Barren River Lake Spring Fishing

[mhall]

Don't forget about Beaver creek. If the water gets high and stained fish flooded junk with a big wood chopper spinnerbait, with big Colorado blade, Chartruese and white with at least one gold blade on your tandem. Jigs will always get you bit at Barren in the spring, blacks and blue combos if water is stained more subtle colors if clearer. Cranks also have their days and don't forget about the baby brush hogs. I usually won't fish plastics if the water temps are below the low 60's but I've had Tommy Walker light my rear end on fire down there throwing brushhogs in cold water on bluff walls dragging them real slow.

Just some thoughts.

[RICHYD4U]

Don't forget about Beaver creek. If the water gets high and stained fish flooded junk with a big wood chopper spinnerbait, with big Colorado blade, Chartruese and white with at least one gold blade on your tandem. Jigs will always get you bit at Barren in the spring, blacks and blue combos if water is stained more subtle colors if clearer. Cranks also have their days and don't forget about the baby brush hogs. I usually won't fish plastics if the water temps are below the low 60's but I've had Tommy Walker light my rear end on fire down there throwing brushhogs in cold water on bluff walls dragging them real slow.

Just some thoughts.

Excellent! Thanks for the info! I have looked at Beaver creek and it looks like a good spring spot, I'll definitely give it a shot this year. You got to love the baby brush hogs. I killed them this past fall on them....watermelon with red flake....little bit of chartreuse spike it on the tails.....they are like bass crack! I buy them bulk on ebay, come in bags of 50 for a great price. The bluff walls you are referring too, what depth is the water where they are? Thanks.

-Rich

[mkmsports41]

mhall nailed it on the head with baby brush hogs on bluff walls. i fish barren alot in the spring. sometimes i struggle badly. but if you fish after a cold front and have some wind you will catch fish on the bluffs. be very carefull if running up the creeks if it has not came up to summer pool. skaggs is my favorate. you can catch fish in skaggs as far back as you want to go. bad thing about barren in the spring is the water fluctuation/temp. the bite can change huge over night. alot of times you can catch them on traps and jerkbaits when the water temp is around 50. when it hits that 55 degree mark you will catch them on spinnerbaits. what i hate most about barren is i generally have a tournament that falls when the water is high and they are on bed. i s*ck when this happens. anyone has any input on catching bedding fish on barren i would like to hear it!!!

[RICHYD4U]

I would like to learn more about this "bluff wall" fishing on Barren.....do you target any specific bluff wall at a specific depth, or do you just hit all the bluff walls going into the creeks?

As for bedding bass, I haven't really fished Barren during the spring, so I am not much help there. Although, I have caughten several bass while on their beds. Generally, it helps a great deal if the water visibility is good, which obviously usually isn't the case in spring with all the rain. But, when I spot one on a nest, I usually go with a 1/2oz white jig with white grub trailer. I'll manuever my jig into the nest and just make it shake right in front of their face. Sometime it takes a few casts to agitate the fish enough to hit it, but I have caughten some of my biggest fish doing this. Probably doesn't apply at Barren, but just something that has worked for me on other waters. I would like to know any tips on fishing high water beds as well.....

-Rich

[mhall]

Richy just bounce around and try several. The ones most productive are the ones where the channel swings very close to the bank and especially in that area. Depth can vary but most productive if I had to say would be catching fish in the 10 to 20 foot range with 14 to 16 being optimum from what we have seen. This is a fall back pattern we use to have, kind of a when nothing else was working deal.