Best lake???

I am looking to buy a cabin or Lake House for now and retirement in the future but want to find a good all around fishing lake.
I have always fished Ky. lake and Cumberland. Ky Lake is too far for weekend trips and Cumberland is more of a party lake for 5 months so I'm looking elsewhere and I'm sure this will be the best place to get good information.

I'm looking at Rough, Barren, Nolin, and Herrington. Striprers would be nice but primarily looking for a good solid Bass, Crappie, Redear and Catfish lake and pretty much in that order if I could have a dream lake. I appreciate your suggestions and recommendations. Thanks Tech

Barren, Green, or Nolin woul all be pretty good choices. At Barren you can chase hybrids, at Green you can chase musky. Nolin seems to get crazy boat traffic for such a narrow lake on the weekends but there look to be a lot of lakefrontish properties around the lake where you could have your own personal dock. Green doesnt have any lakefront properties so you would have to trailer your boat every trip. Itd all be about what suits your preferences

Thanks F I L
I think I bought some FnF jigs from you a few years ago.

Talking to some people at work and they said I shouldn't narrow my search to 4 lakes so I guess I'm open to anything within 3 hours of me. I live in southern Indiana close to the river between Cincy and Louisville. So if anyone knows of a good fishing lake that they would recommend That would be great. Thanks again T

I would 2nd the motion for Barren. I live close to Rough - it's a smaller lake, get's pounded, and I would rate the fishing at a C+. Barren gets its fair share of fishing pressure for sure, but some how manages to keep producing on a consistent basis. Plus, Glasgow continues to grow and would offer almost anything you would need and Bowling Green is just a short drive.

Central Ky. often gets overlooked as a retirement area for fishing. Ky. Lake and Barkley are known by fishermen from all over the United States so they typically get more attention. I feel fortunate to live near Green River Lake, however Barren River Lake is my favorite body of water...even though I do love Green.

Reading the criteria you listed I would say Barren is your best choice. It has property that is located right on the lake with private docks. It has a healthy population of Bass, Crappie and Catfish. It does not have strippers but it does have hybrid strippers. If you wanted to pursue a pure stripe bass Lake Cumberland is not that far away. I would guess about 1hr15 minutes pending where you were located in Barren County. To the best of my knowledge you would have to go to Dale Hollow to find Redear.

The best part of central KY is if you live in the right area there is several lakes that are within 1-1.5 hrs. away. Lets say you choose to live at Barren River Lake. Green, Nolin, Rough, Cumberland and Dale Hollow are within an easy drive.

[QUOTE=R19;524176]Central Ky. often gets overlooked as a retirement area for fishing. Ky. Lake and Barkley are known by fishermen from all over the United States so they typically get more attention. I feel fortunate to live near Green River Lake, however Barren River Lake is my favorite body of water...even though I do love Green.

Reading the criteria you listed I would say Barren is your best choice. It has property that is located right on the lake with private docks. It has a healthy population of Bass, Crappie and Catfish. It does not have strippers but it does have hybrid strippers. If you wanted to pursue a pure stripe bass Lake Cumberland is not that far away. I would guess about 1hr15 minutes pending where you were located in Barren County. To the best of my knowledge you would have to go to Dale Hollow to find Redear.

The best part of central KY is if you live in the right area there is several lakes that are within 1-1.5 hrs. away. Lets say you choose to live at Barren River Lake. Green, Nolin, Rough, Cumberland and Dale Hollow are within an easy drive.[/QUOTE]

If im looking for a retirement lake to buy a house on No doubt it will be ky lake i will be buying a house there in 10 or so years. If im going to buy a home for fishing and retirement its going to be on the two greats lakes in ky. I will drive the extra miles to fish the weekend cause i do it now. You can not beat them lakes. No matter what weekend it is its never to busy to fish!!!!! Not like the local lakes. I lived on nolin for 17 years and would never do it again. Thats a fact...

I agree that KY Lake or Barkley would be a nice option as a retirement place. However his options were Nolin, Rough, Barren or Herrington with lake front property, good bass, crappie, catfish and readear. Hands down Barren is the better options of those lake. There are no readear on any of those lakes but of the one's he is looking at Barren is the better fishery. Plus it is located in the part of the state that is a short drive to the other lakes he mentioned plus a few other lakes.

Great information guys and Thank You very much. Sounds like it's an obvious choice and look forward to learning more about Barren. Thinking now in terms of a weekend and vacation spot but as you point out in the future I'll be close to a lot of great fishing. I'm a Hoosier with Kentucky blood pulling me back! Buddies think I'm nuts but I think y'all understand.

Thanks again for your help and hope to be able to meet you all some day. Tech

Ky Lake or Lake Barkley and I'm basing that off of what you mentioned as your preferred species to target. I'm a redear nut myself and we're sniffing around Barkley for property right now. No way could I afford a place on the water, they're running 250 Grand and above but I could afford a place several miles off of the water and that would suit me fine.

I live in Southern Indiana across from Louisville and it's a three hour drive for us to Barkley, that's going 75mph. That lake has ruined me, it's catfish, crappie, bass and redear PARADISE!

I thought about Barren, Green and Rough but the deal breaker for me is that those lakes aren't redear lakes...just takes them off the map for me. Dale Hollow apparently has a thriving redear population and Cumberland just received redear fingerlings like three years ago so I'd expect them to take off in there too.

[QUOTE=redearhoosier;524229]Ky Lake or Lake Barkley and I'm basing that off of what you mentioned as your preferred species to target. I'm a redear nut myself and we're sniffing around Barkley for property right now. No way could I afford a place on the water, they're running 250 Grand and above but I could afford a place several miles off of the water and that would suit me fine.

I live in Southern Indiana across from Louisville and it's a three hour drive for us to Barkley, that's going 75mph. That lake has ruined me, it's catfish, crappie, bass and redear PARADISE!

I thought about Barren, Green and Rough but the deal breaker for me is that those lakes aren't redear lakes...just takes them off the map for me. Dale Hollow apparently has a thriving redear population and Cumberland just received redear fingerlings like three years ago so I'd expect them to take off in there too.[/QUOTE]

Im not a redear fisherman so take this for what its worth. Last year on Dale Hollow i was playing around with an underwater camera as we came up a drop onto a point. The camera is in the form of a bluegill. I couldnt figure out why i wasnt seeing any fish until i spun the camera. There were 1000s (im not exagerating) of redear staring at the camera. It was one of the most unbelievable sights ive ever seen. If id had a slip bobber and a nightcrawler theres no telling how many could have been caught. They were in roughly 20ft suspended off the side of the point

Thanks so much for all of the great and detailed feedback. I put Redear in my request as I love to catch them but where you find good Redear, there is usually good bluegill fishing and I can definetly live with that. Thanks again guys and if I can ever help you out... Don't hesitate to ask and hope to see you on the lake sometime!!! Tech