Nordbye the early leader at KY Lake Invitational

CALVERT CITY, Ky. – As expected, it’s a smallmouth smashfest on Kentucky Lake. Starting strong, Andrew Nordbye of Guntersville, Ala. wrangled 22 pounds, 12 ounces on Day 1 of the MLF Invitational. Behind him, Brookeland, Texas’ Dakota Ebare put 21-4 on the scale, and Alec Morrison of Peru, N.Y., slipped into third with 20-7, narrowly ahead of five other pros who caught 20 pounds or better on Day 1.

Overall, Friday was a banner day of fishing to start the event despite less than ideal weather. Though some pros ran south a long way on both Kentucky and Barkley, a strong north wind kept most from traveling too far and complicated matters when it came to fishing.

The full field of 150 anglers will conclude the two-day opening round on Saturday, with only the Top 30 pros based on their two-day cumulative weight advancing to Sunday.

Weighing four smallmouth and one largemouth, it was a 5-15 smallie that really put Nordbye in the driver’s seat. Fishing offshore for smallmouth that he believes are spawning and postspawn, the day went well.

“It was excellent. I did lose a couple that would have helped me by a quarter-pound here and there, but it’s as good as I hoped it might go,” Nordbye said. “God blessed me big time.”

While some pros rationed their fish carefully on Day 1, Nordbye seems to have caught more keepers than many of his competitors. It remains to be seen how that plays out the rest of the way.

“I hope to get 18 to 20 (pounds) the next day or two,” he said. “If God blesses me with another 6-pounder, I might bump it back up again. But, when you’re fishing for smallmouth, especially ones on bed, they don’t replenish when you take them off. So, the weights will go down. But I did leave some stuff alone. I tried to be a little strategic. I probably caught 10 3- to 3 1/2-pounders that I had to let go. So, we’ll see; there’s a lot of fish out there eating.”

Fishing offshore in fairly windy conditions, Nordbye thinks having a turret for his LiveScope was a difference-maker on Day 1.

“Everybody dogs me for having the turret, and I always dog ‘em for not having it,” he said. “My Cornfield Fishing Gear Live Sweep turret was crucial today. It was blowing, my front end kept coming out of the water, and I was able to Spot-Lock and cast directly where I wanted to and watch it all go down. If you’re not twitching your bait or moving it at the exact time you need to, the smallmouth aren’t gonna bite it. Being able to do that in the extreme conditions we had was key to catching what I had.”

Here's a look at the initial Top 10:

1st: Andrew Nordbye, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 22-12
2nd: Dakota Ebare, Brookeland, Texas, five bass, 21-4
3rd: Alec Morrison, Peru, N.Y., five bass, 20-7
4th: Brad Leuthner, Victoria, Minn., five bass, 20-5
5th: Colby Miller, Elmer, La., five bass, 20-3
5th: Ken Thompson, Roaring Springs, Pa., five bass, 20-3
5th: Nick Hatfield, Greeneville, Tenn., five bass, 20-3
8th: Robby Lefere, Jackson, Mich., five bass, 20-1
9th: Cole Floyd, Leesburg, Ohio, five bass, 19-14
10th: Brody Campbell, Oxford, Ohio, five bass, 19-12

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