• Fishing Report For Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley

    Bass Buster Guide Service
    (270) 362-9987 http://www.kentuckylakeguide.com dave@kentuckylakeguide.com
  • Dave Stewart's Avatar

    "Specializing in Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass, Lake Familiarization, Tournament Preparation, and Technique Instruction"

  • Fishing Report For Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley

    April 28, 2016

    Kentucky Lake: Water Level at Kentucky Dam - 358.86 Surface Temperature - 68
    Lake Barkley: Water Level at Barkley Dam - 359.05 Surface Temperature - 69

    Both lakes are at summer pool. Kentucky Dam was generating at an average rate of 26, 000 cfs this afternoon. Barkley Dam was generating at an average rate of 17,800 cfs this afternoon. 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 There is some wood debris floating on both lakes from the rise to summer pool so boaters need to keep a sharp out for this debris when running the lakes.


    General Conditions: We had a front move through the lakes area yesterday bringing us some nasty storms and locally heavy rains but the weather earlier this week was quite nice with above average temperatures. These warmer days raised the water temperatures to their present levels. I reported last week that the bass bite was slow and scattered and that has been the scenario this past week also. We are still concentrating our efforts on staging banks and points as well as in the shallows around vegatation. There are a number of bass on the beds now but we are still catching numbers of fish that are not showing any signs of having fanned the nests or having dropped their eggs. As I also mentioned last week, bass in the 4lbs plus range have been elusive. I am watching the weigh-in for the FLW Costa series as I write this report and the overall word for the day at that tournament seems to be a "tough" day and the results so far pretty much reflect what I have been seeing in that you have to work to get your limit of keepers right now.

    We have another front coming throught lakes area this weekend, bringing with it wind, rain and thunderstorms. Some of these storms could be severe. The forecast for tomorrow is for a high of 77/low of 60 with a 50% chance of rain showers late in the day and wind ENE 8. Saturday's forecast is calling for a high of 81/low of 62 with a 90% chance of thunderstorms wind from the S and SW at 18 with higher gusts. Sunday is showing a high of 76/low of 54 with a 50% chance of scattered thunderstorms and wind WSW 15. The extended forecast through next mid week is calling for high's in the 70's/low's in the 50's and post frontal north quadrant winds.

    LARGEMOUTH BASS: Largemouth are being taken on secondary channel points and banks inside the creeks and bays on Carolina and Texas rigged creature baits, jigs and shaky heads. Largemouth are also being taken shallow in the coves and backs of the creeks and bays near vegatation on spinner baits, chatter baits, lipless and Texas rigged creature baits, whacky rigged worms and jigs.

    SMALLMOUTH BASS: Smallmouth are being taken on main lake gravel points and banks as well as gravel banks in the creeks and bays. These fish are are on the beds and also on post spawn and are being taken on crankbaits, jigs, Texas rigged creature baits, tube jigs and grubs.

    PRODUCTIVE LURES: Some of the productive lures this week have been: Slong's spinner baits in white/chartruese, Picasso FX shock blade chatterbait in white and blue glimmer, Zman chatterbaits in white/chartruese, Slong’s football jig Cumberland craw, D&L baby advantage jig in Cumberland craw and Oops patterns, Last Cast jigs in green pumpkin, Slong’s shaky head jigs with Charmer shaky head worm in green pumpkin and bama bug, Charmer lizards and timber pups in green pumpkin and green pumpkin/blue, Zoom trick worms on whacky rigs in green pumpkin, green pumpkin blue, green pumpkin purple and watermelon purple.

    CRAPPIE: Crappie are being taken over brush piles in 8 -10 ft of water in the creeks and bays by vertically fishing with minnows and jigs tipped with minnows. Crappie are also being taken over wood cover in 5-7 feet of water off spawning banks and points in the creeks and bays. Some Crappie are being taken by casting curly tail jigs to spawning banks early and late in the day. The Crappie bite has been reported as scattered this week.

    Bluegill/Red Ear: Some bluegills and a few red ears are starting to show up in the shallows and are being taken on red worms and crickets fished under bobbers and on small jigs tipped with worms on split shot rigs. These fish have not shown up in numbers yet but this should change over the next week or two.

    Catfish: Channel catfish are now being taken on rocky points and banks on night crawlers fished both under bobbers and on bottom rigs. Expect this fishing to just get better over the next week.


    IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON VISITING OUR LAKES I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING BUSINESSES FOR ALL YOUR FISHING AND BOATING NEEDS:
    Fisherman’s Headquarters is located in Draffenville at the U.S. 68/U.S. 641 triangle, or the Draffenville "Y". FHQ stocks everything an angler could need, from live bait, hooks and bobbers to top of the line tournament bass tackle. More than a "bait and tackle" store, Fisherman’s Headquarters is a true "pro shop", offering advice, training and special order assistance not found online or at the big box retailers. Services even include custom electronics training and installation. The store offers a wide variety of nationally known brands as well as many regional and hard to find items we use on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes. They stock many of the products I rely on daily, such as Charmer Baits, Slong’s lures, Picasso lures, Bag 5 lures, Pro Tungsten weights, and All Pro Rods. From bluegill to bass and catfish to crappie, FHQ has you covered! Stop by and visit or 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 and Stratos 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 over 20 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 Lowrance HDS electronics 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 am booked up.
    May: Sorry, I am booked up.
    June: Sorry, I am booked up.
    July: A number of dates available, make your reservation now to get the dates you want. I am also taking reservations through November.

    Captain Dave Stewart
    Bass Buster Guide Service
    270-362-9987
    dave@kentuckylakeguide.com
    www.kentuckylakeguide.com
    "Fish With a Professional"
    Comments 2 Comments
    1. bigcarl6446's Avatar
      bigcarl6446 -
      hi Dave
      We're heading down for a small club tourn May 21... 10 boats.. any way do you think the fish will move out to the ledges by then or will there still be some in the bays?

      thanks
      Carl
    1. Dave Stewart's Avatar
      Dave Stewart -
      I would expect the ledges to have fish on them by then...actually a few fish there now but the numbers of bigger fish have not shown up yet.

      Dave
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