Kentucky lake flw drama

What do y'all think about the whole situation?

Get a faster boat.

Crazy to leave that much money on table. I would’ve stayed at that spot or go to another place.I definitely would’ve stayed in tourney. He took his ball and went home.

At least he did not make an ass of himself. I think he did what he needed to do before he lost his self control. I commend him. Not many would have left the sport the way he did.

So what's happening?

1st and 2nd place guys started on the same hole on day 3 literally bumping boats. 1st place guy says you know what if this is what fishing is I have other work I can do I am taking my ass to the house. Went to the ramp and put it on trailer and withdrew. Said he is done tournament fishing period

Who was there first?

Lambert (2nd place guy going into third day).. He had a faster boat and got their first.

I don't have a dog in the fight but if the 1st place guy had been fishing that spot and the other guy was "claim jumping" then I don't blame the 1st place guy a bit. I probably wouldn't have withdrawn, but I would have been pissed and the 2nd place guy would probably been picking bullet weights out of his gel coat.

Online reports that they both fished there on day 1 and 2 but neither were there when each fished it. Both caught there limits there and left allegedly. Tough decision.

Just one of the many reasons I have never fished a tourny of any kind and glad I haven't.

Sounds like the first place guy should have kept on driving when he saw someone was already in that spot.

I bet he owns a wake boat too.

Whomever got there first owns it. Period.

I wish they would all quit and go home

If someone paid his entry fees then he owes it to them to finish. Otherwise I commend him on sticking to his guns; he’s not letting any coaches, teammates, or co-workers down. Only way I’d fish at that level is for the fun of competing and didn’t need the money or sponsors, like Steve Kennedy and Randy Haynes.

Haynes is the one who quit

I’ve been on both sides of that drama. It’s no fun but remember every dog will have his day.

Yep

At the end of day 2 during an interview Haynes said he had multiple spots all over the lake.

There used to be rules to prevent this crap. It's been going on for years. As far as him saying he has several spots, that's irrelevant. Some places replenish, others don't. After several days you know where you have a chance to win and where you don't. I don't know the details or either guy, but some of them have no sense of sportsmanship and will come in on anyone. It sucks too.

If this bothers these bass guys they should never salt water tourney fish! Anyone ever seen a tarpon tounry at boca grande pass?

that's insane

He knows the lake as well as anyone, including Lambert. IMO he looked like an ass for quitting instead of finishing the event and making his displeasure known through the FLW media channels. But whatever.

According to all reports, Lambert fished that ledge on Day 1 and caught a great limit before leaving and then Haynes came in to fish for hours. Day 2, Lambert got there first due to the launch order being flipped. Then all this happened on Day 3.

So by whatever unwritten rules exist, that spot was Lambert's since he was there "first" on Day 1.

Used to fish tournaments years ago and did pretty good but got tired of all the macho BS like this. I listen to all this tourney drama and just laugh now. Fish mostly during the week and have the lake to myself without all the wakeboat aholes and tournament big shot wannabes.

Fishing and hunting have dwindled down to money and egos and the egotistical bastages have a way of making most everything not fun. Get rid of the money and ego trophies and most of them would stop.

This is why I like fishing club tournaments, but not much else.

same here but im thinking about getting out of club fishing after this season. Ive lost the drive to be honest.

yep/

if you want to see some cussing just get in that driftline at Boca Grande with a fly rod and some crab flies. LOL, we got cussed but a 140# poon on a fly rod is worth any cussing. You would hook up and the fish would jump between boats 20 feet apart, talk about a melee. You just prayed yer fish greyhounded the other way.....

Just my 2 cents. Fished a 200+ tournament this past weekend on a spot I’ve fished for years. Me and another boater were roughly 50yds apart sometimes closer throughout the day. I watched him jack em he watched me jack em. Different lures different techniques. We talked most of the day. That being said there wasn’t $150k on the line but we didn’t know each other and never got to jaw jacking each other either. Can’t say I woulda withdrew but if that’s what it takes to keep me from losing my cool props to him. Sports have lost there sportsmanship, fishing, football it’s all the same. Heck go to an 8 year old and under softball game sit back and watch. Fame and Money that’s what I believe people looking to achieve....

well said ridge. And its a shame its come to that for sure!

The 1st place guy though the spot should be “respected” as the leader’s spot.

Never heard of her. But I know Steve wasn’t fishing that tournament!

There is no money to be made fishing professional tournaments imo. Lot of guys wasting a lot of time.

Agree. You can make a decent living if your name is on a popular rod or lure.

Fact. Lots of guys living on credit cards. Very few actual make it on fishing alone

You've lost the drive to be honest? Or you've lost the drive, to be honest?

Some of the YouTube fishing guys are making a killing doing what they love and they don’t have to put up with the grind of tourney fishing. I follow several guys on YouTube that produce great content. LunkersTV has almost a million subs.

"Boyd Duckett is just barely scraping by" That's what I thought to myself this evening as I drove by his lake house on Buck Island. I was running about 40 mph when I got to one end of his house and it took me 5 minutes to get to the other end. His fully wrapped dually was backed up on his private boat ramp and him and a little kid were putting in, in his fully wrapped bass boat. I bet he smiles every time he sees a white fishing rod on the lake.

Boyd’s tournament fishing is just a marketing expense. He was very wealthy before he started fishing the Elites. He owns a rod, reel, lure, boat, and bourbon company. Prolly many more. Having your boat and gear delivered to each tournament location while you fly your own private jet would be a fun way to fish.

Duckett got his start in Demopolis. He owned a company that repaired tanker trucks.

yep and sold it for multi millions!

IMO, Haynes had been fishing there, as well as Lambert. On Day 2, Haynes was there 1st, so Lambert went elsewhere. The 3rd day it was a boat race, and Haynes was a few seconds slower. He said he "deserved" the spot since he was leading. He was leading by 2lbs! it was anybodies event to win. If Haynes was leading and Lambert was 20lbs behind then yeah, I'll go along with it, otherwise go fish somewhere else. Lambert offered to share the spot, and when he caught 2 and lost a third, Haynes hadn't had a bite and left. Somebody was just butthurt.

This was one thing that stood out for me.

Lambert fished there first on Day 1 and then Haynes came in behind him. Whatever happened on Day 2 happened. Then on D3, they had no harsh words, no "Imma beat your ass!" type confrontations. Lambert even suggested they share the area, and you know when one caught a fish the other would slide in and hit the juice since it's impossible to not be anchored, stay on a spot, unhook and box a fish, get ready and then make a cast. Unless you're anchored you'll drift a bit. Even FLW had photos of Lambert landing a fish and his boat was behind Haynes's boat.

Sharing a spot is nothing new. Hell, the Elite guys literally sometimes line up rubbing rails with multiple boats. Is it fun? No. Sucks. But you don't quit and go home. You either stay and figure it out or you go fish another part of the giant lake you know so much about and stay in the game.

Reckon that whoever bought it wants to buy a feed trailer repair business for multi millions?