Back from Ky Lake....

[elnutsmalljaws]

Drove down yesterday late afternoon to Ky for my first night trip of the year to chase some Smallies. 3 weeks of catching Greenfish on Barkley was REALLY GOOD but Smallies is still number one in my book. Launched out of Sugar Bay around 7:30pm and took out at 9:30am this morning for 14 glorious hours on the water plus 2 hours and 45 minute drive each way makes for a long day ( I am posting and going to bed). I find 7 boats all over Sugar last night and 2 of them were in my favorite topwater area just at sundown. Tried a new area and hammered a GIGANTIC 10" Smallie on a Booyah Buzzbait right off the bat. Usually I am catching Greenfish on topwater before sundown so a Smallie first is a bonus and tells me the Brown fish are stacked in Sugar and ready to eat......WRONG!!!!!. Only one bite on Buzzbait and all the boats hightail it out before dark to get back to the ramp. Now I have Sugar all to myself and I would soon find out that I had Duncan, Smith, Higgins the main lake and probably Barkley to myself as well. I saw one boat at exactly 11pm on the other side of the lake around Big Bear area and he was heading to the marina. If it were not for 2 barges that went up and down the lake, I would have thought the place was closed. That is it, 1 boat at 11pm and 2 barges until daybreak. I start my Milk run for smallies with my Chameleon Craw Hook Some Bass Tube (which never fails) that was never until last night. Spot one nothing, spot two nothing, spot three nothing, spot four nothing....my best 4 spots with my favorite never fails tube and not even a bite much less a fish. Switch it up to a jig and run same for spots again....NOTHING. It is now 11pm and I am totally flustered. Time for radical changes, out comes the Black Drop Spinnerbait - Jewel "The Jolt" Drop Spinnerbait that is. Best drop spinnerbait made and I can only find them at Baits and Bullets. I go to my favorite point ledge and cast away on top and drag the spinnerbait off the edge. It takes only a few cast and WHAM, keeper LARGEMOUTH about 17" - 3lb on top of the point ledge in about 6 feet of water. A few cast later on top another 17" - 3lb Keeper LARGEMOUTH same general area. I cast a few more times with nothing and then try to force-feed them a Tube to which I get NOTHING. Move over to Duncan to a hump and bank that has produced good SMALLIES on the drop spinnerbait in the past and they produce again...but this time it is more LARGEMOUTH. One right after another between the two spots and I keep rotating between them, for they are so close. Back and forth with LARGEMOUTH after LARGEMOUTH all on the drop spinnerbait. I start running these 2 spots with my point ledge in Sugar back and forth for the rest of the night. Make a long cast, let it drop to the bottom, one small rip off the bottom then SLOW roll all the way back to the boat trying to skim the bottom. Even with me over-fishing the tube and jig in my STUPIDITY to try to force-feed, why I don't know. But end up with 22 fish - with 20 keepers (Best 5 about 18lbs)- all of them 15"-18" long, ALL LARGEMOUTH, ALL on drop spinnerbait by daybreak plus the GIGANTIC Smallie on Buzzbait before dark. Daybreak hits and it is back to the Buzzbait to which I catch 3 more Greenfish all in the 12" range. 26 fish in total and amazingly the 4 buzzbait fish are not keepers, no bites at all on tube, jig, crankbait, C Rig, T Rig or anything else that I tried except for the Drop Spinnerbait. I have never caught this many fish on the Drop Spinnerbait in one night in my life. I don't think I have ever caught more than 5 in a night much less 22. I can't explain it at all. I go to all my Smallie spots and they are inhabited with Greenfish and good Greenfish at that. I catch very few Largemouth on this bait in the past and can not explain it for the life of me. If you told me that the first fish of the night would be a Smallie on a buzzbait in Greenfish territory and that I would not catch another Smallie all night plus not get one single bite on the Tube or Jig all night, I would have lost everything I own on that bet. Daybreak comes and they put the "Open" sign in the window and here come all the boaters from all directions. I realized why I hate fishing daytime on the weekend and why I am a night fisherman especially on the weekend as one couple tried to go in front of me on a bank (I see a theme developing), they were nice enough after they realized how stupid they were to move down the lake to another spot and then the moran in the Red Ranger pretty much runs right over me as I am fishing a point around 8am. I paid him back upon my exit as I was on full plane and got closer to him than he did me plus I told him that he was Number 1, if you know what I mean. Strange night in that I was Totally alone on the lake, wearing my Dale Hollow winter gear in Mid-May, catching Greenfish on a Drop Spinnerbait in places that I NORMALLY catch Smallies. If it wasn't for Chunknwind calling me at 4am asking for a report, I would have thought I was the only person left on the face of the planet with my private little lake to fish. With the Barkley success the past 3 weeks and last nights Greenfish extraviganza, I may have to change my login to "elnutlargejaws" since I have forgotten how to catch the Brown fish. A few more nights like last night and my FNF rod will be in the boat and surely I can catch a Brownie that way. Good Luck fellas and catch a Big Ol Brownfish for me (since I have obviously forgot how) for I will now start packing to move in a couple of weeks. I said it a couple of days ago (and lied) but this was probably my last trip to Ky and Barkley until next spring (maybe I will get lucky and have to lie again and sneak one more night in before the move).

