KY Lake Bluegill/Shellcracker

[Redearonbread]

We are going to try it anyway. I was looking at last year's data and the lake peaked at 369 on May 7th. Starting on the 7th they pulled the lake down 8 feet in four days. The 10 day forecast right now looks good, but we all know that could change. The lake could be 10 feet lower a week from now, but I guess a lot of that depends on the Ohio too. One thing about the fish, they have to stay in the water which means you always have a chance. I noticed that some of the guides caught good shellcracker and bluegill during the peak, draw down and after last year's flood. We may have to look them up.

[artcarney_agr]

I noticed that some of the guides caught good shellcracker and bluegill during the peak, draw down and after last year's flood. We may have to look them up.

You're right on the money with that. The lake I fished this weekend was exceptionally high, but we still found them. They were very much scattered - wasn't like you would find one and then a whole mess...you had to keep moving along and would pick one up here and there.

What we found were that the shellcrackers had moved way up into the feeder creek - a place not normally accessible throughout the year. I caught a bass and found out what was going on: after catching him, he regurgitated a fistful of nightcrawlers. I guess the rain had washed a lot of nightcrawlers into the feeder creek and the fish moved in to take advantage of it. The water was also much clearer in the feeder creek, which surprised me.

I think finding clear or clearer water is the key. Shellcrackers cannot tolerate dirty water, and will move until they find the color water that they like.

I would say your trip will be a good one. Lots of good things swaying in your direction. My guess is that you'll be targeting the shellcrackers and end up loading up on catfish. The channel cats should be in the same places gorging themselves that you would expect to find the shellcrackers. It would be a good idea to have one guy fishing with red wigglers and the other with small crappie minnows. You may even hook up on some good largermouth as well on the crappie minnows.

[Redearonbread]

Good info! Thanks!
Appreciate the boost!

[Redearonbread]

Just got back Sunday. We were there for 4 days and we caught good numbers of bludgill but not huge. Shellcracker were huge but smaller numbers. We got limits in a couple boats a couple of the days. Caught a lot of good catfish, a few 4 lb largemouth, three smallmouth (two were five lbs) all on ultralights. Tons of fun. We put a lot of fish in the freezer. Water clarity was good and the water dropped about 5 feet while we were there. We know some guys there now and it seems they have turned off a little. The key was to move around until you find them. The fish were in a different place everyday. Rarely had luck going to a spot that we caught them a day earlier. Some were in 3 feet, some were in 10 feet.
Thanks to everyone for the info they shared prior to our trip.

[artcarney_agr]

How was the catfish bite? I'm going on Saturday try to my luck with them. Were they in the 3 to 5ft depth around rocks?

[Redearonbread]

Most of the catfish we caught were in 8-10 feet of water. If they are in the same spot now, I guess that would be about 5-6 feet of water. We would catch one or two on popeye and waxworm and some on redworm on the bottom. One guy tried for them with shrimp and did good. Most of the catfish came on the LBL side about half way up coves just outside the brush. With the water up were about 20 - 30 feet off the bank.
Good luck!
If I can figure out how to get pics on here I will post a couple.