Is Barren worth the drive from Lex?

Thinking about going to Barren this weekend coming up. Is it worth the drive? Or maybe should I go to Cumberland? Never been to Barren. Any info or insight would be greatly appreciated....

I have not fished Barren in 7 years since I found Barkley and KYL. That said, Barren used to be a very nice bass lake and much better then cumberland in my book. If I had to rate the Kentucky fisheries I'd list Barren #3. I don't count Dale as a Kentucky fishery. If I did, Barren would be #4.

I fished Barren hard yesterday (bass) from daybreak till 2:55pm. Had a few 10 inchers and a 2 pounder. That's it. Several other guys I know had similar results. Been the worst spring at Barren for me I can remember. The lake is I'd estimate still 6 or 7 ft above pool, but they're pulling it 6 or 7 inches a day.

What won the tournament Jim? I took the kids to Barkley none of mine or Rodney's kids had a keeper.
Living near cincinnati I have learned to fish 300 to 400 acre lakes. And I drool everytime I head south to fish my favorite lakes which are:

Ky. lake
Barkley
Barren

And I have to say Barren has been good to me so far this year... :)

Just need to seal the deal so i can get my boat so i learn these lakes better.... :)

it's as as good as any if you can find em,those in the know,excludes me,bring in 17-22lb bags on a regular basis,for avrage guys like me i can get agood bite today and next week get only slot size fish and think the goods all went to the woods,happens anywhere for me..in short the possibilty of it being worth the drive are very good,you can get hybrids too,or it can be a why did i drive that far for this...if you decide no on barren green has been good...

The fish on profile pic came out of Barren this spring....

Fished hard for 9 hours on Sat. we caught 1 keeper fish and several slot fish... Took almost 15 lbs to win the Fishin 4 Kids Tournament..... Then there was the Poor Boys Tournament on Sunday and it had a lot of local talent in it... Several teams skunked and took a little over 11 lbs to win it.

Heard the guys who won the USA Bassin tournament on Sat. had 22 lbs plus and then on Sunday in the Poor Boys tournament had a little over 7 lbs.

Every one I talk to says Barren is just plain tough right now with the lake being up so high....Maybe if it drops at least back down to summer pool it'll get half way better than it is right now.....

Myself I'd go to Nolin to fish before I'd go back to Barren......

Well Green was my other option. Honestly just never had any real good luck on Green.

If Green is the other option...

Our USA Bassin tournament on Saturday (26 April) took 14 and change to win. 16 teams, all but one weighed in fish. Most teams weighed in limits (I think 10 or 11 limits).

I didn't get a chance to find out what baits/locations won, but I'll happily share how we caught our limit. We came in 7th with 10 pounds. We focused on main lake broken rock and gravel banks and small cuts with isolated wood (lay-downs were best for us). We caught 8 keeper bass, only a couple of dinks, and a small (20-25 inch) Muskie. All fish were caught between 2 and 7 feet deep. Most bites were on a Watermellon baby brush hog texas-rigged with a 3/16 ounce bullet weight. Biggest keeper (2.70 pounds) came on a Shakey-head jig with 6" Roboworm. One other keeper was caught on a red crankbait (partner's gear, so I don't know the make/depth/etc).

We fished primarily between Ramp 1 and Holmes Bend. The bite for us was tough.

I know the biggest bass (5.23 pounds) was caught on a crankbait.

Good luck fishin!
Clint Cone
USA Bassin Green River Lake division director
[email protected]

KY or Dale are much better options right now. Barren is way over fished....you might consider Wed-Thurs for Barren.

[QUOTE=BassNNutt;324387]What won the tournament Jim? I took the kids to Barkley none of mine or Rodney's kids had a keeper.
Living near cincinnati I have learned to fish 300 to 400 acre lakes. And I drool everytime I head south to fish my favorite lakes which are:

Ky. lake
Barkley
Barren

And I have to say Barren has been good to me so far this year... :)

Just need to seal the deal so i can get my boat so i learn these lakes better.... :)[/QUOTE]

I'll tell you offline what it took to win, but it wasn't good. I believe what's gottem slowed down so bad is the Corps pulling it 6 or 7 inches a day trying to get it back down to summer pool. IMO, there's a bunch of confused, suspended bass in Barren right now. When the water stabilizes, so will the bite...

I hope thats the problem with Barren right now. I fished for 8 hours yesterday and had 1 bite. It was terriable. Then when I get back to the ramp I had to watch another weigh-in. 22 lbs. How in the world someone could catch that bag is beyond me. I threw everything I could think of, nothing. Feeling a little depressed after yesterday. Going to fish Taylorsville tuesday, that should help my confidence. LOL

Buckrub