Kentucky Lake: Water Level at Kentucky Dam - 358.72 Surface Temperature - 65
Lake Barkley: Water Level at Barkley Dam - 358.85 Surface Temperature - 65

Both lakes are just slightly under summer pool and on a slow rise. At the present rate, expect the lakes to reach summer pool late this weekend barring any unforeseen large influx of water. Kentucky Dam has been generating between 7,000 cfs and 20,000 cfs over the past day. Barkley Dam has been generating an average of 8,100 cfs over the past day. 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 . Kentucky Lake is clear with only a little stain in the backs of some creeks. Lake Barkley is stained but definitely fishable.

FLASH: I have had a health issue come up and I will not be on the water starting next week for one month. I have an abdominal aortic aneurism which has grown rapidly over the past few months according to my doctor and this needs to be addressed. I have been scheduled to be operated on next Wednesday morning at Vanderbilt Hospital to have a stint placed in my abdominal aorta. I have been ordered off the water for one month following the operation so I will be resuming my guide service duties the first of June. I appreciate the understanding of all my clients that were scheduled for May that I have had to cancel and all the kind words of support I have received over the past few days. I will only publish reports during the month of May if I have enough valid information to do so. I do have a very good network but will not publish a fishing report unless the information I am getting is validated by a number of my network folks.

The bass fishing has been fair to good depending on the day this past week. As expected the water temperatures did rise with the warmer weather last weekend and I have seen some movement of the Largmouth near the spawning areas but most of the fish we are taking are still holding just off the spawning areas on the lead in banks and adjacent secondary points. I have seen a number of large females cruising the shallows during the warmer parts of the day this past week and we did manage to catch a few of them. Our best bite has still been on Texas rigged lizards and jigs on the staging banks and points but we are getting some fish on the flats in front of the spawning areas on the lizards and also on a whacky rigged trick worm as well as chatterbaits and spinnerbaits. We have yet to catch any Largemouth showing signs of having been fanning nests...so as I expected, the late rise in water temperatures and the up and down raising and lowering of the water levels last week has kept the majority of the Largemouth from moving up to spawn. I expect this will change rapidly over the next few days and we will start seeing more Largemouth in the spawning areas if the water continues to rise.

We have a front coming thru the lakes area tonight and the forecast for Friday is post frontal with a high of 75, low of 50 with wind WNW at 14. Saturday looks good with a high of 81, low of 56 with wind SSW at 11. Another slow moving front is forecasted to approach the area Sunday and the forecast is for a high of 83, low of 64 with a 30% chance of isolated thunderstorms and wind SSE at 13. As the front moves closer on Monday, we can expect an 80% chance of rain with a chance of severe thunderstorms. The extended forecast for mid week is a cool post frontal period with high's in the low to mid 60's and low's back into the 40's for a few days.

LARGEMOUTH BASS: Largemouth are being taken on channel banks and secondary points just off the spawning areas on Texas rigged lizards and creature baits, jigs and tube jigs. Largemouth are also being taken on the 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, chatterbaits, spinnerbaits, Texas rigged lizards and whacky rigged worms. There is a lot of buck bass activity and numbers of smaller Largemouth are being taken but we are also getting some nice female Largemouth too.

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 jigs and tube jigs as they are spawning. Although the numbers are few, some nice fish have been taken.

Productive lures: Spro Little John crankbaits in spring craw pattern. Strike King Red Eye Shad in chrome sexy shad, Slong's spinnerbaits in blue glimmer and white/chartreuse, Chatterbaits in shad patterns, D&L baby advantage jigs in Cumberland craw and "oops" patterns. Last Cast Hairy Bug jigs in green pumpkin. Charmer lizards in green pumpkin, green pumpkin/blue and watermelon/red, Charmer tubes in green pumpkin with orange and purple flake and smoke purple and whacky rigged Zoom trick worms in watermelon/purple and watermelon red.

CRAPPIE: Crappie reports indicate that some of the Crappie have now spawned and that some are still to spawn. The post spawn fish are being taken by vertically fishing with curly tail jigs and jigs tipped with minnows on spider rigs and by long line trolling in 8-14 ft of water. There are still some spawning Crappie moving to the banks in 4-6 ft of water during the warm part of the day. These spawners are being taken by casting curly tail jigs and by fishing with minnows under bobbers.

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


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:

April: Sorry, I do not have any days available
May: Sorry, I do not have any days available.
June: Sorry, I do not have any days available
July: I have a number of days still available...call me or drop me an email to get the date(s) you want.

Call me or drop me an email to book your 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"