LBL Kayak Fishing & Camping trip

Looking to plan a fishing and camping trip at LBL this fall. I've backcountry camped in LBL before and camped lakeside, fishing from the bank, but this will be the first time taking kayaks. I have zero experience fishing KY/Barkley from the water, so if anyone could suggest a good bay to make base camp at, that would be awesome. Since the lakes are so huge, and being in kayaks, I'm assuming we'd fish in the same bay the whole trip, so bays that have a mixture of secondary points, grass flats or worthwhile structure would be nice. Any suggestions??

[QUOTE=GreenGhostMan;564153]Looking to plan a fishing and camping trip at LBL this fall. I've backcountry camped in LBL before and camped lakeside, fishing from the bank, but this will be the first time taking kayaks. I have zero experience fishing KY/Barkley from the water, so if anyone could suggest a good bay to make base camp at, that would be awesome. Since the lakes are so huge, and being in kayaks, I'm assuming we'd fish in the same bay the whole trip, so bays that have a mixture of secondary points, grass flats or worthwhile structure would be nice. Any suggestions??[/QUOTE]

Sugar Bay on Kentucky. Smith Bay on Kentucky. Both are reasonably easy to get to via a vehicle., and have a whole lot of water.

Ginger Bay too, but that is a little tougher. Pisqua is also a GREAT KY Lake bay, but has a gigantic campground there.


ON Barkley, the Devils Elbow area, and Fords Bay are nice, but Fords is kind of tough to get to.

All those bays are some of my go to spots in the area.....

[QUOTE=GeoFisher;564156]Sugar Bay on Kentucky. Smith Bay on Kentucky. Both are reasonably easy to get to via a vehicle., and have a whole lot of water.

Ginger Bay too, but that is a little tougher. Pisqua is also a GREAT KY Lake bay, but has a gigantic campground there.


ON Barkley, the Devils Elbow area, and Fords Bay are nice, but Fords is kind of tough to get to.

All those bays are some of my go to spots in the area.....[/QUOTE]

Awesome. Thank you for sharing!

There was one camping spot I went to with my wife several years ago that would be perfect but we were driving down road after road looking for a vacant spot at night and have no idea which bay it was. We had to cross a creek I believe. And the spot had a permanent primitive toilet nailed to three trees up the hill a lil ways behind the fire pit. The road followed the bay's creek before opening up to a small beach like area. Any idea which bay this could have been?

[QUOTE=GreenGhostMan;564165]Awesome. Thank you for sharing!

There was one camping spot I went to with my wife several years ago that would be perfect but we were driving down road after road looking for a vacant spot at night and have no idea which bay it was. We had to cross a creek I believe. And the spot had a permanent primitive toilet nailed to three trees up the hill a lil ways behind the fire pit. The road followed the bay's creek before opening up to a small beach like area. Any idea which bay this could have been?[/QUOTE]

Was there a boat ramp?

Sounds like Ginger Bay.

[url]https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ginger+Bay/@36.6284701,-88.0423907,14.94z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x887afd1b79eed7d3:0x463f0d98b8649352!8m2!3d36.6290637!4d-88.0381427[/url]

I'm not sure if a Word document attached to this message. If not, send me your email address and I can send it to you. I planned a spring camping and kayaking trip, and the Word doc is the plans for our group.

I agree with George about the destinations. My preferences in this order would be Ford's Bay on Lake Barkley, then Higgins and Sugar on Kentucky. If there's been rain, Ford's and Higgins become tough to get to, so Sugar is a great, reliable option. Lots of good fishing in any of these.

[QUOTE=eddie_m;564227]I'm not sure if a Word document attached to this message. If not, send me your email address and I can send it to you. I planned a spring camping and kayaking trip, and the Word doc is the plans for our group.

I agree with George about the destinations. My preferences in this order would be Ford's Bay on Lake Barkley, then Higgins and Sugar on Kentucky. If there's been rain, Ford's and Higgins become tough to get to, so Sugar is a great, reliable option. Lots of good fishing in any of these.[/QUOTE]

I was hoping you'd post something, I knew you had better info :)

[QUOTE=eddie_m;564227]I'm not sure if a Word document attached to this message. If not, send me your email address and I can send it to you. I planned a spring camping and kayaking trip, and the Word doc is the plans for our group.

I agree with George about the destinations. My preferences in this order would be Ford's Bay on Lake Barkley, then Higgins and Sugar on Kentucky. If there's been rain, Ford's and Higgins become tough to get to, so Sugar is a great, reliable option. Lots of good fishing in any of these.[/QUOTE]

DUDE that is a great report.......

[QUOTE=GeoFisher;564173]Was there a boat ramp?

Sounds like Ginger Bay.

[URL]https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ginger+Bay/@36.6284701,-88.0423907,14.94z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x887afd1b79eed7d3:0x463f0d98b8649352!8m2!3d36.6290637!4d-88.0381427[/URL][/QUOTE]

There may have been... I wasn't into fishing like I am now, so I didn't pay attention, but if there was one it was extremely rough. It wasn't a campground. Just a spot that people must frequent often.

[QUOTE=eddie_m;564227]I'm not sure if a Word document attached to this message. If not, send me your email address and I can send it to you. I planned a spring camping and kayaking trip, and the Word doc is the plans for our group.

I agree with George about the destinations. My preferences in this order would be Ford's Bay on Lake Barkley, then Higgins and Sugar on Kentucky. If there's been rain, Ford's and Higgins become tough to get to, so Sugar is a great, reliable option. Lots of good fishing in any of these.[/QUOTE]

Right on! Thank you for sharing.

I like sugar. Good campsites, decent vault toilet - it is also one of my top 5 fishing bays on either lake. It has good points, some drops and ledges in the mouth. But my favorite is getting back in the back of the bay in the shallows and hitting an early morning topwater bite. Kayak trips are I get in any more - busy camping with the kids. But sugar is one of my go to spots in a kayak.

[QUOTE=Col Forbin;564281]I like sugar. Good campsites, decent vault toilet - it is also one of my top 5 fishing bays on either lake. It has good points, some drops and ledges in the mouth. But my favorite is getting back in the back of the bay in the shallows and hitting an early morning topwater bite. Kayak trips are I get in any more - busy camping with the kids. But sugar is one of my go to spots in a kayak.[/QUOTE]

Well Hells Bells buddy, I thought you were dead and gone :) :).......obviously I'm glad you're not.

Are you still down there. If so, maybe you need to hookup with Eddie_M and myself for an afternoon down there the next time we're there........

You and Eddie will get along quite well :) .

[QUOTE=GeoFisher;564283]Well Hells Bells buddy, I thought you were dead and gone :) :).......obviously I'm glad you're not.

Are you still down there. If so, maybe you need to hookup with Eddie_M and myself for an afternoon down there the next time we're there........

You and Eddie will get along quite well :) .[/QUOTE]

Anytime. Life caught up with me for a few years (twins born 8 years ago) - so fishing moved way down the priority list. But we have a fenced in yard now, so I am free to go whenever. Just kidding - but I do have more time to get away now that they are getting older, and would love to catch up. Just let me know when you will be down this way - I'll buy dinner.

It's not primative, has rest rooms,and its easy to launch a boat, I havn't been there in over 10 years,but with a kayak,you may be able to have some excellent bass fishing.the back of the lake is weed choked, impossible to use a trolling motor in, but during the late fall before waterfowl refuge sets in, with flikes or sluggos, you might just have a blast.I used to fish a portea bote there and had no trouble limiting out on LMB, I used 20lb braid with a flouro leader.Our "roughing it" was a travel trailer.