Lake Conditions:
Barkley – 358.40, 25,000-27,000 CFS, Stained with water temps in upper 80’s
Kentucky - 358.20 60,000-66,300 CFS, light stain with temps in upper 80’s
Weather: It’s been a blistering week of heat around the lakes with high running in the mid to upper 90’s and humidity in the 75% or better which helped push the heat index values well into the triple digits. We are getting a little reprieve over the next few days as the humidity has dropped dramatically and look for things to stay dry till midweek when a front will push through the lakes area bring some chances of rain and cooler temps. Highs over the weekend and early next week will stay in the 90’s with plenty of sun by Weds. when the front pushes in highs with be in the mid 80’s.
Bass Fishing: It’s starting to sound like a broken record but overall inconsistent is the easiest way to sum up the ledge fishing. Lake levels are now back down to normal we are starting to see a few more fish come off main lake flats again but yet to run across a school of fish. With all the baitfish shallow also I’m not sure how soon we will see a good main lake bite come back. We didn’t spend much time offshore this week and the few fish we did catch came on a Big Bite Baits B2 worm around stumps on flats As many of you know fishing the bank this time of year isn’t my thing but I’ve really worked on keeping myself and clients up there as these seem to be the most active and feeding fish thus making them much easier to catch. Keying on main lake points and even some close secondary points that had deep water close by along with shallow grass that still has water in it was the ticket. Whacky rigging a Big Bite Baits trick stick and a Outkast Tackle swim jig have been the go to baits.
White Bass and Yellows: This is what we’ve spent most of the week chasing while the largemouth seemed to be rather inconsistent these guys were very eager to bite. They are starting to show up with more regularity every day and now with some current flowing throw the lakes it’s been a much better bite. Over all presentation has been pretty simple as we’ve been either vertical jigging a blade bait or small spoon over schools that we find along main river channels, main lake points and humps. When the bite seems to get a little tough you can always drop a jig and minnow on them and they simply can’t resist that easy meal. Lake Barkley is where we’ve spent most of our time with pretty decent results. Most of the fish have been stripes and yellows with some nice whites mixed in. Anytime you’re using a blade bait you’ve got the possibility of catching anything and we’ve caught it all this week from crappies, largemouth bass, catfish and even drum.
Crappie and Bluegill: No report as we haven’t fished for these critters for a couple weeks. I have noticed there are quite a few around the docks feeding on insects and minnows that are feeding on the algae growing on the bottoms of the floats.
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Capt. Brian Brown
Fishing Hype Guide Service
www.fishinghype.com
612-889-2423