[SlopFishin]

Nice report. I feel your pain regarding all the idiots on the lakes during the weekend. I fished Barkley today and was miserable the entire time. Probably got cut in front of at least 5 times. Some people are just a$$holes.

[elnutsmalljaws]

Nice report. I feel your pain regarding all the idiots on the lakes during the weekend. I fished Barkley today and was miserable the entire time. Probably got cut in front of at least 5 times. Some people are just a$$holes.

I talked to Dave Stewart earlier and he had a 70 year old couple in his boat today and they just wanted to catch a few fish. No tourney preps or serious fishermen in his boat today just pure casual fishing and it got bad for him too. He said he had some surfacing fish and put them on a topwater bait and both of them caught a fish immediately and he said you thought they let loose the flood gates. Boats all came towards his area to join in or barge in on the action. I don't fish tourneys and even if I did, I don't think it is worth cutting in front of or showing dis-respect to other weekend anglers. If the "Pro" needs to do this to find his fish then maybe he should consider getting a 9-5 like the rest of us. Too much water to fish. I don't follow the tourney trail but maybe there needs to be a master schedule of all tourneys - Pro, Amateur and in between, that tourney directors or organizers must report and get a permit or something to and a limit of the number of tourney boats per day allowed on the water at one time. The number of pleasure fisherman, jet skis, water skis and pleasure boaters is on the rise from what I see and add a couple of 100 or 200 boat tourneys to the mix plus all the smaller local and club tourneys and you have a mess, especially with certain wind conditions that puts a lot of boats in the same general areas. Just my opinion

[Moose1am]

There are more and more people who own boats. And with the advent of Jet Skies which cost less than a big bass boat you see more of these Water Fleas all the time.

Yesterday my favorite 190 acre public lake had over 20 boats using the lake on Saturday. I missed most of the traffic by staying home Saturday Morning and planing my garden Squash.

I enjoy fishing during the middle of the week but even then the lake gets a lot of fisherman these days.

With the high price of Gasoline $3.35 gallon (May 19, 2007) people are staying closer to home. That has drastically increase the number of boats on Bluegrass F&W area.

Do small mouth bass hit very good at night most of the time? Or is it a yearly or seasonal thing with smallies?

And what type of light do you use other than the required anchor light? Ultraviolet lights or Black lights.

Saw a black light LED setup at Walmart. The thing has three small led light and it attaches to the bill of a baseball hat. Runs on two or three very thin quarter sized batteries.

