April 4, 2014

Kentucky Lake: Water Level at Kentucky Dam - 357.12 Surface Temperature - 56
Lake Barkley: Water Level at Barkley Dam - 357.40 Surface Temperature - 55

Both lakes are two feet below summer pool and on a slow rise. Kentucky Dam has been generating around 14,800 cfs over the past few days. Barkley Dam has been generating an average rate of 9,300 cfs over the past few days. The latest lake levels , current flows and forecasts for all the TVA lakes can be found at http://www.tva.com/river/lakeinfo/index.htm .

Spring has finally arrived in the lakes area and it did so with a bang as daytime temperatures earlier this week reached the mid to high 70's with light winds. The warm up shot the water temperatures up and woke up both the Bass and the Crappie especially during the warm part of the days. We actually found afternoon water temperatures in the low to mid 60's earlier this week on both lakes. The smaller Largemouth buck bass were very active this week as they were moving onto the staging banks just off the spawning areas and were readily being taken near the banks. The larger female Largemouth were holding off the banks and staging points in the creeks a little deeper but they could be taken if you waded through the buck bass first which were taking the lures first and you backed off the banks and points to fish a little deeper. We did find some nice larger females on the warmer days during the latter part of the day cruising the flats in the backs of the creeks and bays and in spawning coves as they were feeding on schools of shad being drawn into the warmer water during the afternoon. We took a number of nice females as shallow as 2-3 ft of water on the flats near wood cover. Crappie anglers benefited from the warm up too as the earlier spawning Black Crappie made a move to the staging areas in 3-5 ft of water and were being taken by anglers casting curly tail jigs, road runner type lures and vertically fishing with minnows under bobbers around shallow wood near the banks.

The down side of this report would be that we had a major spring front come through the lakes area early this morning. This front brought high winds and heavy rains on Wednesday night and again last night. Just when Lake Barkley water color was clearing up good, here comes the heavy rains and now Lake Barkley has again become stained to heavily stained with some of the creeks now being down right muddy. Kentucky Lake water color is good so far with some stained to heavily stained in the backs of some of the shallower creeks and bays. The up side to this report is that even though the this was a strong front, it was not an arctic type front so we should not see a large drop in the water temperatures. The forecast for today is a high of 60 with high winds of WNW at 20 and gusting. We will be in post frontal conditions for the next few days with Saturday's forecast being a high of 59 and low of 39 with NNE wind at 7. Sunday is showing a high of 66 with a low of 50 with wind E at 7. The forecast through next mid week is showing post frontal with high's in the mid 50's on Monday and high's in the low 60's through Wednesday. A slight chance of rain showers is in the forecast for early next week also.

LARGEMOUTH BASS: Largemouth are being taken by slow rolling medium running crankbaits, jigs and tube jigs on primary points as well as secondary creek channel points and channel banks in the creeks and bays. Largemouth are also being taken on shallow banks just off the spawning areas and on flats adjacent to spawning areas in the backs of the creeks and bays during the warmer part of the day with lipless crankbaits, shallow running crankbaits and spinnerbaits. There is a lot of buck bass activity and numbers of smaller Largemouth are being taken but we are also getting some nice early female Largemouth too. The Largemouth fishing has been good this past week.

SMALLMOUTH BASS: Some Smallmouth have been taken on main lake gravel banks and also on gravel creek channel banks in the creeks and bays on medium running crankbaits, jigs and tube jigs. Although the numbers are few, some nice fish have been taken.

Productive lures: Rapala Shadraps in orginal crawdad, and also in rootbeer painted by BAG5 Baits. Strike King DT6 in red crawfish and Demon. Bandit medium runners in red crawfish and rootbeer/chartreuse patterns. Spro Little John in spring craw pattern. Strike King Red Eye Shad in red craw and chrome sexy shad, Slong's spinnerbaits in blue glimmer and white/chartreuse, D&L baby advantage jigs in Cumberland craw and "oops" patterns. Last Cast Hairy Bug jigs in green pumpkin. Charmer tubes in green pumpkin with orange and purple flake and road kill.

CRAPPIE: Black Crappie are being taken over brush piles in 6-8 ft of water off spawning banks and points in the creeks and bays over brush piles and stumps by vertically fishing with minnows under bobbers and by casting curly tail jigs. Black Crappie are also being taken by casting to the banks adjacent to these staging areas with curly tail jigs and road runner type jigs in 3-5 ft of water as well as by fishing with minnows under bobbers on these banks. White Crappie for the most part are still being taken on staging brush in 8-15 ft of water over brush piles in the creeks and bays. These fish are being taken by vertically fishing with curly tail jigs and jigs tipped with minnows on spider rigs. The Crappie fishing is reported to be good.

