Thread: I bought three maps of Barkley and KY Lake....

Read these reports thoroughly, and make notes Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources - Preliminary Results and it should help you with your Crappie hunting.

Use your maps to stay in the channels/deeper waters, when running these lakes ... and don't expect all the channel bouys to be there, either (been there, done that, & ended up on a sandbar :o ) Use your maps to locate points of reference .... but, believe your depth finder over what your map says.

For your first trip, I recommend picking a creek/bay and using your entire time working IT ... rather than hopping from creek to creek. You obviously know enough about Redear & Gills, to know what kind of structure & cover they're likely to be found on ... so I'd pick a creek/bay that had the most abundance of that type of structure/cover, in the depths that those species were most likely to be in at that time & under the prevailing conditions.

... cp

Well, then I'll be back in the arms and coves. My boat's a 15ft tri-hull and I've only got a 10HP motor, so I won't be taking many chances with it. If it's a nice calm day, I guess I could gamble and run around the lake a bit.

How big of waves are we talking about if a 20 mile per hour wind kicks up???

The waves on Kentucky roll oddly. Probably because of the straight-shot length of the lake and the shallow water out of the channel. It is something like 30 miles at a mile wide without a curve or bend and the wind and water get moving. You could have 3 footers that are 10 or 12' apart with odd waves coming in at angles. Takes some getting used to even in a 20ft boat. I was on it in 28mph winds. Once. Floating courtesy docks were rocking back and forth to 45 degree angles.

You'll be fine with your boat if you just pay attention. Most people just don't expect it to be big water.

Like I said, I'm not saying it to scare you, just to prepare you. I love the lakes and get down there every time I have a chance.

A sustained 20 mph wind can make waves in excess of 4 feet.

I have been up there in waves that I couldn't see over the top of when I was down in the valley. I've also seen waves in excess of 8 feet high crashing the eastern shore of LBL when a clipper with high winds moved in suddenly. It broke loose nearly every private dock and duck blind on the lake.

I've see it sink barges. The problem you run into is deep to shallow. Those waves amy be long, rolling 3 footers in deep water. When the run up on the shallows they can go to 5 footer real quick. No place for the water to go but up when it hits shallow water. Just watch the weather & you'll be fine.

The best lake maps I've seen are the ones that the U.S. Army Corps Of Engineers put out. They show the actual elevation of the contours, but you need to keep up with the lake elevation. No hot spots though, just a contour map with channel markers shown. The markers are not always exactly where shown, in some cases not there at all. My advice would be to pick out some of the larger bays with deep creeks, pick up the ledges on the depth finder and work them up to shallow water. You will find plenty of cover to fish. These lake claim several lives every year, unfortunately common sense would prevent most losses. The only time I have feared for my life was in a bass tournament on KY lake years ago, five boats went down that day. Luckily only some pride was hurt. I always heard the good Lord looked after small children and fools, he had his hands full that day.