Lucas Oil Tournament of Champions

May 05, 2017
Meunier and Heckle Claim the Lucas Oil Tournament of Champions Title Again

In the wake of the 2017 Lucas Oil Tournament of Champions, familiar faces of the USA BASSIN tournament trail, Kevin Meunier and Kenny Heckel of Larmar, Indiana, left victorious for the third year in a row.

The one-day tournament, which brought together anglers from all across the Midwest, is just about as high stakes as it gets. The want to oust them all in a single day typically leads to many competitors scrambling for the right five bites. However, the team of Meunier and Heckel stuck to their roots, ran a fairly simple pattern and came out on top with and five-fish limit totaling 25.70 pounds.

Playing in favor of the retreating lake levels, the duo chose to target main lake and secondary points located on the north end of Kentucky Lake. And to sack up their winning bag, the two rotated between these points throughout the day – majority of them pea gravel – casting first and graphing later.

“Just from past experience, we know that when they yank the lake down like this, it really pulls the fish out into the that 6 to 10 foot of water,” says Meunier “ And you can find some right off the points even in depths of 15 to 10 feet.”

Meunier and Heckel used a chartreuse Strike King Sexy Shad 5XD to catch most of their fish and mixed in the respective 6XD for more dramatic slopping points. Yet, the duo claimed that location trumped lure presentation during their tournament efforts.

“You really just need to know the pea-gravely points that are just kind of hanging out there,” said Meunier “And trying to find the clearest water you can was key. Much of the lake was stained, so you really needed to pick and choose your areas.”

They also accredit much of their tournament day success on the idea that history is uncanny in the way it repeats itself, and that looking back on the past is a great way to predict the future.

“More than once, I have came down here with no clue what I was going to fish or pre-fish and have done well by just fishing the past,” said Meunier. “Today, that’s what we did. We were fishing the past.”

With this being their third Lucas Oil Tournament of Champions victory in a row, this view toward tournament performance may, in fact, be self evident. And because of it and their efforts, the reigning Tournament of Champions champs walked away with a $10,000 check.

“We love this circuit. It is probably the best circuit we fish as a team,” said Heckle “It’s well-ran, and we love all that they do for us anglers.”

by  Dominick Schenewerk

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