Week at Ky and Barkley

[elnutsmalljaws]

Back from a week at Ky and Barkley and can absolutely say the Largemouth Bass Population is alive and well at both lakes. Fished Sunday thru Friday and had a wonderful time with Chunknwind, aka Cliff. Went down and stayed at a resort right on the water and got a chance to ride in his Brand New Triton, really nice boat by the way. I would like to publicly thank Cliff for setting up the arrangements and getting me down there for a week that I really needed. It was really nice to fish out of the back of the boat for a change and not worry about the trolling motor at all, especially in the Hurricane Winds that we fished thru at times.

Sunday started out tough being the second high blue sky day in a row and the fish were not co-operating at all. If it were not for a monster bluegill that decided to swallow my floating bubble gum worm, we both would have skunked fishing South Kentucky. Tried several things and just could not get a bite but that is fishing. Wind hammered us during our runs in between stops and my freshly repaired hernia was feeling the effect. We went back to the condo for lunch around 2pm and that was it for me for my stomache had enough. Chunk went out and fished to dark with still no luck.

Monday fished the same general areas but had a little cloud cover and had a better day with Chunk landing a really nice 5-6 lb Greenfish that was just as fat and full of eggs as she could be. We had a much better day than Sunday with 4 total keepers out of the bunch, but the wind and skies still hurt us a bit.

Tuesday had about the same type of day as Monday but no 5-6 landed this day. Tried different spots and techniques but to not much avail. I think we were fishing too shallow and it cost us some fish but changes were in the works after I spoke to Dave Stewart and he said North Barkley we pretty good

Wednesday and Thursday, trailered and drove 30 miles north each day and we fished North Barkley to a couple of the best days I have ever and the best days we have ever had on the water. Landed between 35-40 each day with 18 keepers on Wednesday and 12 keepers on Thursday with the best 5 going about 16 lbs or a bit better each day. Each day we had our opportunities to catch several more fish and should have had probably 50 each day but things happen. Never did find any big mommas but had 30 at least that went 15-18" apiece. Fished the same patterns and same 2 main areas each day with the same results. Patterns were flipping Buck Brush that had deeper water (3-4 feet) on the outside edge and soft plastics in the mustard flowers that were under water. The Buck Brush pattern defineately produced the larger fish and we found 2 particular coves full of what we were looking for but the wind was killing us. We would get 3-4 casts going down wind into one side and then had to keep the trolling motor at 75% to move an inch on the other. We caught (Mainly Cliff caught) and missed several fish but the wind would not let us do much either day. We both think these 2 coves are absolutely loaded with bigger fish and know we left some MOMMAS behind but neither of us are experienced or good enough to know how to fish these effectively in 2-3 foot rollers. If the wind dies down on these particular two coves, I know a big sack could be taken by flipping.

Friday, we decided to not fish North Barkley ( where 80 or so hd been landed the 2 days prior) to fish South Ky again in search of a trophy. Went back to the same cove where the 5-6 was landed and caught many fish but the size was not the same as North Barkley. Boated 31 fish before lunch but only 6 were keepers. Fished the lead in banks and points trying to catch the trophy but never got the big girl. Took out around 2pm due to the wind hammering from the West and we were fishing the LBL side of KY, plus the fact that NOBODY works on Friday's anymore and the lake was full of boats. I can only imagine what the weekends at Ky and Barkley are like this time of the year if it was that busy on Friday. So bad that we were fishing this one bank and a boat comes hammering in and drops the trolling motor LESS THAN 30 YARDS IN FRONT OF US. I yell out to him that he is not about to fish this bank right in front of us as he says NO, then sits out in the middle as we make a few more cast coming towards him and then he says that he will just go back to the other side to his house on the lake. I don't give a **** if he has a house on the lake, with how many acres to fish, how many miles of water to fish and you want to cut right in front of us by 30 yards. If you are reading this, and I hope you are, you are a MORAN!!!!!

