Lucky Craft’s Cary Bever, of Rhinelander, Wis., finished third during the 2009 Stren Series tournament on Kentucky-Barkley Lakes, May 7 – 9. Bever was fishing with the Lucky Craft Flat CB D-20 in Chartreuse Rootbeer, and the deep-diving crankbait was key to his success in the tournament.
“Every cast, I was catching my fish on the D-20,” Bever said. “It was definitely key to my third-place finish. It was great to fish with some of the world’s best crankbait fishermen, and I was really proud to be able to compete with them.”
Bever was fishing main lake points, which made him somewhat of a rebel, as fishing in the bushes in the spring time is popular on this body of water. The Wisconsin native decided to go against the grain after practicing in the bushes for four hours.
Lucky Craft Flat CB D-20 (Chartreuse Rootbeer)
“I decided that most of the fish were done spawning and had moved out,” Bever explained. “I started fishing main lake points with the goal of catching the fish coming and going. And that’s exactly what I did.”
After moving to the points, Bever was looking for collection points or migration routes where fish would be moving in and out of the spawning pockets and creeks. With his boat in 20- to 30-feet of water, Bever made long casts with the D-20 on Lucky Craft’s Iron Athlete 12-pound fluorocarbon.
“Most fluorocarbon handles miserably,” Bever said, “but Lucky Craft’s handles really well and allows an angler to make really long casts. That’s so important with crankbaits in particular, and it’s critical for deep-diving cranks. It keeps the bait in the strike zone longer at its maximum depth.”
Lucky Craft Iron Athlete Fluorocarbon
While cranking the D-20 down hard, Bever would make contact with the shell beds and then slow the bait down just enough to maintain the wobble. He would allow it to thump through the shell beds slowly to attract the lethargic, yet large, post-spawn females.
Bever brought in 18 pounds and 6 ounces on both day one and day two to make the top 10. On day three, the final day of competition, Bever “Timmy-Hortoned” his way to third place.
“My first big hook-up of the day was actually two fish,” Bever said, joking about labeling this new technique the ‘Timmy Horton’ after Horton did the same thing in a BASS tournament not long ago. “I had a 5-pound largemouth on the front hook and a 2-pound smallmouth on the back hook.”
Bever weighed in 17 pounds, 13 ounces on day three for a total tournament weight of 54 pounds, 9 ounces, giving him third place and an $8,000 payday. He summed it up in three words … “It was fun.”
Check out complete information about the tournament on Kentucky-Barkley Lakes at FLW Outdoors.
by APRIL WHEDBEE for: TheDailyCrank.com
Cox Group, Charlotte, NC – Outdoors Marketing, Advertising, Public Relations Agency
Tue, May 19, 2009
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