I talked to Dave Stewart earlier and he had a 70 year old couple in his boat today and they just wanted to catch a few fish. No tourney preps or serious fishermen in his boat today just pure casual fishing and it got bad for him too. He said he had some surfacing fish and put them on a topwater bait and both of them caught a fish immediately and he said you thought they let loose the flood gates. Boats all came towards his area to join in or barge in on the action. I don't fish tourneys and even if I did, I don't think it is worth cutting in front of or showing dis-respect to other weekend anglers. If the "Pro" needs to do this to find his fish then maybe he should consider getting a 9-5 like the rest of us. Too much water to fish. I don't follow the tourney trail but maybe there needs to be a master schedule of all tourneys - Pro, Amateur and in between, that tourney directors or organizers must report and get a permit or something to and a limit of the number of tourney boats per day allowed on the water at one time. The number of pleasure fisherman, jet skis, water skis and pleasure boaters is on the rise from what I see and add a couple of 100 or 200 boat tourneys to the mix plus all the smaller local and club tourneys and you have a mess, especially with certain wind conditions that puts a lot of boats in the same general areas. Just my opinion

[elnutsmalljaws]

There are more and more people who own boats. And with the advent of Jet Skies which cost less than a big bass boat you see more of these Water Fleas all the time.

Yesterday my favorite 190 acre public lake had over 20 boats using the lake on Saturday. I missed most of the traffic by staying home Saturday Morning and planing my garden Squash.

I enjoy fishing during the middle of the week but even then the lake gets a lot of fisherman these days.

With the high price of Gasoline $3.35 gallon (May 19, 2007) people are staying closer to home. That has drastically increase the number of boats on Bluegrass F&W area.

Do small mouth bass hit very good at night most of the time? Or is it a yearly or seasonal thing with smallies?

And what type of light do you use other than the required anchor light? Ultraviolet lights or Black lights.

Saw a black light LED setup at Walmart. The thing has three small led light and it attaches to the bill of a baseball hat. Runs on two or three very thin quarter sized batteries.

Smallies are very light sensitive to the point that I will even target the "Shady" side of the point even in the dead of night. They are different creatures than Greenfish and like it deeper, colder and darker than it's cousin. June, July and August are the best months for night fishing and I was pushing the envelope a bit early but thought the bite would be on for Smallies. I have night fished as late as October and had an outstanding night at Cumberland in October 2004 using a Super Black Zara Spook to catch several nice Smallies and Stripers on the points between Indian and Beaver on the South side of the lake (Thank you onemorecast for the tip on this area) I use a Stan Sloan blacklight and keep it towards the back of the boat when I am by myself and by using Flourescent line in my reels, your line will light up like a christmas tree above water but not seen below water. I mainly use the black light for light to net the fish at nighttime. I fish by feel and never had one rod spooled up with Flourescent Friday night. The fellas that I go with all use Flouro and like to watch their line, I don't. 10-12lb Flourocarbon is what I use and I get a much better feel for the bottom with it and have no problem feeling the bite as well. I look around at the scenery, stars, moon or listen to the nightlife when I am fishing and still stay focused on what is going on under water. Of course, with a drop spinnerbait - Jewel Brand "The Jolt" is the best I have found - it is chunk and wind so the rod bends double and it is a fish or you have ran into some piece of cover. Dale, Laurel and Cumberland deep clear lake I use a 1/4 oz jig with trailer most of the time, Ky and Barkley where it is more of a shad based food source it starts out with Hook Some Bass Chameleon Craw Tube, Chartreuse Dip the tail, rigged Texas Style with a 3/8 oz rattlin sinker. I will use the drop spinnerbait at all lakes but fish it differently. Dale and etc it is a rip and let flutter to the bottom then rip and let flutter sort of imitating a crawfish jumping off the bottom, Ky and Barkley and such it is slow rolling like a shad swimming across the bottom. When a Smallie hits the spinnerbait, be prepared to hold onto your rod. They will absolutely rip the rod out of your hand, especially at Ky Lake since you have constant tension on the bait. I think they focus in on the thump then follow to find it the kill it or they are sitting there as it comes by and kill it. Dave Stewart has told me stories of his client losing rods over the boat and one time I had one hammer it when I was half asleep and I caught the rod in mid air. Night bite is my second favorite kind of fishing next to FNF and I can't tell you how many nights I have spent on Cumberland, Dale or Ky. I love the topwater action after the sun has gone behind the mountain and you get that last 1/2 hour of residual light. Love it when it is around 11pm and all the traffic has stopped long enough for the waves to stop (unless it is night tourney then they are running). Take your raingear to put on around 3am for the dew can be good and wet at times plus a little chilly. Love avoiding the bulk of the fishermen this time of year and all the joyboaters as well. Watch out for the houseboats, pontoons and sail boats tied up in coves and bays at night without their lights on (I have seen this more times than I care too) A few more tips to use, take a good bug spray to Ky for they bite hard. Dave Stewart turned me on to "Skin So Soft" lotion from Avon. It is a girly lotion but the bugs hate it. I might smell pretty but at least there are not bites to contend with. For me it is the best I have found. Take some rubber gloves or put your hands in sandwich bags when applying the bug spray or lotion to keep it off your hands which you will transfer the smell to your bait (same trick for sun screen). Take a good spotlight to navigate and GPS if you are fishing Dale, especially in the new moon. Almost impossible to navigate Dale, until you know it, for it all looks the same and too many turns and islands. LBL side of KY is pretty safe to navigate as is Cumberland without a GPS but I don't leave home to go to Dale without it even know I can draw the map of the lake from memory from Wolfe down to First Island. Good Luck and give it a try.

