Deep Water Fishing......

[elnutsmalljaws]

Since I have nothing else to do right now, my hobby is recording and watching EVERY fishing and poker show that I can find. I never knew there was this many fishing shows around but with VS, Outdoor Channel and all the Fox Sports channels, there must be 100's of them. Some I really like and they are very informative, others are infomercials and some are just for entertainment but you can find several that are very helpful. I am not a fan of "The Scott Martin Challenge" show but watch them anyways and the one that I recorded recently and just watched this morning is pretty good and would be VERY good to a new deep water fisherman. Scott is fishing with Sam Lashlee on KY Lake in early Summer. They are fishing point ledges, humps and river channel ledges. They actually do a pretty good job of explaining in short detail the migration pattern of the shad by looking at an actual KY Lake map. This is just the tip of the iceberg in what they say and supported everything that Dave Stewart taught me on the subject (not that it needed any support for Dave does an excellent job). If you are new to deep water fishing, you might want to find this show and record it. It was on VS (Versus) channel and came on at 8:30 am this Tuesday morning. Surely there will be some re-runs of this on VS. A novice will learn a lot and I learned one good tip that will help me in my off shore structure fishing as well. Good Luck to you all and may all your Carolina Rigs come back with a 5 pound Green or Brownfish attached to them.

[WacoWildcat]

Thanks elnut that's something I'll look for when I get off work tonight. That is one area I really want to learn. This summer I am going to to plan a trip with Dave sometime. When do you guys think the best time is to fish the ledges on KY lake? I hear he stays booked so it's get to reserve early.

[elnutsmalljaws]

Thanks elnut that's something I'll look for when I get off work tonight. That is one area I really want to learn. This summer I am going to to plan a trip with Dave sometime. When do you guys think the best time is to fish the ledges on KY lake? I hear he stays booked so it's get to reserve early.

This is only my opinion, but I think you can start fishing ledges anytime from Mid April to the end of May is the best 6 week period. The reason I say this is that after the spawn the fish will start migrating back out of the creeks and bays to their summer time main channel ledges. The fish will not all spawn at the same time and therefore you will get different waves moving both in and out of the spawning grounds. I always thought after the fish spawn they will take just a bit to recover from the activity then they will EAT EAT EAT to put back on the weight they lost during the spawn and get ready for the deep summer home. I think they are the easiest to catch when they are stacked up on ledges in the mouths of the creeks and bays but not totally out in the main river channel ledges. These ledges will be stopping points on fish that have spawned and are moving back out plus fish that are the late spawners that are moving in to spawn. You get the best of both worlds. Once they get all the way out to the main river channel ledges they tend to spread out a bit more. Dave will certainly know which part of the lakes that have the best deep water activity. Certainly the southern part of both lakes will have the spawning activity a bit earlier than the northern part due to the water temps rising from South to North so if you like fishing the North part of both lakes the bite will be a bit later on the calendar than if you were fishing the southern part of the lakes. Tell Dave what part of the lake you would rather target and he will have a better idea of when to take you. You better book SOON because he does get booked pretty early. I am going with him on May 5th and I am sure we will be targeting some ledge fish plus some really late Spawners. I know I will learn a lot from him even if we don't boat a fish. Dave has been so kind as to donate this trip to me for all the medical issues that I have went thru this past year. Whether I was paying for the trip or not, spending all day in the boat with a friend like Dave is good enough for me plus the information that I will learn from him will make me a better fisherman / catcherman that one day will help me teach my son how to fish. Better call Dave now to get the good date that you are looking for. Tell him Elnut sent you and I hope you have a great trip with him. Elnut

[MarkW]

I wish I would have saw that. I guess I need to check the schedule for VS and see if it will be on again.
Sam Lashlee has done real well fishing deep water. Two years ago he was on a roll. He won the FLW Series down at Old Hickory in early summer down by the dam fishing deep. He even lost a giant, from what my friends told me. Then a few weeks later, I think he won another tournament, but it was on KY Lake fishing deep ledges.
He uses some huge worms--I think they said like 12-14 inch ones.

[RoadToad]

Thanks for the tip, Elwood. I just set my recorder to start recording those Scott Martin Challenges, but the next one is 2/23, so I guess we missed that one.

[MsgMills]

I got the Digital Package from Insight and the Outdoor Channel pak as well. Is the VS channel part of my package and what channel is it on for those who might know here in the Louisville area using Insight as your Cable provider.
Thanks

[Col Forbin]

I have a hard time figuring out ledges. Every once in a while I will get onto a productive ledge here on the big lakes. I have tried for two years here to figure out these ledges - read and watched everything I could. This May I am doing what I should have to begin with - get Dave Stewart to teach me.
I know if you book an all day trip with him, the first couple of hours are spent off the water in a class about eliminating water - where he breaks down the shad migrations and patterns at different times of the year. Which is the key to catching bass on most kentucky lakes - especially Ky and Barkley. I am sure this will be the first of several trips I take with him.

(Dave, this bit of advertising will only cost you $10 off my trip - lol)

[MarkW]

I think VS is on 549 for Louisville people. Here is the VS schedule for Scott Martin's show:
http://www.versus.com/nw/article/mdview/?tf=TonightOnVersus_show.tpl&Limit=1&mt=3&f1=UserD ef3&UserDef=true&d1=SCOTT%20MARTIN%20CHALLENGE

[elnutsmalljaws]

This Scott Martin show is the first time I have seen him where both guys are in the same boat. Usually, it is him against another angler in different boats and they keep their limit and weigh them at the end to see who had the biggest stringer. This show had Scott and Sam both in the boat and they were estimating each fish that was caught then releasing them immediately. They were fishing these ledges with 10" Power Worms, Jigs and Deep Diving Cranks. The cranks looked like a Norman DD22 in the Tropical Shad color (Which is the same color that I killed them with this past spring in Barkley). I did see Scotts Texas Rig and he puts a bead between the hook and sinker. I use Beads on my C Rig but never thought of it on a Texas rig. It would give a bit more sound plus save the integrity of the knot by keeping the sinker from hitting it. I will try this tip next time. Good Luck

[MarkW]

Hey, the website said Scott Martin and Sam Lashlee was going against Dan Morehead and Terry Bolton on one of the upcoming episodes. Sounds good to me.

[Col Forbin]

If it is Ky lake - My vote is Bolton.

[MarkW]

Well it's actually just two teams--Morehead and Bolton are on one team.