Help on Bluegill and Redear at KY and Barkley

OK guys, I have a guy coming down in a couple weeks and he is from Wisconsin......he LOVES gills and redear, and has been reading about how KY lake grows monsters.

Problem is.......I've never not once targeted them. Heck I don't target them around here.

Now, I know they are on or going on the nest, and I'm assuming big males are quite fine taking that way.

Another problem.......how do I tell.........

Final problem.........where do I fish for them. I'm assuming shallow 4-6 feet, north shores, out of the way, protected type pockets.....

Any help would be greatly appreciated guys.

Later,

Geo

Get a pair of decent polarized glasses and cruise the banks looking for the circular beds they're known for making. Start in your favorite bass bay and just cruise the banks until you find the beds. The males are very colorful and will pee on you when caught. The females are generally pale and swollen in the belly.

I fished 8 hours today and caught a mess of bluegill and a few catfish. I saw some areas where the males are just now building beds. Corners of pockets and coves are great areas for bedding fish. I didn't catch one redear, I was bummed about that. I hope their numbers are ok. Hope this helps.

BTW, I use redworms pretty much exclusively.

[QUOTE=GeoFisher;568547]OK guys, I have a guy coming down in a couple weeks and he is from Wisconsin......he LOVES gills and redear, and has been reading about how KY lake grows monsters.

Problem is.......I've never not once targeted them. Heck I don't target them around here.

Now, I know they are on or going on the nest, and I'm assuming big males are quite fine taking that way.

Another problem.......how do I tell.........

Final problem.........where do I fish for them. I'm assuming shallow 4-6 feet, north shores, out of the way, protected type pockets.....

Any help would be greatly appreciated guys.

Later,

Geo[/QUOTE]


Geo,

Where to start -- I have caught bluegills on the lakes for years and years and yes they should be getting serious about spawning over the next couple of weeks. 2 weeks out might be a little late for the readear as I believe they tend to spawn a little earlier than bluegills but guys who really target them might weigh in more on timing. I caught a nice female Saturday on a gravel flat on Ky that was full of eggs and may have been up on that flat thinking spawn although we didn't find any others there. I am just an opportunistic angler who always has an ultralight rod on hand with some kind of small jig tied on and I have found bluegills on the nest will readily bite a teeny 1" tube jig fished on 4 lb line. The nests are a little shallower than you might think - I would say more like 1.5" to 3" -- maybe a shade deeper on Ky and redear a shade deeper although some times I find them nesting side-by-side. I find the nests up on the same spawning flats in the creeks and cuts you would look for bass and when you find a bluegill nest often they will be there every year. So other than remembering where I have found nests in the past I just keep my eyes open when around the spawning flats and often you can see them -- the females and staging males will be loitering and just under the surface just adjacent to the nest or you can see mud stirred up around the nest areas or even individual fish moving in a quick circle around the nest as they chase something away. That's when I'll pick up the weeny rod and see what's going on. But once you find a nest you can usually take several to dozens from that one spot. Just like on my bass fishing I have evolved to release the larger ones caught as I firmly believe that does much to maintain the size and vitality of the fishery. I also don't like the thought of wiping out a nest so I will release some and/or move off of them rather than just keep sitting on them. There is always another nest waiting to be found...

kc

A good spot at barkley. There was a bridge that used to cross the lake, there is a good boat ramp across from energy lake, It's probably 3/4 of a mile down to the main lake. The right shore line has several small areas that hold fair blue gill and close to the bridge the redears are more abundant. Dont over look thespotted bass. I caught about 15 one day fishing the bridge area, They ran around 10 inches, and there was no size limit, and they are very good eating. A shellcracker finds it hard to resist a half a night crawler. The large red worms work well also. I used to just head hook the red worms, and have just about caught anything that swims on the head hooked worms. I wouldn't fish much deeper than 10 ft for the pan fish. Since i used only a long ultra light rod, a small split shot worked well for me. I used 10 lb braid, and a flouro leader. My preference was a size 6 wire hook, and many times would go downto a size 8.

I had a very good electric anchor on the nose of my boat, it could hold in moderate wind, while I enjoyed my auto pilot, I also had a rear mounted electric motor, I could use it to move an anchored boat a a moderate arc. Now anchors are expensive, and they get snagged often, I used cement blocks and carried several of them with me. I used this to fish the windy points, where the wave action drew some good fish closer to shallow water. A small winch is a wste of time,because some times you'd need a long anchor line to hold you. Anchors are a good fishing tool and there many ways to use them, no it's not glamerous, but man it worked for me.

[QUOTE=GeoFisher;568547]OK guys, I have a guy coming down in a couple weeks and he is from Wisconsin......he LOVES gills and redear, and has been reading about how KY lake grows monsters.

Problem is.......I've never not once targeted them. Heck I don't target them around here.

Now, I know they are on or going on the nest, and I'm assuming big males are quite fine taking that way.

Another problem.......how do I tell.........

Final problem.........where do I fish for them. I'm assuming shallow 4-6 feet, north The shores, out of the way, protected type pockets.....

Any help would be greatly appreciated guys.

Later,

Geo[/QUOTE]

Along with what you mentioned about check out the botto type. They need to make a nest that will not cave in on the eggs. And the soil has to be soft enough for the males to sweep out a depression for the eggs. So try to focus on the soil type along with the other factors.

