takeoff: 6:30 a.m. CT at Kentucky Dam State Park, 7792 US Highway 641 North, Gilbertsville, Ky.
Weigh-in: 4 p.m. CT Saturday and Sunday at Kentucky Dam State Park
FLW Expo: 12 to 4 p.m. CT Saturday and Sunday at Kentucky Dam State Park
FLW Live: Saturday and Sunday from 8:30 a.m. CT to 12:30 p.m. CT