[davidsa]

Very helpful. I have tried 2 or 3 times to fish at night and have not had luck nor have I enjoyed it. I find myself up in trees, line twisted around the rod tip, etc as I struggle to do the things I take for granted during the day.

I've seen several of your posts about tourney's down on KYL. I could not agree more. I don't tourney fish nor do I mind that others like to do it. What does bother me is when I'm fishing and others invade my space. I fish for the quite nature of the activity not to be in a rat race which I deal with in my daily life most of the time. I find myself wanting to fish 3pm to dark vs. the morning when I know a tourney is underway. Just too many bad tastes from a few bad apples I guess.

Thanks for your Posts!

[elnutsmalljaws]

Very helpful. I have tried 2 or 3 times to fish at night and have not had luck nor have I enjoyed it. I find myself up in trees, line twisted around the rod tip, etc as I struggle to do the things I take for granted during the day.

I've seen several of your posts about tourney's down on KYL. I could not agree more. I don't tourney fish nor do I mind that others like to do it. What does bother me is when I'm fishing and others invade my space. I fish for the quite nature of the activity not to be in a rat race which I deal with in my daily life most of the time. I find myself wanting to fish 3pm to dark vs. the morning when I know a tourney is underway. Just too many bad tastes from a few bad apples I guess.

Thanks for your Posts!

Your blacklight should help "light up the bank" some for casting. I never cast all the way to the bank and have caught very few Smallies all the way up on the bank in a few feet of water and never had any good quality fish. My cast will usually land 10 yards or so from the bank and then I work it from there. The better fish will be cruising a little deeper plus you stay away from the Bluegills and smaller fish that sit in a foot of water that will peck you to death. It took a while to learn but once done, I love night fishing awfully well. The more you do it the better you will like it.

[dcbasser]

hey elwood
Maybe once you get moved back in you and cliff can make a trip down to laurel and get onto some of them brownfish. Is cliff been able to get back down to try his luck?

[elnutsmalljaws]

hey elwood
Maybe once you get moved back in you and cliff can make a trip down to laurel and get onto some of them brownfish. Is cliff been able to get back down to try his luck?

We have plans to lear Laurel together once I am back. He went to Laurel last night and had a tough night. First time on the lake to night fish and navigate plus he is still very new to the lake would make it difficult for anyone. I plan on picking your brain for some inside information when I get back. I don't even have a map of Laurel yet. I looked at the lake on my Fishing Hot Spots on my computer last night and it looks like a smaller version of Cumberland with a little Dale Hollow mixed in. Cliff says it looks just like Dale Hollow and I can't wait to see it. Lot of DEEP water for a smaller surface area lake. Plan on catching some Big Ol Brownfish and also a few Walleye's for the table. Talk to you in a bit.

