September 16, 2016

Kentucky Lake: Water Level at Kentucky Dam - 355.97 Surface Temperature - 84
Lake Barkley: Water Level at Barkley Dam - 355.65 Surface Temperature - 84

Both lakes are about 3 and one half feet below summer pool. Kentucky Dam was generating at an average rate of 26,000 cfs early this morning. Barkley Dam was generating at an average rate of 9,000 cfs early this morning. 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

FLASH: I will not be pubishing a report next week as my wife and I will be on vacation. My wife told me that this year we are going to see what it is like to vacation during the summer rather than in the winter as we have during my off season for the past 20 years. Hmmm...I wonder what those salt water fish are doing down in Florida next week. If you wish to book a trip with me for the up coming fall bite while I am gone, just send me an email as I will be checking my email each day.

General Conditions: We have had another week of cooler fall like temperatures early in the week and then a return to summer temperatures the past few days with heat indexes around 100 each day. The water temperatures did drop to around 82 earlier in the week but climbed back up to present levels with the return of the heat. The forecast looks good though with another cool front coming in this weekend and hopefully getting the water temperatures to start dropping again over the next week.

The scattered bite patterns continued this week with some good days and some slow days as has been the norm the past few weeks. Exemplifying this is the fact that we had some days with as much as 19lbs on the best 5 fish in the boat and some days it was a struggle to put a few fish in the boat. I noticed that in the first day of the FLW BFL tournament last weekend, that the top weight was around 20lbs but half the field of about 100 boats had 2 fish or less. It only took about 12 lbs to get a check in the 2 day tournament. So, basically it has been feast or famine lately. We had a pretty fair week ourselves on Largemouth and Smallmouth fishing finesse baits and some topwater on secondary creek channel points and banks in the front halves of the creeks and bays on the north ends of both lakes.

The forecast for Saturday is calling for a high of 84/low of 68 with a 60% chance of scattered thunderstorms with wind S at 8. Sunday is calling for a high of 85/low of 63 with a 40% chance of thunderstorms with wind NNW at 5. The extended forecast thourgh next mid week is calling for post frontal conditions with high's in the 80's/low's in the mid 60's with light winds and sunny skies.

LARGEMOUTH BASS: Largemouth are being taken on the ledges as well as on main lake points where there is shallow wood near the deep water. These fish are being taken on Carolina rigged creature baits, Texas rigged large worms, drop shots, shaky heads and jigs. The ledge bite has been scattered and slow. There are also some bass being taken on seconday creek channel points and banks in the creeks and bays. These fish are feeding on schools of fry and are being taken on medium running crank baits, finesse jigs, dead sticking senko baits with some early morning and late evening topwater lures. This was our most productive pattern this week. Some Largemouth are also being taken around isolated wood in the shallows with topwater lures, spinner baits, lipless crankbaits, square billed crankbaits, jigs, shakey heads and Texas rigged creature baits especially early in the morning and late in the evening where they are feeding on schools of fry. This bite is working best on overcast days with wind.

SMALLMOUTH BASS: Smallmouth are also being taken on main lake rocky points and banks as well as rocky secondary creek channel banks and points in the creeks and bays. These fish are being taken on medium running crankbaits, finesse jigs, shaky heads, dead sticked senko type baits with some early and late topwater lures. Smallmouth are being taken on the rocky points on the main lake and in the front halves of the creeks and bays at night on large dark skirted spinner baits and jigs.

PRODUCTIVE LURES: Some of the productive lures this week have been: Lucky Craft Sammy in ghost pearl lemom, Strike King spash baits in white, Bag5 custom painted square billed crankbaits in blue glimmer, Bag5 custom painted Strike Red Eye Shad in blue glimmer, Stike King Red Eye Shad in sexy shad and chrome sexy shad, Slong's spinner bait in blue glimmer and chartruese/white, D&L baby advantage jigs in "oops" and Cumberland Craw patterns, Slong’s football jig with a blue craw skirt, Slong’s and Charmer shaky head jigs with Charmer shaky head worm in green pumpkin as well as Charmer timber pups in green pumpkin/blue and watermelon purple, Charmer timber pups in green pumpkin blue and watermelon/purple on Carolina rigs and Texas rigs, and dead sticking Yamamoto Senko's in green pumpkin/black flake and green pumpkin magic.

White Bass: White Bass are being taken along the old river channel ledges by vertically fishing with inline spinners, live minnows fished vertically and blade baits as well as trolling inline spinners behind deep diving crank baits. White Bass have been somewhat active this week in the jumps along the river channel ledges and creek channel ledges as well as on the main lake flats, but the jumps are short in duration. These fish are being taken on inline spinners, small poppers and small spoons cast into the surface feeding fish. There are some active smaller White Bass in the bays feeding on schools of fry, these fish are being taken with inline spinners and blade baits.

Catfish: Catfish are being taken along the old river channel ledges in 20-30 feet of water on bottom rigs baited with cut baits, shrimp and leach combinations and yellow tails. This bite is reported as slow with the lack of current this 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 and Pro Tungsten weights. From bluegill to bass and catfish to crappie, FHQ has you covered! Stop by and visit or phone 270-527-5938.

FLASH: I am happy to announce that Fisherman's Headquarters has received and now has in stock a large shipment of Lucky Craft 100 series Sammy's and 115 series Gunfish lures in the ghost pearl lemon pattern. These two lures have always been very productive top water lures on these lakes but very difficult for the tackle shops to obtain in any numbers each year. As a matter of fact, every year I have had to loan some of my personal stock of these lures to my tournament clients to use in the fall because what few are available each season are always sold out early. If you do not have any of these lures and want to stock up on some, now is the time while they are readily available. You can get them by stopping by Fisherman's Headquarters or call them and have them shipped to you. 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.

Ledge Teaching: I have been providing a focused learning experience trip for a number of years to teach bass anglers how to find the most productive ledges and also how to fish them. This learning experience features both classroom and on the water instruction. You cannot learn everything you need to learn "in the classroom" nor can you learn everything you need to learn "on the water". This experience features both aspects. After this experience with me, you should be able to successfully find and fish the ledges here or on any body of water with ledges. If you would like to really learn how to find and fish the ledges as well as make the right lure selections etc, give me a call or drop me an email to book one of my open dates.

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:
September: 26, 28
October: 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 24, 26, 31
November: A number of dates still available
Make your reservations now to get the date(s) you want.

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