Night fishing on Barkley .

[samuel]

I am heading down to barkley to do some night fishing the fourth of july weekend. Have never fished there before at night. Fishing little river area. Do you have any suggestion's.Do you have to leave your lights on while fishing along the bank's. Thanks inadvance.

[SlopFishin]

Unless you want to get run over, I'd advise you to leave your light on. Plus, I think it might be the law.

[kc]

Barkley is not my first choice for night fishing but you can catch fish there at night. I usually fish KY at night and Barkley by day. That said being near the state park there are some decent areas to fish. Concentrate on deeper rocky banks and points and you should be able to catch fish. One good thing about that part of Barkley is you don't have to be too careful running the lake at night.

As far as lights go, if I am out in the lake fishing a hump or way out a point I leave my lights on. If I am on the bank fishing close I don't. But I do turn on my lights when I hear a boat approaching.

kc

[fishboy]

I am glad everyone thinks the fishing is better on KY than Barkley....just more great fishin' for me.Ha Ha....really though the fishing has been pretty darn good on both lakes right now..night and day. I may be wrong but I think it is the law to keep the lights on, but I don't have the regulations right in front of me. Will You be night fishing alone? I will down there in the same area and might want to join you. My wife loves to bass fish but just can't get her to take to night fishing.

Happy Fishin'
Leave your Mark...Not a Stain!

[Danny]

Kyle, sent you a message dude.

Let me know.. talk later.

Danny

[charlie1]

I don't know about Kentucky, but in Tennessee you will be written up for not having your anchor light on (if you ever see a TWRA guy at night, that is.) It is comman practice for guys tied to the bank to turn off their lights (bugs and vision, you know) and turn them on when a boat is approaching, but it is illegal. I have been ticked off a few times though when I drove all the way across the lake to fish a spot thinking nobody was on it until I got within slowing down distance and THEN the lights come on. Oh well! One other thing happened to me several years ago also. I was fishing right on a point, tied to the bank with my light off. I laid down to sleep for a minute and the next thing I hear is a couple of guys wearing me out over not having my lights on. The wave action had untied my boat from the tree and I had floated out into the cove about 100 feet. It has never happened again. I could have killed them or me. Another reason I am so adamant about safety outh there at night. I've BEEN there may times.

[the_donger]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jun-22-06 AT 10:24PM (EST)[/font][p]Page 38 of the Kentucky Sport Fishing and Boating Guide - "From sunset to sunrise in an area where other boats navigate, all vessels shall display a steady white light visible 360 degrees at all times. Manually propelled vessels shall carry a white light to display in sufficient time to avoid a collision."

So, yes it is the law in Kentucky to have a light on after dark at all times if you have a motor on your boat.

The edit was changing from "sunrise to sunset" to "sunset to sunrise". Thanks for the heads up on my typing mistake.

[kc]

Pretty vague meaning the way that passage is written. First off "from sunrise to sunset" sounds like we need running lights during the day but I am sure they mean the opposite. Second "where boats navigate" is the one I always key on. If I am fishing close to aa bank I don't fear boats navigating (running) very close to me because if so they may run into the bank. If I get out in the lake where boats may truly run then I heed the regulation (plus it is common sense). This is one of those discussions no one will completely agree on but I do not like fishing the bank with my running lights on. Same reason I don't fish a black light -- I don't want to tip the fish off that I am there until they feel the steel in their jaw.

kc

[Viking]

Samuel, You can safely night fish on the western side of Barkley. You will be in a secondary channel, good fishing-less boats.
Charlie, You cannot always depend on your hearing an approaching boat. One night we were sitting in the middle of Kentucky Lake with no lights on when we noticed a small red light comming right at us. It looked weird because it was high up. That SAILBOAT barely missed us.