Johnathan's Creek.. Kentucky Lake

[Mike Meats]

Hay there hill billies,

Anyone on here going to be fishing down in the Johnathan's creek area this spring? I have fishing there since I was a kid with my old man. My dad will have a head start since he is retired and heads down to the lake at the end of Feb... LUCKY *******!! I am looking to get an edge on him, since he is the one that usually schools us. He is not to computer savy so he won't be on the internet looking for fishing tips...

Being that I am now in college the only chance I am going to get, to get down there is spring break. April 7-12th... I was just curious if I could get some kind of knowledge about the fishin conditions down there before I leave Louisville.

I'll bring you a case a beer if you provide valuable information... meet ya at the old boy scout camp with the beer.

Thanks fellas, & ladies (if you are on here)

Mike Meats

[GeoFisher]

Hay there hill billies,

Anyone on here going to be fishing down in the Johnathan's creek area this spring? I have fishing there since I was a kid with my old man. My dad will have a head start since he is retired and heads down to the lake at the end of Feb... LUCKY *******!! I am looking to get an edge on him, since he is the one that usually schools us. He is not to computer savy so he won't be on the internet looking for fishing tips...

Being that I am now in college the only chance I am going to get, to get down there is spring break. April 7-12th... I was just curious if I could get some kind of knowledge about the fishin conditions down there before I leave Louisville.

I'll bring you a case a beer if you provide valuable information... meet ya at the old boy scout camp with the beer.

Thanks fellas, & ladies (if you are on here)

Mike Meats

Fishin for what..

I suppose crappie........Jonathan is known for that......

[Mike Meats]

Geofisher,

Yes crappie, sorry that i forgot to post that on there...I just assumed that is what everyone will be fishing for. bass fishing is too easy down there in the spring... a shad rattle trap and you are golden....

Also when i return I will gladly post on here the depth at which we were catching the fish, along with the type of bait, and environment we were catching them in.

Thanks

Meats

[crappiepappy]

READ THIS, thoroughly ... then read it again & take notes (should be easy for a college boy) :

Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources - Preliminary Results

You may be there during the Black Crappie run, but a bit early for the White Crappie run .... unless the weather warms up early. Watch where the majority of (obvious) Crappie boats go ... check your map for what depth/contours these boats are swarming over, and follow suit. That (following suit) may be construed as ... join the crowd OR simply find similar areas & depths and try those places.

If it's early in their seasonal migration ... longline trolling may be your best bet.
If they're in their pre-spawn stage ... spiderrigging with jigs and/or minnows will keep you in the game.
If they're in the spawning process ... casting to shallow cover or along pea gravel banks, or using a longpole to dunk a jig or minnow/float rig down into shallow brush, logjams, stake beds, Button Bushes (aka buck brush), stump beds, or weedbeds should put you on the fish.
If they should just happen to be post-spawn ... refer to the pre-spawn tactics.

If the lake should happen to be flooded, but you can still get your boat in ... look for large live trees with ~3ft of water depth up their trunks. Drop a minnow/float rig, set at about 1.5ft deep, around the four "sides" of those flooded live trees. But, don't pass up an old dead tree hulk, that happens to be flooded. This may not be a successful tactic, if the water happens to be gin clear .... but, if there's some stain to the water, it can be a trip saver tactic (it was for me, once).

If you're confined to Jonathan Creek .... fish from the mouth to the bridge, if the fish are still migrating in. Try the far back shallows if the fish are past the pre-spawn stage.

Ain't no guarantees that any of this info will work, but it has worked (for me) in the past.

... luck2ya !!

... pappy