Kentucky verses Barkley

[kc]

I have a place on Barkley and I love both lakes. Right now the LM numbers on KY are unbelievable. We fished there early this week and caught big numbers of 10 - 14" fish but few keepers. We fished Barkley too and caught more keepers but far fewer fish. As one reply stated they fish differently. KY is clearer and has less visibile cover while Barkley has darker water and fishing visible cover is productive. You really can't go wrong with either but if I were after quality fish I would lean towards Barkley and if I wanted numbers I would lean more towards KY right now, IMHO...

kc

[JimDi]

What size fish have you been getting off of Barkley this year??

[Col Forbin]

Ive had a few good ones off of north barkley so far this year. I usually do better with bigger fish on barkley, and usually get more keeper size fish on Ky. That is not to say you can't catch good ones on Ky. Last year i had one 7 pounder - it was off of Ky. I had several between 6 and 7 - they were all from Barkley. In the spring, if it is not too stained I really like Barkley better, however when we get a good rain and it gets a good color to it, I will usually stay on Ky where the deeper water keeps it a little more clear - sometimes it is a night and day difference in water color between the two.

[kc]

I have only been down fishing two weekends so far and I my best two are a 5.5 and a 5. I have also caught a fair amount of keeper sized bass but not many small ones. I have fished KY a couple of times too and it is full of 10 - 14 inch LM. The next couple of years will be interesting on KY...

kc

[JimDi]

I started fishing KY Lake in 1988 with our neighbor when I lived with my mom and dad. There were weeds in the lake then and we stayed in the northern end of the lake. Used to kill them back then. No other boats around. We would catch about 100 fish a day. They then sprayed and killed all the weeds. Then we started fishing Barkley. I caught big fish on both lakes. Best overall day I had ever was on Barkley. We caught six fish all day and the five best weighed 27lb 2oz. Howeve, since that time there has been alot more traffic on Barkley and have had harder time getting big fish. Tried KY Lake last spring and had 14.5lbs on four fish, but couldn't get a fifth keeper. Have heard of the big limits coming off of southern KY Lake, but that may be covered up with boats and I like to get away from the 'traffic'. Will be going down to fish the Jet-A-Marine tourney and can't decide on which lake to fish. Have had success on both lakes, so maybe I will flip a coin.

[kc]

I personally like both lakes a lot and switch hit between them. I catch smallmouth on Barkley but only a few here and there. But KY has numbers and size and if you can tune into them it can be a lot of fun. About 6 years ago I did an afternoon trip on KY and our best 5 smallmouth would have been 22+ although days like that on KY are rare for me. I started fishing Barkley back in the late 80s and I remember those triple digit fish days. Plus there were numbers of big fish. It was rare to fish a weekend and not catch at least one big fish. I don't believe the numbers are anything like they were then but quality fish still exist. I also enjoy the diversity on KY. We fished there Monday / Wednesday and fished some small stuff and caught somewhere between 10 and 12 species of fish including pickerel, rockfish, yellow perch as well as the usual bass and panfish culprits. We just couldn't catch any size on the bass which is what we mostly fished for. You just can't go wrong on the big lakes!

kc