Barkley 4/22--4/24 report

There should have been bass and crappie spawning everywhere they normally do------{not}---fished for both---backs of bays/coves---secondary points inside of coves,main lake points--brush piles 10-12 ft of water--fished banks---mud/rock with brush--seems to me that they are post spawn the way both species where acting---front did come through friday but not major---full moon last weekend---i was at a loss--i threw 20 different colored jigs---used live bait--fished with every lure i had in my box--well almost--lol---heres what was caught between 5 guys----1 2lb s/mouth on a gold shadrap----3/crappie-total on jigs--white/chtrse---1 4lb l/mouth--on dt6--old school color---and 1 striper on a white jig---thats only my 2nd trip to barkley--ist was as bad as the second---from now on ill go to kentucky lake-----later jc

Tough fishing this past weekend. High skies and post front fish.

Not 100% sure on Barkley but from the reports and guys I have talked to the spawn for crappie is not over on KY.

[QUOTE=smashdn;554821]Tough fishing this past weekend. High skies and post front fish.

Not 100% sure on Barkley but from the reports and guys I have talked to the spawn for crappie is not over on KY.[/QUOTE]

Sounds like everyone had a tough time.

We caught fish, but fished HARD.......very, very HARD. up by 4:00am , breakfast, on the water at first light, fish ALL day till dark..........

[QUOTE=GeoFisher;554828]Sounds like everyone had a tough time.

We caught fish, but fished HARD.......very, very HARD. up by 4:00am , breakfast, on the water at first light, fish ALL day till dark..........[/QUOTE]

It was the same weekend before last (4/16 - 4/17). I caught several bass Saturday but nothing to write home about and crappie were hard to come by as well. Sunday was one of the toughest bass fishing days in the spring I can remember. I boated one bass for about 10 hours on the water. I did run into some black crappie shallow late which was the only saving grace. Post frontal / high blue was really tough...

kc

Not sure about KY or Barkley but Barren could use a rain to color up the water some.

If TVA isn't going to let the grass grow then I see no reason for the big lakes to remain super clear.

We were on KY Lake 4/18 - 4/23. We had to work pretty hard for what we caught. Since we had awesome trips the past few years, I guess we were due.

Tues I only had 1 keeper. The other days I had 4 or 5 keepers. Never got a limit. Never got anything over 4.5 lbs.
We caught very few in the flowers. We got the vast majority on lead in banks and points in about 4' of water on a lizard. I even had two sauger, one drum, 2 smallmouth, and a catfish on the lizard.

I have never seen conditions look better. It was very frustrating.

On Barkley still. Fish 3 days in north Barkley and terrible! All largemouth 0,6,10,15,10 is was what we got the 1st 5 days. Today Tuesday we got first limit best 3 fish 3.2, 3.4, 5.3
What a crazy grind! Don't understand! So confused! Still fighting!
P.S. And everyone keeps saying lizards and I can't buy a bite on a lizard! Crawled, dragged, reeled and dead sticked. Nothing! Every size shape and color. Nothing!

[QUOTE=swimjigboy;554877]On Barkley still. Fish 3 days in north Barkley and terrible! All largemouth 0,6,10,15,10 is was what we got the 1st 5 days. Today Tuesday we got first limit best 3 fish 3.2, 3.4, 5.3
What a crazy grind! Don't understand! So confused! Still fighting!
P.S. And everyone keeps saying lizards and I can't buy a bite on a lizard! Crawled, dragged, reeled and dead sticked. Nothing! Every size shape and color. Nothing![/QUOTE]

Almost every fish on a lizard was a Zoom Magnum in pumpkin with a chartreuse tail or watermelon seed. Drag it as slow as your mind can tolerate. Super boring way to fish.

[QUOTE=Cheese;554883]Almost every fish on a lizard was a Zoom Magnum in pumpkin with a chartreuse tail or watermelon seed. Drag it as slow as your mind can tolerate. Super boring way to fish.[/QUOTE]

Yep, except zoom green pumpkin /purplel or green pumpkin/red.

and 6 inch lizard or brushhog, or superhog.

Later,

Geo

The struggle is real! We fished Kentucky 2 days last week and managed a limit both days. When I say limit I mean 15" fish on the nose! Couldn't find quality or or quantity. Just had to grind it out all day and look for scattered fish mostly. Did find a couple pockets that we managed to pull 4 or 5 fish out of, but elsewise, if you managed to catch one fish somewhere, you might as well move.

Fished Barkley on the 8th and only caught a few fish. Moved over to KY lake on the 9th and did much better. Still tough ended up with about 25 fish mostly caught on green watermelon zoom shakey heads fished really slow. Did manage to catch one off of the bed on the 9th. Fish Ky lake again on the 10th. Found a few spots that would hold a few fish. Many of our fish were in 10 ft of water but that was when we had a major cold front come through. They were ready to move up though. I would be fishing green pumpkin lizards. A little old but I hope that this information helps.