Just back from KY Lake

[Michael D]

We fished KY Lake from April 12-19. The weather was wild to say the least; rain, sleet, snow, wind, then more rain, then clear blue skies, then more rain and need I say the wind blew hard each and every day. We did catch crappie though. I don't know the exact numbers, but on April 19 we caught 16 very nice one with the largest one going 2-1/4 lbs. We had almost 7lbs of filets from just those 16 fish. We also caught some very big bluegills on Saturday, April 12 in the sleet since the crappie weren't hitting that day. We got almost 10 lbs of bluegill filets. After a week of hard fishing we left with a cooler full of crappie and bluegill filets. The water fell 4 feet in that week and that made things even worse. We caught all the crappie on minnows in 15 feet of water fishing about 10 feet deep over and around structure. On April 19, we moved closer to the bank and fished in 8 feet of water fishing about 5-6 feet deep. We threw all kinds and colors of jigs, but took no crappie on them. The black bass and white and yellow bass ate us up on chart curly tail jigs; we must have caught 200 of them in a week. The large bluegill were caught with purple popeyes tipped with wax worms, but we had to really watch the line because the bite was very light. We stayed at Big Bear and fished solely in Bear Creek. It was a great trip; lots of great fish and memories. Forgot to mention the earthquake--I know a little about fishing, but what kind of lures does one throw after an earthquake? Wish I could go back next week cause those crappie should really turn on.

[badbrad]

That's pretty wild......High winds, rain, sleet, snow and earthquakes all in one week.

Sounds like you did real well despite the unfavorable conditions.

[Big Willie]

Waht is a purple popeye/ where do you get them? That is amazing 7ibs of fillets off of 16 fish nice job.

[crappiecrazy]

Thanks for the fishing report that will help someone else like me! I like the Bear Creek area. I would like to get some big gills. I never have gill fished Bear.

[Michael D]

The only popeyes I use are made by Cabin Creek Bait Co. (www.cabincreekco.com). I mainly use the size 1 in purple. They are a great little bait and when tipped with a wax worm the bait is even better. I have caught way too many keeper fish on this bait to ever go fishing without it. On many trips, I have caught lots of keeper crappie. Give it a shot I will say you will not be disappointed. There are some imitations out there, but I only use Cabin Creek (I am in no way connected with Cabin Creek; I just buy lots of their popeyes). I usually tip it with a wax worm and cast toward the bank or structure and let it drift back. I have fished it under a bobber when fishing the deep banks Herrington Lake. Good Luck.

[Creeker]

I agree with the Cabin Creek Popeye's. I have used them for bluegills for years. I like the #1 white or white/red tipped with a wax worm. I have put alot of filets in the hot oil with that combo. In the past we would take a trip to Reelfoot every year for bluegill and I would not leave home without them.

[itallushrt]

Michael D you hit the nail on the head. I fished the 17th through today and I can't figure out if my red face is from wind burn, sun burn or frost bite.

I had the exact same experiences fishing wise. Only crappie were found in 14 - 15 feet of water by drowning minnows at 10. Also found some NICE bluegill and in 4 days probably caught 200 yellow bass between 2 of us. Mostly on chart curly tails and sliders. Caught only 4 crappie on jigs. One Thursday, one Friday and two today. Fished Jonathan Creek only.

This week should be on fire with much warmer temps and stable water.

[Michael D]

We also had the same results with yellow bass hitting the chart curly tail jigs. Seems like we caught one on every cast. Does anyone keep yellow bass? I never have and can't say that I know of anyone who has. I would bet that we also caught 200+ yellow bass. I tried dozens of color combinations of jigs, but the crappie were just not taking them. I enjoyed catching them while waiting for the minnow to produce.

[Quackrstackr]

Those yellow bass are some good eating if you can get into some big enough to mess with cleaning.

I went out today and only had 3 crappie for the entire day. All of those came from 16' of water. I couldn't beat the banks for all of the little buck bass that are staged up getting ready for their spawn. After catching a dozen on jigs, I put the crappie stuff up and started bass fishing until I got burned out on catching the things. I don't know how many I caught. I was catching them every cast on some stretches of bank. I got bored with them and switch back to crappie but never caught another one even after going back to deep water. I was too busy taking yellow bass and bluegill off of the hook on the second go 'round.

I came up on some guys camped out on a main lake point that wore the fish out for about 15 minutes but they started and stopped like throwing a switch. Nobody else that I talked to today had much more luck than I did. Supposedly they turned on yesterday afternoon for the last couple of hours. Maybe they are on an afternoon bite now. They did that last year for about a week and a half stretch. You were wasting your time getting there before 3 in the afternoon.

I thought seriously about charging for taxi service before I left Wildcat today. They were having to park 1/4 mile down the road from the ramp parking lot and there was a steady stream of rigs rolling in when I left at 1:00.

[itallushrt]

Yes, yellow bass are great eating and yes I cleaned a ton of them.