Keith Poche's small boat and big-picture planning turned into a Stage Two win. Photo by Phoenix Moore. Angler: Keith Poche.
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Tenn. – In the history of tournament bass fishing, some of the most interesting – borderline epic – wins have come when an angler went “off the grid” to find the winning spot. John Cox on the Red River and Wheeler Lake come to mind. Or Edwin Evers at REDCREST 2019 on the upper Mississippi River.
Add Keith Poche and Cherokee Lake to the list.
It probably didn’t come as a surprise to anybody who knows the Alabama pro when he maneuvered his 18-foot Gator Trax aluminum boat 1 hour, 15 minutes up the Holston River from tournament takeoff – over shoals and shallows that the rest of the field couldn’t run – to locate the sweetest of honey holes on Cherokee. The result was 35 pounds, 6 ounces of smallmouth and largemouth over two days in one of the most off-the-grid spots in the lake to secure his tour-level win at U.S. Air Force Stage Two Presented by Power-Pole.