Great Lakes Bass Fishing Forum

It's a chess match on Kentucky Lake this week for stop No. 2 of the Rayovac FLW Series Central Division, and Benton, Ky., pro Brandon Hunter has all his pieces in the right place. Hunter opened the tournament with a 27-pound, 9-ounce limit and a lead of nearly 2 pounds. He heads up a field of ledge-fishing experts that brought in stringers of more than 20 pounds through 29th place.

Weights that high suggest that catching quality stringers is easy right now, but that's not entirely true. Finding schools and getting bites has been a breeze, but finding the kind of bass that can win and protecting those schools is a challenge.