Thread: Kentucky Lake Report

Just got back last night. The main thing to report is wind. North end bays (Sugar, Smith and Pisgah) were 71-73 degrees with shad everywhere. I saw what were probably crappie on the finder out on points near the opening of the bays, but wind and waves were way too much to fish crappie sized lures there. Wind was blowing hard from S and SW at times and going right into the bays. I launched at Pisgah Saturday afternoon because of the wind on the main lake, and there were whitecaps in much of the bay.

You could find small pockets within the bays that had wind blowing into them, and plenty of small largemouth and yellow bass were attacking the shad caught in there, but I never got into any crappie. Orange/Chartreuse seemed to be the preferred color, as I caught plenty of LM, SM, yellow bass and bluegill on that.

Spent all last week at Ky lake. Caught ton of yellow bass and several Crappie. Best day was 20 keeper crappie. Most days were 5-6 keepers. Some very nice crappie. Most were in the 1-1&1/2 lb range while a couple were close to two pounds. Biggest I weighted was 1# 14oz. Several big bluegill and one 11 inch redear. Water temps were 68-70*. Most fish were at the mouths of bays in 12-20 ft of water suspended at 10-12 ft. Will try to post a picture later.

I hope this link works. I have never tried doing this.
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/f...hrooms/ky1.jpg

Nice bunch of fish you have there. I'll be out there next Tuesday w/ Dan Dolack (guide) and one of my customers.

Wife and I fished (attempted to fish?) Blood River week of 20-26 and I must say I've got to stop making fishing vacation plans 9 months in advance. The rain and wind and resulting waves were unbelievable for an area that had recieved little to no rain for the summer. We tried and tried to catch crappie everyday but we never caught one. We tried every method and every bait, we long lined, we trolled, we sat over brushpiles in the bay, we jigged, we cast, we dipped minners. It almost made it to 7 inches of rainfall while we were there, the lake rose almost 2 ft. We did catch some smallies, largemouth, bream, yellows, buffalo, and skipjacks. We even put submersible green lights off the dock one night to no avail. I now know first hand what a roller is that I have read a few of you refer to when discussing Ky. Lake. We hope to go back in the spring but I will have a talk with my supervisor about taking off on short notice to play the weather better.

Originally Posted by MinnerDipper2

I now know first hand what a roller is that I have read a few of you refer to when discussing Ky. Lake.

You don't have to explain "Ky Lake rollers" to me :p ... went out from Jonathan Creek, across the main lake, over to the LBL side bays (many years ago) ... wind was running from dam towards bridge (straight up the main lake) ... 17ft Bass boat/100+hp motor .... had to get on top of waves to see where we were going, then drop down into the trough and run awhile, then back on top of the rollers to get further bearings. Wild ride, even for a young guy (which I was, then). They weren't even letting the cruisers and barges run the main lake. Rescue boat had to go get some people off a houseboat (rental ?) ... and even they weren't all that fired up about going out there. Whenever we would drop down into the wave trough ... all I could see, on either side of the boat, was a wall of water I wasn't driving ( with a fishing buddy, in his boat), but I was aware of the fact that there are sand bars that come and go out there .... so I mentioned to him that we needed to stay on top of the rollers as long as we could, just to be sure we had some water under us !!
Been on Ky Lake one other time, when the wind had the waves rolling ... but, this time it was from LBL side towards the other. Crossed over to get gas (was in my 15ft Bass boat/70hp outboard) and on the return trip across ... the waves were so rough and were crashing so hard against my bow (tri-hull front) that it knocked the gas line loose from the gas tank. By the time I got up and reconnected it ... we were all the way back into the bay we'd just come out of ... LOL!! We were camped at the canal (state campgrounds) ... but, the waves were so big on Barkley, that we put the boat back on the trailer and drove to a campground in the LBL, and launched from there. Lakes were flooded that Spring ... so we had to launch the boat, at that campground, by backing truck/trailer and all into the pic-nic area, and back the boat off the trailer with the big motor !! We caught Crappie, Smallmouth, and Walleye ... right at the mouth of that bay. Even caught a nice Crappie off the concrete pic-nic table, right there in the campground ... LOL !!!

.... cp

Yes sir, the twins do get rough sometimes. If you are careful yo can almost always find some place to fish. I have even gone below the dams when the wind is real bad out of the south. I have run the waves many times and lived to talk about it. I have never been afraid but have had to make adjustments several times.
THE BANDIT

Heck I work on Ky lake & have seen rollers sink loads at reeds quarry and out in the main lake! I have also been cought out in it when the wind got up. I have personally ruined several good pairs of underwear & had my rearend chew up a boat seat or two! :o

By far the tallest waves I've seen on an inland lake when the wind is blowing straight up from the South. Good thing they are long to where you can get a boat between the pitches. Short 4ft waves on the shallow water lakes beat ya to death trying to jump them.

G.

Dont get caught out in these. This is Lake Erie last weekend.