March Fishing Trip

Hi everyone,

I've been thinking about going fishing and possibly camping this March with a friend. I go to school in the Chicago area, and get out of school for spring break March 19. I hear Kentucky is a great place to fish, but I have quite a few questions about a potential trip.

First of all, I'm not highly experienced. I've gone saltwater fishing probably 4 or 5 times and freshwater fishing probably the same amount, and my most recent fishing outing was a couple years ago in Northern Canada. I don't have my own rod and tackle on hand (all that's back home in California). So I'll need a place where it's not terribly difficult to rent all the gear I'll need to get going.

I don't have any exact timeframe in mind. I'm thinking anywhere from 4 days to a week plus travel time would do us well. I'd be open to moving from place to place if that would give me an opportunity to taste different flavors of fish/fishing styles. I think I'd lean towards staying at a lodge, though part of me might like to camp somewhere.

Basically, I'm very flexible. As far as a budget, I'd prefer to keep it somewhere in the $600-$900 range or below for lodging unless there's somewhere that warrants a higher price. I probably can't afford any fancy chartered outings, or at least not more than for a day.

To make things easy, here are the questions I could use answers to:

How's Kentucky fishing in mid/late March?
What kind of fish might I catch?
Am I better off going elsewhere (closer/further from Chicago, doesn't make a huge difference) at this time?
What lake/river should I look at?
Where specifically should I stay (keeping in mind I'll need a boat, fishing gear, etc.)?
How much will it cost me for a boat (I don't think I'll need a top of the line boat) and equipment?
Camping - good idea, bad idea? Stick with lodges/motels?
What other sites should I read? Any magazines/publications?
How's the weather? The temps look pretty decent in March, but should I worry about icestorms, etc?
What else is there to do other than fishing? We'd be interested in hiking, local history, or anything else.

Sorry for the long post. Any help at all would be a huge help!

Thanks a lot,
Justin

Justin,

Not sure I can help with all the questions, but a couple of excellent sites to check out are:

[url]http://www.kentuckylake.com[/url]
[url]www.kentuckylake.org[/url]
[url]www.explorekentuckylake.com[/url]

All three offer a lot of information, as well as lodging information and campgrounds.

As for camping, March can be cold. In March of '96 we had 36" of snow, but then I've seen February's where people are already mowing the lawns.

You can find a lot of pre-spawn large bass on Kentucky lake and Lake Barkley. These are two sister lakes connected by a canal. Kentucky lake extends down into TN, and is 120,000 plus acres, while Lake Barkley, which also extends into TN, is 65,000+ acres. KY Lake is generally clearer and has a better population of smallmouth than Barkley, and it is somewhat older and most fishing is done off shore.

These two lakes are flood control, but only drop 5 feet from summer to winter pool. They should both still be lower than summer pool in March, but you can easily find flooding situations that will have you fishing the flooded buckbrush and flooded grass. There is a Yellow Flower (Mustard plant I believe) pattern that is generally good in the spring. Fish the flooded yellow flower bushes for some very nice largemouths.

I'm not sure of any places that rent high performance bass boats, or tackle for that matter, but most of the marinas and the state lodges do rent aluminum boats with small motors.

I'm no help at all with the eastern KY lakes, like Cumberland and Dale Hollow. THese lakes are highland type resivoirs with deep clear water.

Good luck,

Danny

Your best bet is to hook up with a guide to take you out fishing and I second Danny's choice of KY/Barkley lakes. March can be a great time to fish for bass and crappie in KY. There are plenty of guides on those lakes and they charge $200 - $250 per day but they supply the boat, the tackle, they put you on fish, and teach you how to catch them. Dave Stewart is a guide who frequents this board and is wonderful to go out with. Plus both lakes have tons of places to stay reasonably and a guide could recommend places to stay.

kc