Lake Barkley

[Jigboy]

I love to fish Kentucky Lake but have to admit I have never fished Lake Barkley. To be honest, I am always afraid to fish it. Everytime I speak to people about it I hear the same thing. You need to be real careful with the shallow stumbs. On Kentucky Lake I either put in at Johnathon or Blood and I am almost always pretty successful. Where on Barkley is a great place to go that is similar to Johnathon or Blood? Is there anywhere on the lake that you can put in and run all over without having to run the main water a lot. Thats why I love Kentucky Lake. Once I am loaded in one of my two spots, I am pretty much in them. I run a 19' Sea Ark with a 90 horsepower Johnson. I am always careful not to get caught out on that big water because I don't have the pick me up to get out of there. I got caught before and thought I was going to die. It was real bad but we finally got back to the marina. Any suggestions about Lake Barkley would be appreciated.

[Wiskers]

I like Barkley lake and fish it often. I am also a Towboat Pilot and run the Cumberland River up Galliton, Tn. On the down side I can tell you from both a fisherman's and a pilot's aspect, that everything you hear about Barkley is true. If you get out of the buoy line the bottom gets close to the top QUICK! :D On the up side there is TONS of structure, creek channels, and dropoffs, Crappie heaven. Little River and Eddy Creek are 2 great bays! They are big & loaded with structure! All I can say is you sound like you have some boating since. You'd be ok. Just watch where you run, watch that depth finder, & pull back on the throttle when you get out of the main channel!

P.S. Get a good map of the lake before you go. :D

[Jigboy]

There is one person I really love a lot in this world and it's me. I am always careful not only for my safety but because I usually have my son or wife and I would never want to hurt them. I also love my boat and can't afford another one. Are there any good marinas around Eddy Creek?

[CatFan]

Eddy Creek Marina. Barkley isn't scary if you have a mapping GPS or a map and a brain. Since I got my 520, I have routes all over the place and pretty well go WOT all over the lake. The river channel in Barkley snakes back and forth, so you need to know where you are.

[Jigboy]

This is how little I know about Barkley....I had to look up where Eddy Creek and Little River are. I will probably say at Barkley State Park because I get a little discount being a state employee and I need every dime I can save. So Little river has some fish and structure? I am confused at where I want to go. I have always done well on Johnathon Creek. The past two years I have done really well on Blood River and I never have a real hard time finding fish. My question is should I move. I hate change but I like what I hear from everyone about Lake Barkley. I may just have to give it a shot and see where I want to go. One thing I notice is that when the fishing is bad on johnathon creek, it is usually bad everywhere.

[CatFan]

Get a "Fishing Hot Spots" map of the lake, and you'll be fine. Just remember to subtract 5' from the depths indicated since the lake will be at winter pool. Some good free maps here to give you an idea of what the river does: http://kentuckylake.org/links/rivercharts.htm

You can run from Barkley to Kentucky pretty easily. I usually camp in the LBL so I can launch on either lake.

[Jigboy]

Thanks for the info. I will get a good map and will be careful.

[ricky]

Look around on this.

http://www.kentuckylake.com/maps.htm

[gone fission]

Way less people/boats on Barkley too. I like it... and LBL has good camp sites.

[caseydrew]

This is how little I know about Barkley....I had to look up where Eddy Creek and Little River are. I will probably say at Barkley State Park because I get a little discount being a state employee and I need every dime I can save. So Little river has some fish and structure? I am confused at where I want to go. I have always done well on Johnathon Creek. The past two years I have done really well on Blood River and I never have a real hard time finding fish. My question is should I move. I hate change but I like what I hear from everyone about Lake Barkley. I may just have to give it a shot and see where I want to go. One thing I notice is that when the fishing is bad on johnathon creek, it is usually bad everywhere.

If you don't have a hard time finding fish why would you move unless you just enjoy seeing new water? I've always seemed to catch my fish a little shallower on Barkley around visable structure and I'm usually way off the bank on KY lake. I for one prefer KY, but Barkley is probably just as good....just a little different.