Thread: Ky Lake Creel Survey

What you local guys down there need to understand upfront, is that Kentucky Lake is a Regional draw...if not National draw, it's that good a lake. So you're going to have EVERY different kind of jack on that body of water and it's irritating, heck I run into it on small, 150 acre lakes. Talk about frustrating, because on small bodies of water you can't get away from the idiots. Kentucky Lake and Barkley are huge bodies of water and you can easily get away from the morons.

As a fisherman, the pleasure boaters drive me nuts. The jet skis, speed boats and pleasure boaters who are drunker than a sailor need to be ticketed. Up here in Indiana, the poor ole fisherman get stopped while the pleasure boaters blast their music and party like rockstars with their beer or drug of choice. Big lakes have these drawbacks unfortunately, you've gotta let it go or you'll never enjoy the experience IMO.

I find it crazy that the people taking the survey didn't at least take down their license number and turn it over to the game warden. I work for the state as an inspector and know their are many crazy rules but we are always looking for people to turn people in who do illegal things. I have the technology to run license plates on vehicles so I am assuming if a license from a boat is turned in Fish and Wildlife can find out who own's a boat. Send them a warning letter at least as a warning and keep a file on them and nail their butts if they actually catch them. I never keep anything unless it is 10 inches no matter what the size limit is because there simply isn't enough meat on the smaller ones. Once I have enough crappie for my family I switch to bass and bluegills. I never keep the bass and have a few parties and fish frys with the gills. I also never personally keep anything over two pounds because I like releasing them for the future of the crappie unless of course i get a three pounder and she will be on my wall.

Originally Posted by Old Guide

I agree BG. I have dropped a marker only to see a rush of boats in my direction. It gets even worse if the boats around you aren't catching and you pull up and nail one or two right away. It more than some people can stand!

I will throw out a maker on some days in an area I know is dead just to see people flock to it. I did it one day and some kids fished over it and limited in no time. Sometimes you just get lucky.

The only thing that really bothers me is when I see people on these thread brag about them and a friend taking 150 good size fish on a weekend trip. And also the small fish I see wasted at the cleaning stations upsets me. Throw those small ones back for next year.