If their catch is any indication of the present status of the bass fishery here on Kentucky Lake it’s going to be a darn good year ahead for the backlash brigade.

    Last Friday’s trophy stringer of bass still has area anglers drooling with envy. Rightfully so.

    Local bass anglers Roger Buffington and Leon Rogers teamed up to land a five fish limit that tipped the scales at 29.85 pounds! The amazing catch was topped by a largemouth weighing 7.85 pounds and the smallest fish on the stringer weighed over five pounds.

    Do the math and any way you figure it their eye popping catch amounts to what was almost a 6-pound average for the five fish limit. There aren’t many bass fishermen who have a day like that in their lifetime, much less during a Friday morning tournament.

    “It was just one of those days,” said Rogers, when asked to comment about their trophy catch. “We were in the right place at the right time.”

    The duo was fishing the first Friday morning bass tournament of the year out of Paris Landing State Park Marina. It was a cool day and a strong March wind whipped up the lake with whitecaps by mid-morning. Not exactly ideal conditions in the opinions of most fishermen.

    “Surface temperatures only made it to around 44 degrees. I’d rather be lucky than good,” chuckled Rogers, who said they fished a total of five spots to land the lunkers.

    “We caught about 15 bass that morning and culled one around 4-pounds. Wish we could have that kind of luck the rest of the year but I think we may have shot our best shot for the season.”

    Rogers said that was the best stringer of fish he and Buffington have ever caught. And while the small tournament only paid them a mere $80 it was well worth it.

    “Just catching that stringer of fish was reward enough,” said Rogers.

    And where were those lucky spots and what was the hot lure? I didn’t ask and he didn’t tell!

    There’s more competition ahead in the buddy bass tournaments and like poker players in high stakes games, you never show all your cards. Meanwhile, the only thing larger than the fish tales being told at the liar’s table at Tower Sports Center is the grins on the faces of Buffington and Rogers.

    For the time being they’ve kept a poker face. Rest assured, the other anglers are chipping away at every opportunity, just hoping for a slip now and then of those secret spots and hot lure selections.

    Behind every grin and chuckle lies another fish story. Yet the recent catch will likely set a bench mark for quite some time here at Kentucky Lake.

    There are two types of anglers; those who actually catch big fish and those who want to. Come to think of it there’s one more category too. There are those anglers who catch big ones but you never actually see the fish. Sound familiar?