• Fishing Report For Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley

    Bass Buster Guide Service
    (270) 362-9987 http://www.kentuckylakeguide.com dave@kentuckylakeguide.com
  • "Specializing in Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass, Lake Familiarization, Tournament Preparation, and Technique Instruction"

  • Fishing Report For Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley

    *October 13, 2017*

    *Kentucky Lake: Water Level at Kentucky Dam - 355.43 Surface Temperature
    - 74*
    *Lake Barkley: Water Level at Barkley Dam - 355.25 Surface Temperature -
    74*

    *Both lakes are slightly more than one foot over winter. Kentucky Dam was
    generating at an average rate of 38,000 cfs this morning. Barkley Dam was
    generating at an average rate of 19,600 cfs 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.*

    *Current Conditions: *First let me thank all those folks that contacted me
    this week to check on my well being as I have not written a report in the
    past 2 weeks. I failed to mention in my last report that I would be out of
    town attending my annual military reunion and thus would not be writing a
    report. I had a great time seeing all my old military buddies but happy to
    be back on the water this week.

    We finally got some cooler weather this week and dropped the water
    temperatures a little more but we are still about 6 degrees above our
    normal water temperatures for this time in October due to all the heat
    waves we have experienced over the past few weeks. This up and down on the
    water temperatures has prolonged the fall transition and for the most part
    the fish are still scattered and folks are finding limits of bass hard to
    come by. In the last few large tournaments here over the past 3 weeks
    there have been some nice weights coming to the scales in the top 4-5 boats
    but then the weights drop rapidly with a lot of anglers struggling to get a
    limit of bass. It seems those bigger bags of bass are coming in from the
    south end of the lake where a few anglers have found some nice schools of
    bass feeding on top water lures but even those reports indicate that the
    fishing was spotty and they were having to cover a lot of water to fill
    their limits.

    We caught bass on the north ends of both lakes this week with a lot of
    action on shorter fish but have managed to put some keeper plus sized fish
    in the boat. Our best producing techniques this week were shaky heads and
    tube jigs fished slow on secondary points in the creeks and bays. I have
    received a few reports of a scattered top water bite as well as crank bait
    and spinner bait bite on the north ends of the lakes but the reports
    indicate these patterns have been spotty.

    The forecast for Saturday is for near record high temperature of 86 with a
    night time low of 67 with south winds 10-15. Sunday's forecast is showing
    a high of 69/ night time low of 45 with a frontal passage during the late
    morning hours. A 70% chance of rain is forecasted for Sunday with winds
    swapping from the south in the early morning to northwest at 10-15 mph.
    With these wind forecasts, I would expect some rough water out there on the
    lakes this weekend so plan your trips accordingly. The extended forecast
    is showing a return to more seasonable temperatures though next week with
    high's in the 70's and low's in the 40's with post frontal north and east
    quadrant winds. Hopefully this forecast is correct and we can get these
    water temperatures down and get the bass in a more active fall pattern.

    *Largemouth Bass: *Largemouth are being taken on main lake points as well
    as secondary points and channel banks in the creeks and bays. These fish
    are being taken on medium running crank baits, spinner baits, Carolina
    rigged creature baits, shaky heads and tube jigs. A few Largemouth are
    being taken in shallow cuts on the main lake as well as on shallow flats in
    the creeks and bays on top water lures, lipless crank baits and Senko type
    baits near isolated wood cover.

    *Smallmouth Bass: *Smallmouth are being taken on rocky main lake points
    and rocky secondary points in the creeks and bays. These fish are being
    taken on shaky heads and tube jigs. We had a few nice Smallmouth this week
    on the tube jigs rigged stupid style.

    *Crappie: *I had a few reports of Crappie now being taken around submerged
    brush and stake beds in 7-10 feet of water in the creeks and bays by
    vertically fishing with tube jigs and tube jigs tipped with minnows. These
    reports indicated these fish were being taken on the overcast days we had
    this week.

    *Productive Lures:* Some of the productive lures reported this week are
    Lucky Craft Sammy and Lucky Craft Gunfish in ghost pearl lemon, Strike King
    spash baits in white, Strike King Red Eye Shad in chrome sexy shad and sexy
    shad, Strike King square billed crank baits in sexy shad, Bandit medium
    running crank baits in rootbeer/chartreuse, Slong's spinner baits in blue
    glimmer, D&L jigs in "oops" and cumberland craw, Slong's jigs in
    cumberland craw and mustang, Charmer lizards and timber pups on Texas rigs
    and Carolina rigs in green pumpkin and watermelon/purple, Charmer slim
    daddy's in blue craw on shaky heads in green pumpkin and Charmer tubes
    rigged stupid style in green pumpkin/blue tail and green pumpkin/orange.



    *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 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 <(270)%20527-5938>.

    *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 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 Commanche 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:*

    *October: 23, 24, 29, 31*
    *November: A number of dates available. Call or email to book a date for
    the fall fishing. I am also now booking dates for next year. Book now to
    get the dates(s) you want.*


    *Captain Dave Stewart*
    *Bass Buster Guide Service*
    *www.kentuckylakeguide.com <http://www.kentuckylakeguide.com> *
    *dave@kentuckylakeguide.com <dave@kentuckylakeguide.com>*
    *270-362-9987 <(270)%20362-9987>*
    *"Fish With A Professional"*
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