• Kentucky Lake Fishing Report

    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"

  • Kentucky Lake Fishing Report

    Kentucky Lake: Water Level at Kentucky Dam - 361.50 Surface Temperature - 67
    Lake Barkley: Water Level at Barkley Dam - 361.85 Surface Temperature - 67

    Both lakes are about 2 and one half feet over summer pool and on a fast draw down to summer pool. The drawdown started about 3 days ago and the lakes have dropped 2 and one half feet in the past three days. The TVA is forecasted to slow this draw down to about 6 inches per day starting today. At this rate both lakes should reach summer pool late Sunday or early Monday. Today, Kentucky Dam had a peak spilling rate of around 160,00 cfs early this morning and was down to 135,000 cfs late this afternoon. Barkley Dam was spilling at an average rate of 81,000 cfs over the past couple of days but cut this flow down to 135,000 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 .

    We had some nice warm weather this week although a couple of days were windy, especially in the afternoon. As mentioned above, the TVA has pulled the plug on the lakes and has been dropping the water levels rapidly over the past few days. So far this rapid drop has not hindered my efforts on the late prespawn Largemouth that I have been catching in the flooded over brush along the original shorelines on the spawning flats in the backs of the creeks, bays and coves. Actually I have seen this bite pick up as many of the fish that were buried up deep in the jungles back there have pulled out to join my fish. I have had a lot of reports of a good post spawn bite on humps and ledges in the front halves of the creeks and bays but as long as I am still catching good catches of late prespawn bass, I don't plan on moving deeper. I do think that the late prespawners we are catching are the final wave of these fish and I expect that when the water settles down, they will go on the beds. When this happens, I will move to the post spawn patterns. I have all summer to fish the ledges, which I really like to do, but active prespawn fish in shallow water won't come again until next spring and I plan on taking advantage of this bite while I can. The channel water on Kentucky Lake is stained. The creeks and bays range from clear to lightly stained. The channel water on Lake Barkley is heavily stained and the creeks and bays are stained. There is still debris floating on both lakes with Barkley having more than Kentucky. Be careful while running and please use the navigation buoys if you are not familiar with the lakes and if you are outside of a navigation area, idle until you know for sure you are in safe water. We had a death on Kentucky Lake last week when someone took a short cut out side of the navigation channel at the U.S. 68 bridge...we do not need anymore of these accidents this year.

    The weather forecast is looking pretty good with a high tomorrow of 75 and low of 65 with a 50% chance of rain and scattered thunderstorms and wind SSE at 11. Saturday's high is forecasted high of 84 and low of 69 with 30% chance of rain with isolated thunderstorms and wind SSW at 7. Sunday has a forecasted high of 87 and a low of 72 with a 20% chance of rain and wind S at 7. The extended forecast through mid week is for highs in the mid to upper 80's with south quadrant winds. This is the time of year that we always have a chance of afternoon and early evening thunderstorms so keep an eye on the sky and if you see a storm coming, don't wait to find safe port. These storms can have some very bad lightning with this heat and also high localized winds.


    Largemouth Bass: Largemouth are being taken in the flooded over buck brush and vegetation on topwater popping baits and buzzbaits, Texas rigged lizards and creature baits, finesse jigs, spinnerbaits and swim baits. Post spawn Largemouth are being taken on lead out banks and deep points with as well as on ledges around the mouths of the creeks and bays and on main lake creek channel ledges and humps. These fish are being taken on deep diving crankbaits, spoons Carolina rigged creature baits and jigs.

    Smallmouth: Smallmouth are being taken on gravel points and bank on the main lake and around the mouths of the creeks and bays. These fish are being taken on Carolina rigged creature baits, tube jigs and jigs. Some few nice fish are being reported but not large numbers.

    Some of the productive lures reported this week are: Strike King XD 6 crankbaits in blue back chartreuse belly, Strike King sexy spoons in shad patterns, Charmer lizards and timber pups in green pumpkin and watermelon/red, Slong's and Strike King spinnerbaits in white and white/chartreuse, watermelon/red and green pumpkin/blue, Big Hammer swim baits in sexy smelt and bay smelt, D&L advantage jigs in Cumberland Craw and "oops" patterns, Slong's football head jigs in Cumberland Craw and Charmer tubes in green pumpkin and roadkill.

    Crappie: The Crappie bite was reported as scattered this week. I had reports of Crappie being taken around the flooded buck brush and around the bases of willow trees on minnows under bobbers.

    Bluegill/RedEars: The Bluegill bite has been reported as good this week with big gills being taken on crickets under bobbers around flooded brush in 5-6 ft of water and around willow trees. The Red Ear bite has been reported as improving this week with some catches around gravel bars with brush in 5-6 ft of water using split shot rigs baited with small creature jigs tipped with worms.

    Catfish: Channel Catfish are roaming the shallows in the backs of the creeks and bays, especially near rocky bottom areas as well as on shallow rocky bottom areas ;and rip rap on the main lake. These fish are being taken on night crawlers fished on bottom and under bobbers. Good catches are being reported.

    If you are coming to the big lakes here to enjoy our great spring 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 .

    LEDGE FISHING:

    Now is the time to make your reservations to learn how to fish the ledges. I offer a focused teaching trip on how to fish the ledges. This trip consists of a class on how to eliminate the water on your topo map before you leave home so that you can concentrate your time on only the highest percentage ledges while on the water as well as some time on the water to learn how to use your electronics on the ledges, set up on the ledges and learn the techniques used to fish the ledges. This teaching trip has been very popular over the many years since I started offering it as it will teach you how to go find and fish the best ledges on your own. To book one of these trips, all you have to do is give me a call or drop me an email to book one of my open dates.

    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 16 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.

    I still have the following dates available for booking in May, June and July:

    May: Sorry, I am booked up.
    June: 14....this date just became available due to a cancellation, if you would like to have this date, contact me asap, I do not think this will be open very long.
    July: I still have some dates available...call or email now to book that summer trip on the ledges
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