Lake Barkley help needed

I'll be visiting my brother stationed at Ft Campbell 3/8 - 3/12 and we plan to fish Lake Barkley.. I have a basstracker 40hp and hope the weather cooperates so we dont get too beat up.... We have never fished it and plan to put in at the state park near Cadiz, Little river area I believe.....I am usually a bass/crappie type guy but will go after what ever is biting....I seem to find a lot more info online for KY Lake than Barkley so I need some suggestions... What area should we fish and what baits work this time of year......
Thanks a ton, Steve....

It'll depend a lot on water temp. The lake will still be at winter pool then. I'd be thinking main lake and secondary points with jerkbaits for bass.

Suspending jerkbaits, jigs and shakey heads on the main lake points and rip rap near the mouths of the bays. I have had some reports this past week of Crappie being taken in 12-15 ft of water around brush piles near the mouths of the creeks and bays on small jig/minnow combinations fished vertically over the brush. As mentioned before....the lake will be at or near winter pool so when you get outside the navigation bouys be careful...Barkley can eat your boat.

I live down here at Ft Campbell too. Of course Dave knows what he is talking about fishing Barkley. If I were you I would fish the southern end. Put in down near Bumpis Mills. If you leave Little River and go out onto Barkley at Cadiz, it can be ruff. That is about the widest place on Barkley. If you go down HWY 79 and put in at Bumpis or in Dover, I think you would have a lot more fun, and the lake is a lot easier to navigate. I will be going out this Friday. Feel free to email me, and I could show you or your brother around the local waters next weekend, or give you a local update.

Shawn Mertens
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Thanks Shawn, you might know my brother, he is a Blackhawk crew chief in the 160th, I used to work on Kiowa's myself.....I've been watching the water temps on the Army corp of eng site but I don't know where they got the temp from.....Does the temp at the southern end vary much from other parts of the lake? Also, which is better fishing, near the Bumpus Mills rec area or Dover? Where is the boat launch in Dover?

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Steve

Devil's Elbow is a tough one to beat! It's usually always good for a keeper or five......

[QUOTE=artcarney_agr;288572]Devil's Elbow is a tough one to beat! It's usually always good for a keeper or five......[/QUOTE]

SHHHHHH!! LOL!! The Elbow has been good for me just as it was for my dad back in the 70s and 80s.

Here's my 2 cents:

Barkley, Late March 2005. My partner decided to weld his bearings to the axles of his trailer. To make a long story short, We took his boat (smoking and squeling) up to the delership right off of 68 by the bridge in Canton. After dropping his boat off, we started talking to the guy at the dealership. We asked him If he had heard of any patterns etc. from the locals. He takes us "around back" to a freezer where he pulls 3 bass out. Two of them were 7 lbs and the other was a 5lbs. They were shrink wrapped and frozen solid.

Colonel Mustard with the Rattle Trap (Gold) at Ford's Bay.... He didn't specify if he caught them off secondary points or up in the "Mustard Flowers" ...