Kentucky Lake Guide Dave Stewart

Dave Stewart of Bass Buster Guide Service in Benton, Ky.Years guiding: 6. Contact number: 270-354-5039. Email: dave@kentuckylakeguide.com

Kentuckyfishing.com: How did you get started as a guide and why?

Dave Stewart: Actualy, I got started after I retired from the military in 1995. I moved to Kentucky Lake and I was living at a resort. People at the resort asked me if I could take some people out who weren’t catching fish. I helped them catch fish and this eventually became a business.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What do you like about the job?

Dave Stewart: I like he people. Outdoors people, especially anglers, have got to be some of the best people to be around. For me, watching clients catch fish has become more fun than catching the fish myself.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What do you not like so much about the job?

Dave Stewart: Winter. I hate the off season. I get bored.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What is your favorite tactic?

Dave Stewart: I primarily guide for bass; it makes up probably 95 percent of my business. For smallmouth, I love to fish crankbaits and jerkbaits in teh spring. In the summer I fish for largemouth and I love to use Carolina rigs. Kentucky and Balrkley are good Carolina rig lakes. I love to fish tubes, too. That’s kind of a trademark of mine, tube fishing.

Kentuckyfishing.com: Why do you like to fish for bass over other species?

Dave Stewart: I started ot fishing fo bass in clubs and tournaments. It just seems to be the most challenging of the fish here to catch. I enjoy taking people out, especially those who are having trouble finiding fish. I started out guiding as much crappie as I did bass. But I turned to bass. That’s where my reputation is. Ninety-five percent of my business is tournament preparation.

Kentuckyfishing.com: Are tournament anglers tougher to deal with? Are they more difficult to deal with?

Dave Stewart: Not really. You ahve to take each client as they come. Probably my most favorite clients are children — fathers and sons. But tournament types are not that hard to work with.

Kentuckyfishing.com: Do your clients have special tactics they want to try?

Dave Stewart: I find that for the majority of them, since I do a lot of tournament preparation, most people will leave it up to me. They realize one tactic is not a catch-all. But I do have a lot of people who want to try Carolina rigging.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What is your favorite lure?

Dave Stewart: As a go-to lure I’d have to say a tube. I’ve been fishing them for years and years and years. They’ve just become popular down here in the last few years. I’m not sure I’m happy about that. (laughs) My favorite lure to throw, though, is probably a Carolina rig or a crankbait. But a tube is definitely the go-to lure. When nothing else will work a tube will get you some fish.

Kentuckyfishing.com: When do you most like to fish?

Dave Stewart: I love spring. I love the early smallmouth and the pre-spawn largemouth. It’s got to be the most productive and the most fun fishing there is. Those are the days of the big numbers and the big fish.

Kentuckyfishing.com: What kind of cover or areas do you like to fish the most?

Dave Stewart: The obvious would be stumps. Old stump fields are the most productive. I also like brush piles. If you find those brush piles you can score fish. But fish like to cruise open water. So it changes all year long.

First published in The Kentucky Fishing Journal, February 2003

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