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im gonna be fishing the ohio river in july. i have only fished the smithland pool area. so my question is, is there a good spot located near this ramp to get a good bag of bass. i have a smaller boat and going to be competing against guys that can run to lusk creek, kentucky lake and lake barkley. my boat will run about 30-35mph.
I fished the BFL regional at Paducah last fall, and my impression was that there wasn't a lot to bass fish right near the ramp. There are a lot of barges, riprap, and industrial type stuff along the river, but the only fish I caught around them were non-keeper spots. There are several islands just upriver from the ramp where the Tennessee river meets the Ohio. One place I caught some keeper bass in practice was the Clarks River. It is a tributary to the Tennessee River about 5 miles up from the Paducah ramp. There are cypress trees and some stumps along the bank from the mouth to about a mile up the creek.
One word of caution about fishing that area in a small boat is the barge traffic. I fish the Ohio River a lot along the Indiana-Kentucky border, but I have never seen that many barges in my life. Also, be carefull of the dam just down river from Paducah. It is not marked very well (there are several bouys, but thats all I remember seeing) and there is no structure above the water like Smithland, so it sneaks up on you, especially if it is foggy.
With a small boat I would stick to the clarks river as mentioned above or go up the Ohio towards Smithland to Cotton Wood Bar....Its on the IL side about half way to the dam.
If the river was up and the wickets were DOWN at Brookport Lock and Dam 52 I would go that way but if your not familiar with that area then I would stay away because that dam can be very dangerous if your not familiar with how it works.
But then again if the river is up around the 20-22ft stage @ Paducah, then i'd ease into Allard Lake if you dont mind a scratch or two.
Most River Tournaments dont allow locking into KY/Barkley...At least local ones dont.
I have a tournament there in July I think too....