A whole bunch of defense has been played in the first two days of this tournament. As one angler told me yesterday, "I've made 10 casts on my best spot. Ten casts in two days." And that's been enough to put him in contention to win.
One of those casts added 9 1/2 pounds to his livewell. He reeled in a crankbait with a 5 1/2-pounder on one treble hook and a 4-pounder on the other. "You always want to grab the big one when that happens," he said. "I got lucky and the 4-pounder came with it."
It's just one example of an angler locating a school of bass that isn't in one of the known community holes along the 70 miles of ledges in Kentucky Lake. The question is when do you start concentrating on offense, i.e., camping out on your hot spot?
The risk of revealing it to other BASSfest tournament competitors today isn't much, as only 12 guys will make Sunday's final. The far greater danger in showing your hand today is that spot might be depleted by local anglers before you get back to it on Sunday.
In other words, there's still a bunch of defense being played on Day 3 at Kentucky Lake.