Basically Chunk caught fish on Cranks, Spinners and Soft Plastics while Soft Plastics was pretty much all I threw. Deep Buck Brush produced the overall average better fish, lead in bank on the creek side channel produced the biggest fish of the week (Crankbait) and the flowers produced about a million Bucks between 14-18 inches long. I went with 2 fully stocked tackle boxes and 6 rods and could have taken 1 rod with braid, 1 rod with 12lb Flouro, a pack of 3/8 oz and a pack of 3/16 oz sinkers and all the Baby Brush Hogs and Hounds that I could carry and that would have been enough. I don't know where the females are, but if they number similar to the Bucks that we caught in the few areas we fished multiplied by all the areas in the lakes, the population of Greenfish is alive and well.

[zx150]

Nice post and glad you had a good trip. I also hope that the guy is reading this post. Ryan.

[MsgMills]

Glad you had a great time and all, plus glad you told the jerk to back off while you guys fished the bank first..... Total nimrod....

[drew238]

The crowd on the south end of the lake was more than likely due to the fact that all of Paris was off work because of the fish fry. I was there all week also and had one of the best trips of my life. We mainly fished three small coves on central Barkley and one on South KY. For the week, we had over 75 keepers with nine being over 5 pounds (could not get a 6 though) and 15 or so over 4. Almost every fish was caught on a spinnerbait. By the last day, my arm felt like I was casting a bowling ball with a broom stick. I have a new found respect for pro fishermen. The bigger fish came off of laydowns, out of deep flowers, or from the bases of the bushes. I met up with an old college roommate in Paris and went crappie fishing one day. Two boats, five people ended up with 150 keepers and probably over 250 fish. Those guys in Big Sandy have crappie fishing down to a science.

[elnutsmalljaws]

The crowd on the south end of the lake was more than likely due to the fact that all of Paris was off work because of the fish fry. I was there all week also and had one of the best trips of my life. We mainly fished three small coves on central Barkley and one on South KY. For the week, we had over 75 keepers with nine being over 5 pounds (could not get a 6 though) and 15 or so over 4. Almost every fish was caught on a spinnerbait. By the last day, my arm felt like I was casting a bowling ball with a broom stick. I have a new found respect for pro fishermen. The bigger fish came off of laydowns, out of deep flowers, or from the bases of the bushes. I met up with an old college roommate in Paris and went crappie fishing one day. Two boats, five people ended up with 150 keepers and probably over 250 fish. Those guys in Big Sandy have crappie fishing down to a science.

You had the best week that I heard of by anyone. Never heard of anyone catching that many Big Fish (4+ pounders) for the week, plenty of numbers but not that many big fish.

[apextrail]

Glad to hear someone else out there will speak up when an idiot cuts your bank off. I tend to be very vocal when someone does that to me also. It is sometimes to the dismay of my partner whom would rather let it slide. Folks it is all about etiquite and allot of folks on the water these days do not have any. I have had a bank cut off on several occasions this year alone. I will continue to fish throwing as close to them as possible and verbally telling them what I think of the situation. If their parents didn't teach them any manners, I certainly will. Sorry about the rant, but that is a real sore spot with me.

[stevec]

yep..I particularly like the guy who will come up and cut in front of you and when you proceed to cut back in front of him..he then decides to cuss you..like you were the bad guy...lots of goof balls on the water now days

[elnutsmalljaws]

yep..I particularly like the guy who will come up and cut in front of you and when you proceed to cut back in front of him..he then decides to cuss you..like you were the bad guy...lots of goof balls on the water now days

This moran made it very clear to both of us that he was going back over to the other side to his "house on the Lake". I guess since he owns a house on the lake then it is his lake and it should therefore be renamed accordingly so from now on Ky Lake is now called MORAN Lake in his honor. We had our trolling motor down, had been fishing this pocket for almost an hour, made several passes up and down, and there was no chance of him not knowing which direction we was fishing. He drops his trolling motor and starts getting out reels when I said "You are not fishing this bank right in front of us", he ask if we were fishing it, lets see boat, 2 people in it, about 12 fishing rods laying on the deck, fishing rod in each persons possession, making cast towards the bank, reeling in, make another cast toward the bank, the last time I checked that was "FISHING A BANK", MORAN.

[stevec]

thats what kills me about ky/barkley...there's enough water there for everybody to have a spot...and I m gonna bet that there was another bank said moron could have fished without cutting you guys off..I think it all boils down to ego...he thinks he owns a part of the lake therefore he can dictate where the "outsiders" fish...what a jerk