Also under Willow trees along the shorelineis a good year round spot for bluegills. When the Mayflies hatch the Bluegills and other sunfish will be on them hard. There are a lot of bugs that fall off the Weeping Willow Trees.

The shape of panfish tells me that they like to swim around wood and objects. I was taught this in my Purdue Fish Class. Fish shapes determine their nitch in the Environment. Pike like open water and their long shape is designed for straight line speed but not turning. Bluegill and Crappie like the safety of wood as they can turn really fast in amount the branches. Where as larger fish can't turn as quickly. So the panfish feel safer around the wood stick ups. Panfish also feed on bottom dwellers that prefer certain types of soils or bottom.

Once you located the spawning beds you can fish them next year if the water levels are not drastically different. Live Crickets, works, bee moths are great baits for bluegills and crappie.

ever think about dale? good gill and some shell crackers,and there is ery little boat travel.Right there in the launch area at the state dock, on the east shore there are a few good areas, the water drops off, there are some deep weeds,I've caught a lot of gills that are 7" inches and a few better. Across from the launch there is a channel that runs to the Tn side, Stay on the east side of the channel, there are weedbeds all over and some good deep water fishing for shell crackers and gills.Get a hold of rick hise maybe hell even lend you a few dozen alewives. He also can let you in some of good pan fish sites on dale, the spawning should almost be over,but that area near the state dock has some very good pan fish.but the boat traffic is a birch, Since I lived close to dale and cumberland and I liked to eat fish, I did a fair amount of gill fishing, Sometimes I'd go twice a day, once for eaters and then some bass or stripers, or even stay closer to home and go trout fishing.

[QUOTE=kygorski;568585]A good spot at barkley. There was a bridge that used to cross the lake, there is a good boat ramp across from energy lake, It's probably 3/4 of a mile down to the main lake. The right shore line has several small areas that hold fair blue gill and close to the bridge the redears are more abundant. Dont over look thespotted bass. I caught about 15 one day fishing the bridge area, They ran around 10 inches, and there was no size limit, and they are very good eating. A shellcracker finds it hard to resist a half a night crawler. The large red worms work well also. I used to just head hook the red worms, and have just about caught anything that swims on the head hooked worms. I wouldn't fish much deeper than 10 ft for the pan fish. Since i used only a long ultra light rod, a small split shot worked well for me. I used 10 lb braid, and a flouro leader. My preference was a size 6 wire hook, and many times would go downto a size 8.[/QUOTE]

Very good info..........Thanks..........

I think I know where you are talking about :) ,

[QUOTE=kygorski;568590]ever think about dale? good gill and some shell crackers,and there is ery little boat travel.Right there in the launch area at the state dock, on the east shore there are a few good areas, the water drops off, there are some deep weeds,I've caught a lot of gills that are 7" inches and a few better. Across from the launch there is a channel that runs to the Tn side, Stay on the east side of the channel, there are weedbeds all over and some good deep water fishing for shell crackers and gills.Get a hold of rick hise maybe hell even lend you a few dozen alewives. He also can let you in some of good pan fish sites on dale, the spawning should almost be over,but that area near the state dock has some very good pan fish.but the boat traffic is a birch, Since I lived close to dale and cumberland and I liked to eat fish, I did a fair amount of gill fishing, Sometimes I'd go twice a day, once for eaters and then some bass or stripers, or even stay closer to home and go trout fishing.[/QUOTE]

I fish dale a whole lot in the winter and spring.......I've never fished for gills or crappie there though. Maybe......

Thanks.

Geo .... as I understand it, Redear spawn in slightly deeper water than Bluegill, and sometimes may even be just outside of a Bluegill nesting site in that deeper water.

You might also watch this video & take notice of how they're fishing, and what with : [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzgk8tmkF9g[/url] (the little 4legged black bug w/yellow stripes & legs with a piece of worm on the hook)

And I've also heard from a reliable source that some Redear are still on the nest at Barkley, and some near 2lb fish have been caught (just outside of the buck bushes (Button Bushes).

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Now, me personally ... I've only targeted Redear a few times at Cedar Creek Lake, and the best luck I've had was with a black jighead & the brown (head) end of a nightcrawler threaded on the hook. They musta thought it was a snail of some kind ... ????? And it seemed like every time I used the white (tail) end of the nightcrawler, I'd catch Bluegill more often than not. I was doing that long before the KY Afield episode was shown, and it only affirmed that I was using the right stuff (or close to it).

Your next "Good" spawning period should be towards the end of the month, since the next Full Moon comes on the 29th.

Since I can't fish anymore or anyl less anymore. Dale is little reported crappie hole, thats almost a local secret, I've caught bunch of them over 15 inches trolling small cranks.the secret is using smaller shiners, abiut3 inches long or small alewives, sulpher creek on the west shore in the flooed timber can be dynomite.The size limit of 10 inches is almost ignored because many of slabs are over a ft long.

I think Dale Hollow is a redear gem but it flies under the radar. I've never fished it but I have cruised the internet looking for information and it seems like a good bluegill/redear lake.

Lake Cumberland is another lake that they finally stocked with redear. I would imagine that Cumberland could be a redear trophy fishery in the future. It was stocked about 7 years ago, they should be fully grown. Anyone ever catch redear on Cumberland? It's the Cumberland River just like Lake Barkley.