KY River Report

[jwp]

Went to the river Friday afternoon. Caught a limit of sauger, one of them was over 17"...my biggest ever. Lost another real big one at the boat. Caught them on cranks on a rocky flat in about 6 to 8' of water. Also caught a 17" LM on a laydown with a crank, another keeper and several dinks. Shad everywhere! Oh yeah, also caught a huge drum/white perch... Be careful on the river - the water is down and there are hidden stumps and laydowns way off the bank.

[know1]

Do you mind saying which pool you were fishing? I'm thinking of going to the river this weekend for a few hours.

[MrSplitshot]

Sounds good...some of us from over on thecreekbank.com will be camping and fishing the river next weekend...

[bookworm]

I was on the river myself about 10 days ago. I also noticed all those schools of shad. I picked up a largemouth under one of the laydowns but didn't see anything chasing those shad. Hard to believe predatory fish aren't aware of them. Does anyone key on those schools? I was throwing a curly tailed grub into them and only succeeded in scattering them. If larger fish are hanging around the schools, what's the best way to fish to them?

[Bonefish]

Fished the Dix Saturday and the river is dead as far as the bass activity right now. We did not fish the KY. There are shad everywhere, but no bass around them. It seems the same is going one in the lakes as well. I think the bass are in transition to fall pattern right now.

[Mustangwilliam]

Went to the river Friday afternoon. Caught a limit of sauger, one of them was over 17"...my biggest ever. Lost another real big one at the boat. Caught them on cranks on a rocky flat in about 6 to 8' of water. Also caught a 17" LM on a laydown with a crank, another keeper and several dinks. Shad everywhere! Oh yeah, also caught a huge drum/white perch... Be careful on the river - the water is down and there are hidden stumps and laydowns way off the bank.

I fished the KY River in Estill county on Saturday. Fishing was fairly slow on jigs and soft plastics caught a few dinks and some rock bass. Went to throwing a crank and the action picked up...all fish around lay downs...actually on the back side of lay downs. Only had 2 keepers 1 19.5 inch 3.5lb large mouth and a nice fat 14inch KY. Both fish fought with intensity. Lots of fun. Hooked up on another large fish on the crank...did not boat...it was wide...thick...and had a white belly...not sure what it was. We also saw lots of shad...nothing busting the schools?? It was a beautiful day on the water...I will continue to hit the river, but do be careful

[jwp]

A 19.5 inch LM from the river is a special fish. Congratulations. Yes, those river fish can fight!

That large, thick and wide fish with a white belly was likely a drum (another name is white perch). They love a crank especially on rocky banks. I've caught them up to about 7 pounds. When they first hit, you're thinking (hoping) you've got a huge smallie... But they won't come up and jump and don't go on those high-speed drag-ripping runs... they're slow and stout like a mule. Fun to catch.

[know1]

A 19.5 inch LM from the river is a special fish. Congratulations. Yes, those river fish can fight!

That large, thick and wide fish with a white belly was likely a drum (another name is white perch). They love a crank especially on rocky banks. I've caught them up to about 7 pounds. When they first hit, you're thinking (hoping) you've got a huge smallie... But they won't come up and jump and don't go on those high-speed drag-ripping runs... they're slow and stout like a mule. Fun to catch.

I'll second that about drum. I caught one about a month ago that was probably 3 lbs or so on ultralight tackle out of my kayak. I thought I had a nice bass for the first 10 seconds or so.

[RoadToad]

Drum are entertaining once you boat them, too, when they make that drumming sound that is their namesake. First time I fished the KY River was a couple years ago, and the guy who took me caught one about 3 lbs. Gave him a pretty good fight. He's 73, grew up in Henry Co., and told me about how if you were on the river at night, sometimes there would be so many of them around you could hear them drumming all around you in the water.

[Mustangwilliam]

A 19.5 inch LM from the river is a special fish. Congratulations. Yes, those river fish can fight!

That large, thick and wide fish with a white belly was likely a drum (another name is white perch). They love a crank especially on rocky banks. I've caught them up to about 7 pounds. When they first hit, you're thinking (hoping) you've got a huge smallie... But they won't come up and jump and don't go on those high-speed drag-ripping runs... they're slow and stout like a mule. Fun to catch.

Thanks for the compliment. It was a lot of fun. It probably spoiled me on the river. I thought it might be a drum. That is what I told my partner. He pulled drag and never came up in the short time I had him hooked. Can't wait to get back on the river. Maybe this weekend!

[jwp]

In my opinion, the shad are one of the main forages right now in the river. I think the fish feed periodically, busting schools, and then lay off awhile, burp and digest. I have seen quite a bit of activity on the surface as predators are working the schools over. In fact, I saw a "feeding fenzy" about a month ago but they quit before I could get over to them. I have never figured out how to catch them while they're feeding, but if I find some section of river with a bunch of shad, and some suitable cover nearby, I'll fish the cover. The problem is that right now, shad are everywhere, and cover is plentiful. So, finding just the right type of cover and figuring out how to fish it is the key. If ya'll have any ideas, let me know!

[Mustangwilliam]

It was late in the day when I figured a pattern, i decided to throw an imitation of the shad I saw. I was targeted wood especially the shady side of wood cover with a crankbait. This seemed to work the best. I also worked my bait all the way back to the boat at very speeds, the slower the better it seemed on that particular day.

I have not figured out how to reach the shad being busted and catch fish in that feeding frenzy either. I have been told to throw spinnerbaits and even a lipless crank into that school, but I have not had success. Anyone else have a suggestion?