[elnutsmalljaws]

Drove down yesterday late afternoon to Ky for my first night trip of the year to chase some Smallies. 3 weeks of catching Greenfish on Barkley was REALLY GOOD but Smallies is still number one in my book. Launched out of Sugar Bay around 7:30pm and took out at 9:30am this morning for 14 glorious hours on the water plus 2 hours and 45 minute drive each way makes for a long day ( I am posting and going to bed). I find 7 boats all over Sugar last night and 2 of them were in my favorite topwater area just at sundown. Tried a new area and hammered a GIGANTIC 10" Smallie on a Booyah Buzzbait right off the bat. Usually I am catching Greenfish on topwater before sundown so a Smallie first is a bonus and tells me the Brown fish are stacked in Sugar and ready to eat......WRONG!!!!!. Only one bite on Buzzbait and all the boats hightail it out before dark to get back to the ramp. Now I have Sugar all to myself and I would soon find out that I had Duncan, Smith, Higgins the main lake and probably Barkley to myself as well. I saw one boat at exactly 11pm on the other side of the lake around Big Bear area and he was heading to the marina. If it were not for 2 barges that went up and down the lake, I would have thought the place was closed. That is it, 1 boat at 11pm and 2 barges until daybreak. I start my Milk run for smallies with my Chameleon Craw Hook Some Bass Tube (which never fails) that was never until last night. Spot one nothing, spot two nothing, spot three nothing, spot four nothing....my best 4 spots with my favorite never fails tube and not even a bite much less a fish. Switch it up to a jig and run same for spots again....NOTHING. It is now 11pm and I am totally flustered. Time for radical changes, out comes the Black Drop Spinnerbait - Jewel "The Jolt" Drop Spinnerbait that is. Best drop spinnerbait made and I can only find them at Baits and Bullets. I go to my favorite point ledge and cast away on top and drag the spinnerbait off the edge. It takes only a few cast and WHAM, keeper LARGEMOUTH about 17" - 3lb on top of the point ledge in about 6 feet of water. A few cast later on top another 17" - 3lb Keeper LARGEMOUTH same general area. I cast a few more times with nothing and then try to force-feed them a Tube to which I get NOTHING. Move over to Duncan to a hump and bank that has produced good SMALLIES on the drop spinnerbait in the past and they produce again...but this time it is more LARGEMOUTH. One right after another between the two spots and I keep rotating between them, for they are so close. Back and forth with LARGEMOUTH after LARGEMOUTH all on the drop spinnerbait. I start running these 2 spots with my point ledge in Sugar back and forth for the rest of the night. Make a long cast, let it drop to the bottom, one small rip off the bottom then SLOW roll all the way back to the boat trying to skim the bottom. Even with me over-fishing the tube and jig in my STUPIDITY to try to force-feed, why I don't know. But end up with 22 fish - with 20 keepers (Best 5 about 18lbs)- all of them 15"-18" long, ALL LARGEMOUTH, ALL on drop spinnerbait by daybreak plus the GIGANTIC Smallie on Buzzbait before dark. Daybreak hits and it is back to the Buzzbait to which I catch 3 more Greenfish all in the 12" range. 26 fish in total and amazingly the 4 buzzbait fish are not keepers, no bites at all on tube, jig, crankbait, C Rig, T Rig or anything else that I tried except for the Drop Spinnerbait. I have never caught this many fish on the Drop Spinnerbait in one night in my life. I don't think I have ever caught more than 5 in a night much less 22. I can't explain it at all. I go to all my Smallie spots and they are inhabited with Greenfish and good Greenfish at that. I catch very few Largemouth on this bait in the past and can not explain it for the life of me. If you told me that the first fish of the night would be a Smallie on a buzzbait in Greenfish territory and that I would not catch another Smallie all night plus not get one single bite on the Tube or Jig all night, I would have lost everything I own on that bet. Daybreak comes and they put the "Open" sign in the window and here come all the boaters from all directions. I realized why I hate fishing daytime on the weekend and why I am a night fisherman especially on the weekend as one couple tried to go in front of me on a bank (I see a theme developing), they were nice enough after they realized how stupid they were to move down the lake to another spot and then the moran in the Red Ranger pretty much runs right over me as I am fishing a point around 8am. I paid him back upon my exit as I was on full plane and got closer to him than he did me plus I told him that he was Number 1, if you know what I mean. Strange night in that I was Totally alone on the lake, wearing my Dale Hollow winter gear in Mid-May, catching Greenfish on a Drop Spinnerbait in places that I NORMALLY catch Smallies. If it wasn't for Chunknwind calling me at 4am asking for a report, I would have thought I was the only person left on the face of the planet with my private little lake to fish. With the Barkley success the past 3 weeks and last nights Greenfish extraviganza, I may have to change my login to "elnutlargejaws" since I have forgotten how to catch the Brown fish. A few more nights like last night and my FNF rod will be in the boat and surely I can catch a Brownie that way. Good Luck fellas and catch a Big Ol Brownfish for me (since I have obviously forgot how) for I will now start packing to move in a couple of weeks. I said it a couple of days ago (and lied) but this was probably my last trip to Ky and Barkley until next spring (maybe I will get lucky and have to lie again and sneak one more night in before the move).

