Nation’s top teams set for ‘slugfest’ at Kentucky Lake for Bassmaster Team Championship
PARIS, Tenn. — When it was announced that the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Team Championship had to be moved from Louisiana’s Ouachita River to Kentucky Lake in Tennessee, there certainly were more than a few people who started scrambling.
Lloyd Pickett, Jr. was not one of them.
Pickett lives in a Memphis suburb, about two hours’ drive from Kentucky Lake, and considers the mammoth 160,000-acre fishery to be home water. So, no complaints at all from Pickett, who will be one of nearly 500 competitors in the final tournament of the 2024 Bassmaster season Dec. 4-7.
“I really was looking forward to the Ouachita, because I like that river,” Pickett said. “It’s a shame the (Columbia Lock and Dam on the river is messed up) right when we were coming to town. I feel for those folks losing the tournament because of that.
“But if the tournament had to be moved, it might as well be to Kentucky Lake. I like that place a whole lot, too,” he said.
Pickett didn’t hide his affinity for Kentucky Lake. He said he fishes a dozen tournaments or so there each year, accounting for some 30 days on the lake annually. He hasn’t fished it as much recently due to a lengthy job he’s undertaken as an electrical contractor at a steel mill being built in Arkansas, but even so, you don’t just erase a lifetime of experience.
Pickett proved as much in a USA Bassin’ tournament he entered a few weeks ago — finishing third in the team event even though he chose to compete by himself.
“I had 17 pounds of all largemouth,” he said. “The two teams ahead of me all had smallmouth. First place was 18-4 and second was 18-1. I had my shot that day, but I lost a big fish that I’m pretty sure would have won it for me.”
Kentucky Lake once again is producing sizable limits of both largemouth and smallmouth bass is a sign the storied fishery is on the uptick. Less than a decade ago, Kentucky Lake was considered one of the leading big bass lakes in the U.S., but its aquatic vegetation started to vanish. Like many other old sticks on Kentucky Lake, Pickett thought the state’s fisheries department might be trying to clear the lake of invasive plant life. Now, however, he’s convinced the loss of underwater plants so vital to bass had more to do with an invader of a different sort.
“Once the Asian carp showed up, the grass was lost within two years or so,” Pickett said. “Everything in the food chain went downhill — the bass, the shad, the plankton.”
Pickett said biologists have told him that the carp has a gene that causes it to feed on grass when forage fish are in shorter supply.
“The first carp there were huge, like a bomb,” he said. “Now they look like a tuna. They’re skinny like a torpedo. It’s almost like they’re starving.
“The good part is that everything else is on the rebound. There’s still no grass to be found anywhere on Kentucky or Barkley (lakes), but the largemouth population is up, and the smallmouth population is exploding. I think it’s safe to say Kentucky Lake is back.”
Pickett said the wealth of fish right now should allow anglers to spread out across the giant reservoir and use any number of techniques. He said he plans to target largemouth bass with “a rig and a jig,” but noted that spinners, topwaters and squarebill crankbaits should be effective, too, as bass push into shallow water.
“More guys will be going for smallmouth than largemouth, I think,” he said. “They’re in a bit of a fall feeding frenzy right now. And the water temperature is continuing to get colder. If the water is in the upper 50s, it could just be crazy out there. So, I think it’ll come down to who doesn’t make a mistake. When you hook up with a key fish, you’ve got to get it in the boat.
“This should be a fun tournament. I’m expecting a real slugfest, to be honest.”
The full field of 240 duos will compete for two days, with the team champion duo being crowned after Day 2. At that point, the Top 3 teams (six anglers in all) will have their weights zeroed and compete individually in the Bassmaster Classic Fish-Off. The angler with the highest two-day total in the Fish-Off will earn the final berth into the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour, which will be held March 21-23 on Lake Ray Roberts in Fort Worth, Texas.
A total of $120,000 will be awarded during the Team Championship on Kentucky Lake, including $25,000 to be split by the winning tandem. Anglers qualified through their individual state trails for the chance at handsome cash prizes and the ultimate prize — a berth in the most prestigious bass fishing tournament on Earth.
Daily take-offs will be held at 7 a.m. CT at Paris Landing State Park. Daily weigh-ins will begin at 3 p.m.
The City of Paris, Tenn., is hosting the event.
2024 Bassmaster Nation Series Title Sponsor: Mercury
2024 Bassmaster Nation Series Presenting Sponsor: Lowrance
2024 Bassmaster Nation Series Platinum Sponsor: Toyota
2024 Bassmaster Nation Series Premier Sponsors: Bass Pro Shops, Dakota Lithium, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Power-Pole, Progressive Insurance, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha
2024 Bassmaster Nation Series Supporting Sponsors: AFTCO, Daiwa, Garmin, Lew’s, Lowrance, Marathon, Triton Boats, VMC
2024 Bassmaster Nation Series Youth Sponsors: Seaguar, Shimano
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Media Contact: Chad Gay, Communications Manager, 205-313-0945, cgay@bassmaster.
