Kentucky/Barkley Report dated May 20, 2007

[Dave Stewart]

There is a problem with the site software that is keeping me from posting my weekly report for the big lakes so here it is:

[FONT=Arial]April 20, 2007[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]Kentucky Lake: Water level at Ky Dam - 358.93 Surface Temperature - 57[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Lake Barkley: Water level at Barkley Dam - 359.05 Surface Temperatuer - 57[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial]Both lakes are at summer pool and are forecasted to rise a little more over the next two days. Overall the bass fishing was good this past week with a couple of slow days after the cold fronts that came through the area. We caught our first bass out of the mustard flowers this week, although the fish we were catching were the smaller buck bass, it is a great sign of things to come very soon. The bucks always show up first in the flowers so we can expect the bigger females to be not far behind. The better fish this week were still coming from lead in channel banks to the spawning flats. [/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial]Largemouth Bass: The Largemouth are being taken on creek channel banks and associated secondary points near the spawning areas. These fish are being taken on jigs, shakey head worms, spinnerbaits and medium running crankbaits. Some fish are being taken in the mustard flowers on Texas rigged lizards and creature baits, sinking worms and spinnerbaits. These shallow fish are just getting started and are mostly smaller fish but the larger fish should be in the flowers very soon. An increase in water temperature will be the trigger for better shallow water action.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial]Smallmouth Bass: The Smallmouth Bass are being taken on chunk rock creek channel banks near the mouths of the bays and on the main lake. These fish are on post spawn patterns and are taking jigs, grubs and tube jigs. The bite is slow.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial]Some of the productive lures this week are: Berkley shakey head worms and Zoom trick worms in green pumpkin, Last Cast jigs in green pumpkin with tiny paca craw trailer in green pumpkin, Hook Some Bass spinnerbaits in blue glimmer, Bandit crankbaits in rootbeer/chartruese, Rapala DT series crankbaits in bluegill and Hook Some Bass tubes in green pumpkin.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial]Crappie: The Crappie are being taken over brush piles in 9-12 ft of water by casting road runners and vertical jigging. A few shallow Crappie are being taken around stakebeds and brush in 4-6 ft of water early and late in the day. The deeper Crappie are the White Crappie that have yet to spawn. These fish should move shallow very soon as the water temperatures warm.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial]Bluegill/Shellcrackers: I have not received any reports on the bluegill or shellcrackers this week but I can tell you there are bluegills and shellcrackers shallow already. I noted a number of active bluegill beds yesterday on N. Barkley. They are chewing the tails off my lizards and baby brush hounds while we are bass fishing. Yesterday while on N. Barkley another bass angler caught a 2.3 lbs shellcracker while bass fishing on a shallow flat. I would check these fish out very soon if you are interested in catching some nice ones.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial]If you are in need of a guide for some fun bass fishing, tournament preparation, lake familiarization or technique instruction don't hesitate to give me a call or drop me a line. I have the following dates available:[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial]April: sorry I am booked up[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]May: sorry I am booked up[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]June: 3, 10, 17, 18, 23, 25, 29[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial]I have plenty of dates in July so just call me for information. If I am booked up on a date you want, you can call me to get a referral for another service, I don't mind at all.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial]I have had a number of folks wanting to know how to get in contact with the Last Cast lure company who is making the finesse jigs I am using this spring. Here is their website and phone number: [COLOR=#810081]www.lastcastbait.com[/COLOR] 317-835-2068.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]Captain Dave Stewart
[COLOR=#810081]www.kentuckylakeguide.com[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#0000ff][email protected][/COLOR]
270-354-5039
"Fish With a Professional"[/FONT]

[Fishin_4_Fun]

Must be a problem with the dates as well, unless you know this will happen on May 20th, LOL.

[Dizzle]

Dave,

Thanks for the report. This time next week, I hope to be pullin' some big'ens out of the mustard flowers.

BTW, I'll be puttin' em all back, I like to eat fish and all, but they don't taste better than a brat and hot mustard... hehe.

Any good areas to fish around Aurora?

[Dave Stewart]

Sorry about the date...obviously a typo on my part when trying to get the report out on time. Lots of good fishing around Aurora....just pick a creek and look for the flowers in the pockets and back....fish the flowers that are completly submerged for best results.

[Dave Stewart]

Peter got it fixed...report is up on the Kentucky Lake Reports board now. Thanks Peter.