I stand corrected in what I said in my post. I always thought any spinnerbait with a Big Colorado blade was considered a Drop Spinnerbait. I just learned a few minutes ago that the term "Drop" spinnerbait is the same as the Short Armed spinnerbait. I have some Stan Sloan Short Armed spinnerbaits which would be Drop Spinnerbaits but the Jewel "Jolt" spinnerbait is not a Short Armed Spinnerbait. It is a normal size spinnerbait with a Big Colorado Blade that puts off a Huge amount of vibration. My mistake and I stand corrected for I learned something a few minutes ago from my Brother in Law, eatsleepfish.

[SDK]

elnuts,

I have to say that this post is one of the most informative that I have ever read. Over the past five years I have started to night fish a lot more due to the very things that you elaborate upon in your posts. I found it very difficult at first, but once you figure it out it is much more enjoyable than daytime fishing between Memorial Day and Labor Day. During that time period, the lakes just receive to much traffic during the day to enjoy the fishing.

Keep up the informative posts, they really do make good reads!

[kc]

Don't you love it when the green fish are on and the brown fish aren't? It seems on KY that one or the other is biting on a given night but rarely do both bite well the same night. It is early for the green fish to be on the smallie drops but that is the way it has gone this year. I hit KY early for night fishing a couple of Mays back and we found the brown fish slow and the green fish non-existant on the drops but at day light caught the green fish up on the spawning flats. The green fish aren't much on the spawning flats right now. I haven't night fished KY much in May but I have a feeling the brownies haven't set up on their summer patterns just yet. We somtimes catch them on surface lures up in the pockets which makes me wonder if they don't set up well on the summer drops until the shad move out.

I had a notion to give you a yell Friday for that open seat offer but I just couldn't pull an all nighter. I came down for the week end but had an exhausting week at work and just couldn't get there early or have the stamina I fished Barkley for a few hours before and after dark Saturday and pulled a zero. A lone flathead cat on a jig was all I could muster.

Night fishing KY is one of my favorite bites. Not only the fishing is addicting but fishing in LBL is really cool. Did the coyotes yip it up Friday night? You sound like my night-angling twin with the drop spinner, tube, and jig as your main arsenal. Buzzers at day break -- I would have sworn we learned from the same master. I take 4 rods out at night - 2 spinner, 1 tube, and 1 jig and I could take a kid-sized plano tackebox for as little tackle as I typically need.

I feel your pain on the tournament-day traffic and manners. I have been foaming on this board for years about tournaments and they are doing nothing but getting worse. Having a place on the lake I am getting so cranky about sharing the lake with the tournament jerks often I sleep in and do my chores early preferring to fish later in the day or at night. It is no wonder I like night fishing as much as I do.

If you would like to give the night bite at KY a shot with your back seat full (or my back seat for that matter) drop me a line. With 3 teenagers my schedule is complex at times but I am looking forward to mid-June or so to give it my first try and I fish too often with an empty back seat. Keep up the great posts. They always make me smile!!!

kc