Barkley: 11/8 - 11/11

[pkfish]

I debated on whether or not to post the results of our trip to Barkley, since my poor attempt of a JOKE was slammed last week (but I guess I deserved it…). Any way, I appreciate and enjoy reading the information shared on this site, so here goes: We arrived Wednesday afternoon and after checking into our room, we hit the lake for a couple of hours fishing before sunset. I managed one nice largemouth (3 ½ lb) on a chrome/blue rattletrap in the back of Popular Creek. We found a nice school of yellow bass on a creek channel beside Buzzard Rock Marina. Now, we’ve never fished for yellows, much less eaten them, but we kept 15 or so, just to see how they taste. I plan on grilling them this evening, any suggestions / recipes for yellows. Thursday was tuff (but our best day) as we only managed seven keepers between the three of us. 3 largemouth, 3 smallmouth, and 1 nice spot (16”). It seemed to be keeper or nothing, as we only had a couple of short fish in the mix. Fish came on a variety of baits including risto rap (Tennessee shad), white spinnerbait, Eakins jig, and zoom finesse worm (watermelon). We fished all over North Barkley from the Canal to Eddyville Prison. All but one keeper came from main lake channel points (one here – one there – no duplicates from any one point). My dad did catch one keeper smallmouth on a creek channel bank in Decumbers (spelling?) Bay. My uncle was drifting a minnow behind the boat on the same bank, when a fish hit and took his pole as a sacrifice to the depths of Barkley. My dad also lost a good smallmouth Thursday evening at the mouth of Kuttawa Harbor (she went around the motor and broke him off). Friday, we started off hitting some of the same main lake channel points with only 1 keeper largemouth and several short fish. The winds picked up, so we decided to go into Eddy Creek and fish channel banks. We caught two more keepers on cranks, 10-12 short bass, and several 5-6 lb drums on RR-4. When I hooked the first drum, I thought sure I had a huge smallmouth (hit right at the boat). Woke up to strong cold winds Saturday morning, so we decided to cut the trip a day short and head home, but not before hitting the island in the back of Popular Creek. We managed several short largemouth throwing x-rap and zoom jr. flukes (both in white), then the yellow bass showed up, so we took a couple more of those before loading up the boat. Not necessarily a great trip for catching, but had an excellent couple of days on the water with my dad and uncle (the memories & laughs will last longer than the # of keeper bass caught)…

pkfish

Almost forgot, all largemouth & smallmouth were released…
One more thing, Dave thanks for the spots you marked on my maps this summer. We caught several fish off those areas. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any luck on the flats.

[Devils Horse]

Thanks for taking the time to post your report.

[Dave Stewart]

Philip: Thanks for the report. If you read my last week's report I think you will find your trip pretty much mirrors my last few reports. Glad you had fun....it is always fun to get out with family.
Dave