If you are coming to the big lakes here to enjoy our great fishing, make sure you stop by these businesses for all your fishing and boating needs:

The Cabin Bait and Tackle is located in Kuttawa on U.S. 62 about one mile west of the I-24/U.S. 62 interchange. The Cabin Bait and Tackle has a great selection of the latest in rods, reels, lures for you bass anglers and also a great selection of tackle for the panfish anglers to include live bait. You can also find a selection of bows and guns for the hunter as well as personal handguns in the store. The Cabin also hosts the a website where you can order all your fishing needs with free shipping on all orders over 50.00. Be sure to check them out at www.tackleexperts.com . The Cabin has a great delicatessen where you can get that early morning breakfast sandwich or enjoy a delicious lunch. Phone: 270-388-6440

Fisherman's Headquarters is located in Draffenville at the U.S. 68/U.S. 641 triangle. Fisherman's Headquarters boasts a great selection of the latest in rods, reels and lures for bass anglers that are on the market, not to mention one of the best selection of high end lures and local custom lures we use here on Ky/Barkley lakes. You can find many of the custom lures you see in my fishing reports there including the Bag5 custom painted crank baits and jerk baits. Fisherman's Headquarters also has a really good selection of Crappie and panfish tackle featuring Wally Marshall "Mr Crappie" rods, reels, lures and line as well as live baits. Phone: 270-527-5938

Flash: Fisherman's Headquarters just recently received a limited shipment of Lucky Craft Gunfish topwater lures in the 115 series size and ghost pearl lemon color pattern. I found many years ago that this is one of the most productive topwater lures on these waters in the fall but the dealers have a very hard time securing them for their customers. It took over a year and a half for FHQ to receive this limited shipment of their original order. I know that over the past couple of years I have even loaned some to my clients so they would have them to fish their fall tournaments. These lures won't last long so if you want one or two, you should go by FHQ and get them or call them and have them ship them to you.

Jet-A-Marina: If you have a problem with your boat while you are visiting our great fisheries, let me recommend you have the folks in the service department at Jet-a-Marina check it out. These folks have a well known reputation for trying to keep our visitors on the water while they are here if they can possibly do so, especially you tournament anglers. Hopefully you will not need this kind of assistance but if you do, you can find Jet-a-Marina located on U.S. 62 in Calvert City, just a couple of miles north of Kentucky Dam. Jet-a-Marina also has a great showroom for all your boating accessories and check out the new Ranger, Stratos and Triton bass boats too as well as bulk oil at rock bottom prices for your engine. Phone: 270-395-4030

GUIDE SERVICE:

For those of you that may not be familiar with my service: I am a full time catch and release bass fishing guide. I only guide for bass. I have been guiding for bass full time on these lakes for 18 years and bass fishing the lakes for over 30 years. I do not go out and fish panfish for 4 or 5 days and then try to guide on bass for one or two days. No one knows everything the bass are doing but one thing is for sure, if you only fish for bass day in and day out, you will have a lot better idea of what they are doing and also be familiar with all the different techniques it takes to be a successful bass angler. If you book with my service, you will have me as your guide and you will be guided in the comfort of a late model Z522 Ranger Comanche equipped with 2 Lowrance HDS 10's and top of the line tackle. I provide just for fun bass fishing trips, tournament preparation trips, focused teaching trips and technique instruction. If you are in need of a bass fishing guide give me a call or drop me an email.


Available Dates: I also still have a few dates available in April and May for guided trips. Call me or drop me an email to book your spring dates now. The sooner you book, the more likely you can get the dates you want. I also will take bookings for the rest of the season. I am also taking bookings for my Ledge Teaching trip. The Ledge Teaching trip consists of both classroom and time on the water. This trip not only teaches you how to find the highest percentage ledges but also what you are looking for on your sonar and how to interpret what you are seeing, how to search the ledges, set up on the ledges as well as making decisions on what type lures you should be throwing depending on enviromental conditions.



Captain Dave Stewart
Bass Buster Guide Service
270-362-9987
dave@kentuckylakeguide.com
www.kentuckylakeguide.com
"Fish With a Professional"