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Mark Rose's Pattern, Baits & Gear

A bout of hardheadedness on day 2 may have kept Mark Rose from challenging Hunter for the runner-up spot, but other than that, Rose was in his element last week at Kentucky Lake. He caught some fish on a worm and a jig, but the majority of his key fish came on moving baits - the 6XD and 10XD from Strike King along with a swimbait, standard fare at a lake he adores. "It hasn't changed a whole lot," he said. "Kentucky Lake seems like it's always been. The prep you have to do is being efficient with your time. I see people getting caught up in fishing too much and getting caught up with community holes." Each time he comes to the lake, he forces himself to seek out new areas that may produce rather than rely on past experience. "What's been successful there for me has been not loading waypoints into my unit until after day 2 of practice," he said. "That forces me to go look for new stuff for 2 days. I have to go find some stuff people aren't sitting on for 3 or 4 hours during practice or tournament or local community holes. "The reason why Kentucky Lake is my favorite lake and the shinin star on Tennessee River chain is the habitat. It has so much of everything I love - shallow cranking, really deep fishing, flipping if the water jumps up. That's what I love about it. It's my passion É finding the new stuff." After catching 22-10 on day 1, he stuck with the crankbait and swimbait despite there being little wind and no current to speak of. His weight dropped off to 15-08 as a result. "I shouldn't have been hard headed," he said. "With the conditions, it was probably the toughest fishing day. It showed across the board. I struggled with picking up the dropshot because I felt like if I kept cranking or throwing the swimbait I'd get 5 kamikazes to hit it. "The same thing happened in 2012 when (Dave) Lefebre won. I got hard headed. Sometimes you have to pick up a spinning rod. That was the day for it. I only did it 5 percent of my day and I caught all 15 pounds on it. If I'd spent more time on it, I had the places and knew good quality was there." Most of his bites came out of 12 to 15 feet and he targeted smaller groups of fish on secondary channels. "There weren't a lot of mega schools," he said. "I think we'll see those in the next few weeks. There was a handful now, but they're getting slammed. What I found was I needed to fish a lot of those 10- to 20-fish schools. Those will turn into 100-fish schools in a few weeks. It was all about catching a few out of those pods. It was all about triggering the bigger ones to eat."

Cranking gear: 7'11" heavy- and extra-heavy Kistler KLX Mark Rose Offshore casting rods, Team Lew's Pro Magnesium Speed Spool casting reel, 12- and 15-pound Seaguar InivizX fluorocarbon line, Strike King 6XD and 10XD (sexy herring, sexy shad, green gizzard shad, root beer). He swapped the stock hooks on his plugs for 1/0 Mustad KVD Elite Series 1X trebles. When cranking, maintaining bottom contact was key to getting reaction bites. "They seemed to want that this week," he said.

Swimbait gear: 7'6" heavy-action Kistler Z-Bone casting rod, same reel, same line (17-pound), 3/4- and 1-oz. Strike King Squadron swimbait head, unnamed 6" paddletail swimbait (shad patterns).

Main factor: "My history and background and sticking with what I know."

Performance edge: "My Garmin electronics were showing me shallower schools than I've ever been allowed to see. That's good for early on before they get way out."

Kentucky Lake 2-5 Patterns BassFan 6/17/16 (Todd Ceisner)

Strike King Pro Model 6XD Crankbaits
39 Colors
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Strike King Pro Model 6XD Crankbaits
$7.49 - $10.99
4.0
1 Review
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Strike King Pro Model 6XD Silent Crankbaits
8 Colors
Strike King Pro Model 6XD Silent Crankbaits
$10.99
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Strike King 10XD Crankbait
18 Colors
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Strike King 10XD Crankbait
$12.97 - $18.99
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Mustad KVD Elite 1x Strong Triple Grip Treble Hook
Mustad KVD Elite 1x Strong Triple Grip Treble Hook
$6.57 - $9.99
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Strike King Squadron Swimbait Heads
5 Options
Strike King Squadron Swimbait Heads
$3.97 - $5.99
Seaguar InvizX Fluorocarbon Line
Best Seller
Seaguar InvizX Fluorocarbon Line
$23.99 - $529.99
3.6
15 Reviews
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