Barkley

Okay people i need a little help. I fished Barkley for the first time in a small club tourney this past weekend. I fished for two days, Barkley does not like me is all I will say about that because it was all but embarrassing. A couple did worse than i did was the only thing that kept me from going and hiding somewhere during the weigh in.

I had planned all spring and summer to get with Dave Stewart, Dave everyone tells me your the best around as well as a friend of mine that has fished with your several times, but things that I will not go into caused me to think I would miss both Tourneys until two weeks ago. So i missed my chance to hire Dave to prepare me for this tourney which i will know better next time.

Anyway I have another tourney this weekend Saturday and Sunday out of Kuttawa and I am asking for any information or help anyone can give me if they do not mind sharing

If you do not wish to post it you can e-mail it to me at [email][email protected][/email]

Thanks for any information

I fish Kentucky lake alot more than Barkley, but I might be able to point you in the right direction. Seeing as how you don't have time to go out and find some ledges before this weekend, I'd advise that you try and catch the fish on their fall pattern (which, from reading some fishing reports has in fact started). Fish the heck out of the main lake and secondary points. Shallow, mid (my favorite) and deep diving crankbaits in pearch color (or any color you have confidence in). Also try a black and blue jig, chatterbait and spinnerbait. And, as always on that lake, have a carolina rig ready. Basically, I'd just hop from one point to another until I found the fish.

I would totally agree with that pattern this time of year. The only time I run to the back of a creek in the fall is to fish grass beds close to wood docks. They are sometimes tough to find but if you happen onto a couple they can be productive. Also the chatterbait has really fallen off for me in the last month. I think I would fish a tex rig baby brush hog in green pumpkin or tube (same color). Good luck to you.

I was on KY & Barkley all last week, I will say I did not set the lake on fire catching fish. I did find good Bass on top water early using the Lucky Craft SAMMY, I also spoke to a few guys and they were catching fish in or near shad moving into the creeks on Rattle Traps. I also had a couple on Jigs half way back in the bays.
Good Luck

Read Dave Fishing Report on this site for bait color

Greg Paschal

Mark
Thanks for the kind words. Maybe we can hook up sometime in the future for a tourney prep or one of the other type trips I do. Be careful this weekend....present wind forecast for tomorrow is 20-30 from the south...Saturday 18 from the South Southwest. The shallow bite should be good this weekend if you can get to the good spots for it. It was good this morning...had around 10-12 nice fish and a number of short fish on topwater...they were still biting on and off when we left them. If you check the results from the BFL tourney here last weekend you will see that it was a tough weekend on a lot of folks.

Dave

Yea i knew it was rough all over the lake. There were several tourneys that I know of an they all had trouble. Out of 5 two day tourneys I know of ours had the most weight with 16+ lbs with one of the other over 10 lbs the other three did not even reach 10 lb.

With the weather being what it is for the weekend it may be tougher than last weekend.

Thanks a lot for the information and we will get together one of the days.

I have one word for you:

SHAD, SHAD, SHAD, SHAD !!!!


Fished the BFL last weekend as a co-angler. My partner didn't want to chase the shad, but that was the key to catching fish! I fished a different style than him from the back of the boat (making long casts across the flats to the shad schools) while he beat the bank. Needless to say, he zeroed while I had two keepers. Probably could have caught more, but we were only in productive water for a short period of time. The Rattle Trap worked early, but as the day went on, the fish started just following the bait to the boat. Put on a Bagley and stuck one on the second cast. Then, the fish started just following the bait back to the boat again (big ones too, 4 lbs +). Tried all I knew to get that crankbait bite fine tuned(downsized, different colors, different retrieve, etc.) but they kept on following and not hitting.

My advice to you would be to pick the most productive bay you know. Go all the way to back (and I mean ALL the way)and just start fishing your way back out using small cranks or a Rattle Trap. Keep your eyes open and your senses alert! If you find shad fish 'em!

Shhhh....your giving away my best fall pattern...lol. Next time they start that following put the crankbait down and pick up a spinnerbait and slow roll it.

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU FOR THE HELP!!!!

I will let you know how it comes out.

Shouldn't you be out on the water today? A little rain, thunder and high wind never stopped anybody. Uh, just kidding. I bet that lake is one nasty place to be today.

BTW, I'm still gloating over our victory a few weeks ago. LOL

PS - We need to hook up when those smallies move shallow in a few weeks.

SHHHH...Now Dave, now your giving away my fall pattern....One suggestion, pull out those big ole colorado blades and put them on. Make that blade beat like a baby huey chopper...

Skeeter

fall fishing and Barkley, sigh...... I love it sooo much.