As I reported after the first Fun Fishing tournament at Lake Alan Henry (located southeast of Lubbock near Post) on March 6th, Kirkpatrick found the winning pattern to be a black/blue jig tipped with Madman blue/black tubecraw on a deep water hump at 30 feet. He pocketed $1,000 by winning against 100 anglers.

The March 27th tournament attracted a record attendance of 148 anglers from Kansas, New Mexico and of course Texas. At this second event, Kirkpatrick abandoned the deep water when he discovered that water temperatures in the shallow water had warmed to 60 degrees and visually confirmed the presence of a few bedding bass. "Alan Henry is pretty clear for a West Texas lake and when I saw a couple beds, I decided to spend the day working the shallow water" explained Kirkpatrick when pressed for why he totally changed his fishing pattern.
"I love this lake and even though only a small percentage of bass are actually on beds, I think a lot more of the big females are holding on the first deep water drop off. I can't see those bass that stage along the drop off in five to six feet of water, but they are there."
Still using 20 lb. Sufix fishing line (but now tied to a 3-0 Gamakatsu hook rigged wacky style to five inch long white Senko), Kirkpatrick easily won the tournament and $1,500 with a three-bass limit that tipped the scales at an impressive 21.66 pounds.
The former Texas Tech football linebacker, who claims he doesn't get to fish as much as he would like, is $2,500 richer thanks to his outstanding performance and a unique ability to adapt to changing fishing conditions.

Other top anglers and their prize money at the tournament included Will Peirce ($750) with a three-bass limit that weighed an impressive 19.33 lbs. Peirce used a volcano colored Madman lizard and saw all the bass that he caught. Third place went to Nathan King ($300) with three bass that totaled 14.32 lbs. King used a black/blue Ouggie jig tipped with a Madman tubecraw, and he also fished the shallow water. Terry Dale Gilmore ($150) of Childress finished fourth with three bass at 14.00 lbs.

Fifth through ninth places were worth $75. Anglers in this group included the following: Canyon's Jim Simpson who used a black/blue jig for a tournament limit of three bass at 13.58 lbs.; Jerry Matlock of Plainview who fished rocks at eight feet with a black jig and caught a limit at 13.14 lbs.; Jim Maxfield of Garden City, Kansas, slow rolled a white spinnerbait in twelve feet of water to catch 12.92 lbs.; Joe Sheehan of Lubbock who fished up the river with a green/pumpkin lizard for a limit that weighed 12.69 lbs.; and Tim Taylor of Amarillo used a blue flake PowerLizard in ten to twelve deep water for a limit at 11.39 lbs.

Tenth place was worth $150 to Jesse Haynie of Las Cruces, NM. He nailed it with three bass that weighed 10.29 lbs. Haynie threw a double green Senko in some flooded trees in eight feet. Fifteen place and $50 went to Jeff McClery of Childress with two bass at 8.73 lbs., and twentieth place fell to Zack Hughes of Lubbock with a nice 7.88 lbs. bass.
49 anglers in a field of 148 brought bass to the weigh-in, but everyone learned a great fishing lesson on how to fish a terrific bass lake, Lake Alan Herny.

HUNTER ORANGE FOR KIRKPATRICK? During the post tournament press conference, several other contestants casually suggested that Kirkpatrick be forced to wear a hunter orange vest at all future tournaments so the rest of the anglers could learn where the big bass are located. Can anyone beat Kirkpatrick at the 4th Annual Big Bass Bonanza that is scheduled at Lake Alan Henry on May 1st? ~CHUCKLE~