KBF Trail event at Cedar Creek lake
Cedar Creek a lake roughly 780 acres managed for trophy bass with nothing but quality fish habitat from standing timber to weed beds and man made structure, this lake has something for everyone. My first few times here were overwhelming with the amount of structure to hit, taking a deeper look is what is needed to reveal that certain areas seem to hold large population of quality bass. I will be the first to say that this lake fishes differently than most places I have been. The big sticks decided to come out in droves for this one, from far and wide I saw names that really got me excited by the level of competition that was coming to Cedar Creek.
Pre fishing was amazing not from the amount of big fish caught and I did catch some really nice ones but figuring out a couple of pieces to the puzzle that makes Cedar Creek the lake that it is. Got to hang out with AJ Mcwortch and it’s always fun, we think a lot a like when it comes to breaking a area down and he loves talking shop as much as I do. Both of us land nice fish on wednesday and landing some nice fish with friends there is just nothing like it.
Starting the second day of pre fishing my buddy Bert Guthus shows up, I see him moving around in circles looking for the railroad bed, showing him where the old bed is at we both begin catching some decent fish off of it making my day start off awesome again catching fish with friends is what it’s all about. I wander away to fish a deep submerge log pile and losing a rod and reel over board, dang that was a decent almost new reel. Gathering myself and just not letting that bug me too much I fish the log pile and man it was on fire! Sticking some fish was helping me forget the rod and reel I lost when i get a monster hit I set the hook like Babe Ruth or Jay Wallen type of hookset BOOM! Dang it I set the hook into one of the submerged log, taking one of my hands off the rod I begin to pop it trying to set my lure free and to my total amazement I woke the log up. This was no log but a monster fish of unknown size it nearly rips the rod out of my hand not to mention dragging me into the water as I was standing and not ready for a real tug of war and as that fish did what it wanted I could never get it off the bottom very much, it snapped my rod clean in half. Really?
Friday is a new day and I bought a new rod, not really what I would normally buy but it will get me thru the tourney and that is all that matters. searching new spots again I run into Randall and we strike up a conversation about baits and how we like to fish Cedar Creek and he makes these 
crazy big lures like a giant senko. He starts t
o tell me his hot spot and I had fished it and did ok. He wants to show me that big lures catch big bass so I follow him, it doesn’t hurt that we hit it off and after getting to the spot about 30 seconds he hooks into a 20 incher. I tie one on and this thing is a monster worm and sure as the sky is blue I had a monster one on in a spot that I thought was only ok, i experimented with different size lures and the big lures caught BIG fish the little lure caught a few small fish. One more piece to the puzzle of cedar creek now just to put all these puzzle pieces together.
Tourney comes early and heading out to ramp before the sunrise the ramp is crowded Matt (the bass) Ball and some Mountain State Kayakers were there its always good to see Matt a great guy and a infectious good attitude and it was crowded making room for everyone and it was tight. Everyone is chatting till about 10 minutes to go than it got real quiet I just kept on telling bad jokes just to try and lighten the atmosphere a little. If you ever met Drew he is a great friendly guy but 10 minutes to go he is made of stone. Its finally time and we all race to our spots and no one is near me at mine, perfect. Slow Slow start to the day only saw one guy all morning he seemed a little new to the game and soon I was by myself again. I start downsizing as the bite is not hot and nothing is biting not even small fish than i say to myself “Go big or go Home.” so I go back to throwing big and that was the trick I slowly grind the day out with a big bait catching only quality fish. The two that got away, seems like Cedar creek always gives me a story about the ones that got away, hooking an amazing dark colored bass that was easily bigger than the other ones I think i have my fish number 5. Right then instead of grabbing my net I Knock it over board right on top of this really cool looking fish just to knock him off the hook. My heart broke a little right then I can’t lie, i never try and let these things bother me but when you have committed all day to the slow but quality bite to lose the 5th fish so late in the day that could have been just what I needed. Can you hear that? That’s the world’s smallest violin playing just for me.
My buddies AJ Mcwhort won, Bert Guthus 3rd and myself in 9th with a stacked field and only 4 fish placing in the top ten was awesome. With pre fishing and one fish from tourney day my KBF monthly challenge for ky jumped me into 3rd if that holds till the end of the month the last couple of days have not only been a great adventure but got me two more top 10 standings. Traveling and doing these events is all about the people I am meeting and getting to know there are a ton of other people that I met had fun with and stories to tell that I didn’t mention, there are certain events that define why you love something and this event was one of those for me.
Leave a Reply