Americana Outdoors E-Magazine - May 2018

Bethel University is located just 20 minutes out- side of Paris, TN, the host site of this week’s tour- nament. Many of the anglers on this team know the fishery very well, and refer to Kentucky Lake as their home waters. The Kentucky Lake that greeted the field this weekend was not the same lake these anglers are used to fishing. Heavy rains flooded the area during the previous few weeks, swelling Kentucky Lake to nearly 10 feet above winter pool. Pahl says he believes this rapid change in condi- tions worked to negate their home field advantage, “I think it was a pretty fair field. I wouldn’t say we had much of an advantage this time. Just with the water being so high and the fish being scattered.” From the time official practice began on Wednes- day, until the scales closed on Sunday afternoon, Kentucky Lake fell nearly four feet in total. Many anglers said that areas where they caught fish in practice were completely out of the water come the final day of the tournament. With water tem- peratures not quite reaching 60 degrees, these fish were ready to move shallow. “I don’t think they’re ready to spawn yet. The water is still in the upper 50’s. They should be getting ready here soon,” said Pahl. The staging and patterns of the fish can be reflected in the 9.22 pound bass that Bryan Pahl of Bethel University caught. This fish came out of shallow water in flooded bushes. As fish prepare for the spawn, they look for heavy cover to get around and begin to make their beds and lay eggs. Pahl’s winning fish earned him a wide list of prizes. For winning session 4 – presented by Garmin, he received a Garmin 63CV plus a $200 Cabela’s gift card. This is a prize package valued at over $700. The prizes do not stop here though. By winning the overall grand prize, Pahl earned another rough- ly $5,000 in items. Theses items consisted of : $2,000 Power-Pole gift certificate, $1,000 Cabe- la’s gift card, 1 KVD Hydrowave, Mustang PFD, Gill rain jacket, $100 Ranger Wear gift card, one Engel cooler, and a mapping card (pictured right) .

Not only did Brian get all of the prizes listed above, he is also aware of the fact that he earned his team valuable school of the year points, “This was huge for school of the year points…We were looking for two top 10 fish in this tournament.” Entering this event, Bethel University sat squarely atop the race for the Cabela’s School of the Year – presented by Abu Garcia. The top two fish weighed in by com- petitors this week would count towards their team’s school of the year totals. Being a double points event, the stakes were high. Bethel University rose to the challenge, and worked tomaintain their lead. The team placed two anglers in the overall top five. Along with Brian Pahl’s 9.22 pound fish, Ricky Har- ris weighed in a 7.42 pound bass. This fish was good enough for 5th place in the final standings. For a full look at the Cabela’s School of the Year presented by Abu Garcia standings , click here . It has been mentioned again and again over the past several days, but Kentucky Lake is in rare form right now. Quality fish after quality fish crossed the scales over the two day span of competition. Through the history of this event, this marks the first time it has taken a fish over the nine pound mark to claim the victory. This will set the expecta- tions high looking towards next year’s event.